Above him in the loft he heard a cautious tread. The boards creaked as some one moved about. Jed Marmette was there. For what purpose?
Frank’s mind was in a whirl of ideas, of guesses, of plans. His first involuntary thought was to go quietly up the ladder to the loft and see what this man was about. The lay of the land up there he did not know, however, and on second thought, the more sober one and the one of sounder judgment, he decided to wait for the man to descend, after which he would explore.
After many minutes had passed, during which he heard different kinds of sounds, some of which he imagined he knew, others entirely foreign to any notion he could arrange in his mind, Frank heard the stealthy tread again, as if the man were approaching the loft ladder.
Quietly the boy now tiptoed to one of the stalls, and there crouched while he saw the feet of the man dangle downward through the hole, reach for and gain the ladder, followed by the body, the shoulders, and the head.
In one hand the thick, heavy-set, gray-haired, but none-the-less active man was carrying a package about the size of a cigar box, wrapped in brown wrapping paper. He carried it gingerly as he carefully grasped the ladder with one hand round after round, throwing his body toward the ladder to balance himself as the hand released one round and grasped the next lower down.
Reaching the floor of the barn he stood to get his breath, and then, turning toward the door, Frank saw the package more plainly. As Marmette reached the door he exchanged the package from one hand to the other in order to unfasten the hook, and Frank heard many small particles fall from one side of the box, which must have been of metal, to the other.
Letting himself out through the door, the man placed the box on the ground and very carefully locked the door from the outside with a large padlock.
Frank’s face lighted with a merry smile as he thought of his own predicament—inside the barn with the rear door locked from the inside!
Slipping over to the front door he peered through and saw the man leave the barn, going straight toward the lot by which he had come.
Then, going to the rear, he quietly lifted the lock on the back door and slipped out, the four boys watching him as the door opened.