“What’ll we do?” he took the question from their lips before they had done so. “We’ll go into the house and see what evidences there are there of Jed’s having placed it somewhere around inside.”
With this all four of them trooped into the small farmhouse, and their nostrils were struck by the odors of dankness, of old coffee, of burned grease, showing that this ill-kept man did not permit the fresh air that nature so freely gave to every living being to pass through the house.
The beams of the flashlight darted here and there, and Frank handed his supply of matches to Lanky to use so that they could get a better light. In a few seconds Paul saw an oil-lamp, which was immediately lighted, and with this as an aid they stood at the center of the back room and carefully studied the general features.
Nothing in this room gave the boys any indication of a hiding place, and Frank led the way, holding the lamp, into the next room, a combination of bedroom and general living room. Two broken chairs, a wobbly old table, a box used for a washstand or dresser and a cot were the only pieces of furniture.
All four of the boys stood, rather breathless, at the doorway and peered in.
“What’s that?” Frank nodded his head toward the broad, old-fashioned fireplace. “Go over there and see what those ashes are. It looks to me like burned string lying there.”
Lanky was the first to get there. He knelt and studied the hearth closely, not disturbing anything with his hands.
“This is a piece of burned string, Frank,” he said, “and it looks as if this is the ash of a piece of paper. Looks to me as if he had burned the wrapper around the box.”
“Yep, look here!” It was Paul Bird who had found something else. “Here is a little fresh earth, yellow, too!”
The lamp was brought close, and all four of the boys on their knees looked carefully and closely at the little specks of brown or yellow on the floor. There was no mistaking it—it was damp earth from outside under the grape arbor!