“I don’t see how it explains it,” said John, somewhat puzzled by the excitement of his companion.
“Why, it’s a speaking tube. You go back to the kitchen and I’ll stay here and we’ll try it.”
The suggestion was quickly adopted and in a brief time both boys were aware that Fred’s conjecture was correct. The strange sounds and the whispers of their names which had been heard frequently whenever they had visited the house after darkness had fallen, now were explained.
“That’s the reason,” said John eagerly, “why George always wants to come around to the kitchen door. Don’t you remember he hasn’t once come in by the front door?”
“That’s right,” responded Fred. “He knows more about what is going on in this old house than he has let on, and all the time he has been pretending that he was puzzled as much as we are by what we have seen and heard. We must think up something so that we can pay him back in his own coin.”
“That’s what we’ll do,” said John eagerly. “What shall it be?”
“Time enough to think about that later,” responded Fred. “What’s that?” he added abruptly.
From within the chimney could be heard the sound as of a man swinging a noisy rattle. There were also sharp noises that sometimes were quite loud and at others were low and soft and yet they were continuously sounding.
“I tell you there’s something in that chimney,” said John.
“I begin to think you’re right,” whispered Fred. “Get down on your knees and look up through the fireplace.”