There was no time to hesitate—the house must be searched. Lem must be aroused to assist in it. He slept in the opposite wing of the building, and, supposing any one to be concealed in the empty rooms, the journey was a hazardous one; but it could not be avoided. Sibyl grew quite calm in the face of this new danger, and, stooping, she shook Aunt Moll by the shoulder to arouse her.
A deep grunt, as the sleeper turned over and fell into a deeper sleep than before, rewarded her exertions.
"Aunt Moll, wake! Wake, I say! There are people in the house," said Sibyl, in an anxious whisper, as she shook her more violently than before. "Oh, Heaven! what shall I do? Aunt Moll, wake! wake! Do you want to be murdered in your bed?" cried Sibyl, giving her a shake that might have aroused the seven sleepers.
"Dar, Lem—dar! Don't shake yer ole mammy, dat's a good chile; 'tain't 'spectful, nor likewise——"
Here the sleeper sank into deep slumber, muttering an incomprehensible something.
There was no time to lose—it was fruitless labor seeking to wake Aunt Moll. Seizing a lamp, she hastily struck a light, and hastened out into the windy hall, pausing for an instant at the head of the long, black staircase, to listen, ere she ventured further.
The silence of the grave still reigned. Nothing met her ear but the faint echo of her own light footsteps.
Like a shadow she flitted down the dark, cheerless staircase, through the lower hall into the kitchen, and here she again paused to reflect.
The moonlight was pouring a light through the two low-curtained windows and rendering the flickering lamp superfluous. Everything stood precisely as it had the night before; chairs and table were in their places, and had not been disturbed; a few red coals still glowed like fierce eyes amid the darkness of the great, black, yawning chimney—it was evident that no one had been intruding here.
Pushing open a door leading directly from the kitchen into Lem's sleeping-room, she entered it, and stood beside him. She could not spare time to try to arouse him by ordinary means, so seizing a large pitcher of cold water that stood near, she unceremoniously dashed it in his face, drenching him completely.