“I’m not afraid.”
“Come on then, and we’ll scatter some paper near the door. Maybe the crowd will think we entered the mill.”
Knowing they had no time to spare, if they wanted to keep out of the reach of the hounds, the two cadets hurried on until they stood beneath a shed adjoining the old mill.
“I don’t see anything unusual,” said Pepper, as he looked around. “Maybe this story about a ghost is all made up.”
“Yes, but what about that yarn of a ghost that was half man, half beast?”
“I don’t know. But I think——Hark!”
Both boys listened. From inside the old mill a grating sound had reached their ears.
“Why, I wonder if the wheel is going!” cried Andy. “It sounds like it.”
“Let us look in at the door and see—if the door is unlocked,” was Pepper’s reply.
The chums stepped closer to the doors of the mill. Scarcely had they done so when, without warning, some planking gave way and they found themselves dropping into some space below. Each tried to save himself, but it was too late, and down they went, into a lower apartment of the old mill. Then, as swiftly as it had moved before, the planking overhead closed, leaving the two cadets in almost total darkness.