"It must be a deserted house," thought our hero. "I have a great mind to explore it—that is, if I can get in."
He tried the door, and, a little to his surprise, it yielded to his touch. The door being in the centre of the house, there was a room on each side. The door to the left; opened into a room which was quite bare of furniture. On the other side, however, was a room containing a table and three chairs. On the table was a dirty clay-pipe and a box of tobacco, and there was a dead odor of tobacco-smoke lingering in the closely-shut room.
"That looks as if there were somebody living here," thought Jasper.
"Halloo!" he shouted, raising his voice.
He felt that it would be better to make his presence known, as otherwise he might be suspected of entering the house with burglarious designs, though it would have puzzled a burglar to find anything worth purloining.
"There can't be anybody in the house or I should have been heard," thought our hero. "However, I'll call again."
This time there was a faint sound that came to his ears. It seemed like the voice of a child.
"Where did that come from?" Jasper considered.
And he waited to hear if it would be repeated.
It was repeated, and now he could make out that it came from above.