“Strike a match,” said Dick, “and we’ll see if you can find a candle. Although he isn’t here, I’d like to look around a bit.”
The boys fumbled in their pockets. No one had a match, apparently, but finally Toma found a broken stub of one and a tiny glare flickered through the room. In its light, Sandy discovered a short piece of candle on a soap box near the fireplace and carried it triumphantly over to Toma before the match sputtered out.
It was well that the boys had decided to look around before pursuing their investigations further. The room was in complete disorder. Confusion was everywhere. Toma, who had been the last person to leave it on the previous day, was astonished at the change which had been brought about there.
“What you think about that?” he exclaimed excitedly. “Yesterday, when I leave this place, everything all right. Somebody him come an’ make trouble here.”
“Creel must have come back,” Sandy decided. “I wonder where he went to from here?”
“That seems hardly likely,” Dick spoke up. “Everything here belongs to Creel and he wouldn’t be apt to throw things about like this. It isn’t at all reasonable, Sandy. Even if he was planning to leave this place for good, he wouldn’t do this thing, unless he had suddenly gone mad.”
“Yes, that’s right. Just look at things! It’s more reasonable to think that someone came here with a grudge against Creel and proceeded to do as much damage as possible.”
The boys spent a few more minutes in looking about. A tall cupboard, at one end of the room, had been completely emptied. Its contents—parcels, packages, cans of fruit and an occasional dish or granite plate—had been swept to the floor. Chairs had been overturned. A small trap-door, entering upon a tiny cellar below the rough, board floor, gaped open. Looking at it, Dick came to a sudden conclusion.
“Do you know what I think?” he began hurriedly. “This isn’t a case of wanton revenge. There’s a reason behind it all. In Creel’s absence some person has been ransacking this place in the hope of finding something of value.”
“You guess right that time,” Toma nodded. “That’s what it look like. Somebody, not Creel, come here. Mebbe he look for box, where Creel keep all his money.”