“What do you mean?” again demanded Fred, turning sharply upon his friend. “Don’t you think there are lights there? Didn’t you hear the sound of the automobile horn?”
“I certainly did,” acknowledged Grant, “but that isn’t all there is to it. There are some things we don’t see in connection with these things.”
“Come on,” urged George, “let’s all get out and go in there and see if we cannot see those other things that Grant is telling about.”
For a moment there was silence in the little party, but at last, as no one was desirous of being looked upon as cowardly by his friends, all four boys stepped down upon the ground.
“Come on, Uncle Sim,” called George. “You aren’t going to be left behind.”
“We don’ lose one car,” remarked the aged negro, his teeth chattering as he spoke.
“And we don’t want to lose another, do we, Uncle Sim?” said George. “I don’t think anybody can take it without our knowing it, so you can come along, Uncle Sim, if you want to.”
“Yas, suh. Yas, suh,” responded the negro. “D’rec’ly, d’rec’ly.”
George laughed, as the old man slowly and with manifest reluctance climbed down upon the ground. His “mis’ry” plainly was unusually troublesome, for he walked with a great effort and very slowly. Indeed, he groaned with every step that he took, as he followed the boys on their way to the old house.
Silence fell upon the party when they drew near the building. No lights now were to be seen in any of its windows. Silence rested over the quaint old structure and apparently there was nothing to explain the strange sights and sounds which recently had issued from the venerable building.