Jule gravely passed the coin over to Alex., who as gravely pocketed it, and drew Jule to a seat beside himself on the gunwale of the boat. Captain Joe came up to the boys as they sat there and wagged his tail, his nose pointing toward the deserted old house at the end of the bayou.
“Do you see what the bulldog wants?” Alex. asked, in a moment.
“He wants a run on shore,” replied Jule. “He wants to get off the boat and do stunts on the grass. I’m with him in that, too!”
“He’s pointing to the old house!” Alex. suggested, with a grin.
“Good idea!” winked Jule. “Suppose we go over to the ranch and see what sort of a place it is? We’ll just sneak off after breakfast and be back in an hour.”
“Right,” agreed Alex. “We may find a buried treasure! Or plunder from the Rock Island warehouse may be hidden in some dusty attic! What? That sounds like a story of John Paul Jones, out of a book!”
“I reckon all we’ll find will be rats,” the practical Jule replied. “But I like to ramble over old houses. It evidently used to stand on the bank of the river, but some washout left it back so far that it was deserted. It looks like there might be ghosts hiding in it right now! Do you hear anything?” the boy added, as he bent his ear toward the neglected mansion, sinking to decay now for many a long year. “Do you hear anything that sounds uncanny? I thought I heard a ghost call!”
“I half believe you mean it!” laughed Alex. “I believe you really think you hear something ghostly! If I were rich once for every ghost there is in the world, I wouldn’t have a cent to my name! What does this ghost call sound like?” added the boy.
“It sounded like a long, low call for help!” was the reply. “I believe all the calls from deserted houses are long and low, what?”
“Right you are!” Alex. answered. “Say, what’s the matter of taking Captain Joe with us when we go to the house? If there’s a ghost behind the casings, he’ll be certain to find and bring it out to us!”