"Now, to go on with my story. As the queer noises kept up, Grandpa Ford came to get me, to see if I could help him. I am in the real estate business, you know—I buy and sell houses—and he thought I might know something about the queer noise in his house. I have bought and sold houses that people said were haunted—that is, which were supposed to have ghosts in," laughed Daddy Bunker. "But I never saw nor heard of any spirits."
"Did you find out what made this noise?" asked Russ.
"No, we haven't yet, but we take a look every time we hear it," said his father. "That is what we are going to do now. So, after this, don't be afraid when you hear it. It is something in the house that makes it—not a ghost or anything like that. We'll find it sooner or later, Grandpa Ford and I."
"May we help?" asked Russ.
"Please, Daddy?" cried Rose.
"Well, yes, I guess so, if you want to," answered his father slowly. "If you hear the noise, and it sounds anywhere near you, look around and see if you can find out what makes it. Don't cry 'ghost!' and scare the others."
"We won't," promised Rose. "And maybe we'll be lucky and find it."
"I hope you will," put in Grandma Ford.
"It sounded like a cow mooing," remarked Russ.
"Yes, it did," agreed Grandpa Ford. "At first I thought it was a cow that had got into the cellar. But I couldn't find one. Then I thought it was boys playing a trick on us, but I heard the noise in the middle of the night, when no boys would be out. I don't know what makes it, but I'd like to find the ghost, as I call it, though I'm not going to after this. That isn't a good name. We'll just call it 'Mr. Noise.'"