But Jack insisted on going back to the house and they did. Ken was left outside on guard while the other two entered the house. They found the first door in the hall open. The dust on the floor was stirred by many footprints but there was nothing else visible in the room. The two returned to the hall and searched but they found nothing. “I wonder who it was that socked me like that?” muttered Jack.
“It’s no use wondering because you can only guess,” asserted Paul. “My own opinion is that some stray individual happened to be in here when you entered and just as your back was turned, he hit you on the head and escaped. That’s all.”
“But why? Why?” demanded Jack. “And what was he doing here?”
“How should I know? And since there is nothing else we can do here, let’s go.”
Joining Ken, they walked off and went home.
CHAPTER XIII
Discovery
Ken was saying, “It is rather strange that somebody should have been in that house when it is supposed to be empty and deserted.”