Captain Obed put his ear against the covered stovepipe hole. He listened and as he listened his face took on a new expression, an expression of sudden suspicion, then of growing certainty, and, a moment later, of huge amusement.
He stepped down from the chair.
“Stay right where you are,” he ordered. “Don't move and don't make any noise. I'll be right back.”
He hurried out. They waited. The snoring kept on and on. Suddenly it ceased. Then, in that very room, or so it seemed, sounded a grunt and a frightened squeal. And then a voice, a hollow voice which cried:
“Ahoy, all hands! I'm the ghost of Nebuchadnezzar's first wife and I want to know what you folks mean by wakin' me up.”
The three in the back bedroom looked at each other.
“It's Captain Bangs!” cried Emily.
“It's Obed!” exclaimed Thankful.
“He's found it,” shouted Kendrick. “Come on.”
The captain was not in the kitchen when they got there. He had gone out of doors, so Imogene said. Unmindful of the rain they rushed out and around the corner, behind and below the washshed. Patrick Henry was running about his pen, apparently much disturbed, but Captain Obed was not in sight.