“How do you account for that?” asked Nalbro, nervously.
“Trouble in the power house,” said Luke promptly.
“Well, maybe,” Nally conceded.
The house was comparatively quiet for a while, though the storm kept up, and Ruth had just returned from putting the children to bed—Sammy, to his delight being given a room to himself—when Nalbro called:
“Some one’s at the telephone!”
“I didn’t hear the bell ring,” said Hal.
“No. But listen! Hear that clicking?”
They all heard a peculiar tapping in the receiver, as when one is connected with a “busy” wire.
“Maybe it’s off the hook,” suggested Luke.
He went to look, and when he came back to report that the instrument was as it should be, they all looked one at the other.