"What's the noise back there?" he whispered.
"Didn't hear anything," answered Porky after a breathless pause of listening.
"I certainly heard something," declared Beany. "Let's pussyfoot back and see if we can find out what it was. I know I heard something. Perhaps our dear friend the old dame is somewhere around."
"There was nothing for her to hide in or behind," said Porky. "The bed was the only piece of furniture large enough and, besides, I feel sure she skipped out the other passage. What would she come back for? She must have known that we were here."
"There is mighty little she doesn't know if any one should ask you," answered Beany. "Oh, just wait until I have a chance to tell you the whole yarn! Only it is not finished yet. There were a couple of prisoners in the room I was in, a young fellow in uniform and a girl. They must have carried them into the garden when they turned my chair around so I could look toward the way you came in. I heard them scuffling about."
"Well, let's go take a look," said Porky.
They silently retraced their steps back to the great chamber where the bed stood. Carefully, with their backs to the wall, they lighted a couple of candles they had taken from the table. The room was empty, but with the keen trained sensitiveness of young animals, they sensed danger.
"I bet it is the bed," said Porky as though answering a question. "Let's look it over."
Beany, holding the candles, stood by as Porky carefully removed the tumbled and tattered fragments which had once been satin and down coverlets fit for queens to dream under. He cautiously lifted the top feather bed in his arms and laid it on the floor. Beany gave a gasp and, reaching forward, almost flung himself on a black object which rolled down into a depression in the under bed. He fumbled with it, then stood erect, his face glistening with a cold sweat. He pointed to the object in silence.
Porky stooped over it. It was a time bomb, large enough and vicious enough to wreck the entire wing.