CHAPTER XIX
I HIDE THE GHOST
I COULD hear the men above me, like bloodhounds on the trail.
Will Dove, following his shot, had rushed off down the back street, hoping to find what he had aimed at. I drew down the cellar doors which opened beneath the house and locked them, just as Alf began to prowl around the “under.”
“Stay here!” I whispered.
Mounting the ladder, I shut the trap-door before the judge had time to negotiate the kitchen companionway.
“There is no one in the round cellar,” I lied.
And he was saying, “No one entered Mattie’s room.”
“Look over on the back street,” I advised, and so got rid of him.
To every one I met I gave the same word; “I saw him jump off the roof and escape that way,” pointing in the direction Will Dove had taken, and seeing his retreating figure yelling and brandishing the shotgun they did not lose any time in following. The house was soon cleared.
Only to Jasper did I say, at a moment when no one heard me, “Wait, I’ve caught the ghost!”