At that moment there came a voice again. It sounded right from the doorway as before, and it called another of the men by name.
We will here state that Ike, the wonder, had learned the names of all the men, and he made up his mind to let up on Tom Atwood and work one or two of the others, and when the name of number two was called the man leaped to his feet. He was a violent fellow when aroused. His gun was standing near and he cried out:
“I’ll shoot that ghost, living or dead.”
The whole party made up their minds that a trick was being played. The man, Bill, ran into the house and looked all around, but came out without having found any one.
“Say, fellows,” he said, “this has gone far enough. Let’s sift it to the bottom.”
All hands agreed, and it was arranged that one man should stand at the front door, another at the rear, and that three others should go through the house from room to room, guns in hand, and solve the mystery.
The plan was put in execution. One man went to a closet, opened the door and fell back glaring in horror, for he was met by a scream right in his ears which came from the closet. In the meantime one of the other men had opened the wine-room door and he too encountered a soul-thrilling scream. He ran shouting away, and the third man also had an experience which caused him to rush out to the balcony.
The mystery had not been solved. It was deeper than ever, and the men were all greatly excited when Murray asked coolly:
“What is the matter with you fellows?”
“Don’t you hear the voice?” asked one.