The Go Ahead Boys and the Mysterious Old House Part 10

"Why, it's your friend, the tramp. Probably he's the man who has been hanging around the place for several days and when his opportunity came he took it."

"Which do you mean, the opportunity, or the car?" laughed Fred.

"Both. His opportunity was to take the car."

"That tramp," declared Fred solemnly, "didn't have strength enough about him to push the b.u.t.ton to turn on the power."

"That's something you don't know," retorted his friend. "I think when you are through with it you'll find that the car disappeared at the same time the tramp did. No one has seen him since," added Grant, positively.

"And from all I can learn," retorted Fred, "n.o.body saw him before except myself, so you haven't run down your problem yet."

When the boys arrived at the Corners, as the little nearby hamlet was called, they made many inquiries of the people they met, but no word concerning the missing car was heard. There were several suggestions from the country people that other cars had been lost within the past few weeks, but none of them was able to add to the information which the boys already possessed.

Disappointed by their failures, George at last said, "I think the best thing for us to do will be to go back home. I'll call up my father on the 'phone and if he isn't coming out pretty soon he will tell me what to do."

In response to George's suggestion the boys once more clambered into the car and in a brief time were noisily speeding over the road on their way back to their friend's house.

"We've got two mysteries now," suggested George.

"Three you mean," spoke up Fred quickly.

"We've got the mystery of the lost car and the mystery of the old Meeker House. That makes two. I don't see where your third comes in."

"The third is our mysterious friend, the tramp, that I saw in the old Meeker House."

"What's the mystery about him?" laughed George. "I don't find anything very mysterious about an unwashed tramp you found in the old house. Very likely he had crawled in there to sleep and you waked him up."

"He was awake all right," declared Fred promptly. "There isn't any question about that. He wasn't moving around as fast as I have seen some, but he didn't take it all out in motions, either."

"It seems to me," laughed Grant, "that you find in that tramp whatever you want to find, Fred. First you say he's one kind of man and then you tell us he's another."

"Wait until you see him," said Fred sagely. "Maybe he's in the old house now. It can't be far ahead."

"Not more than a quarter of a mile," suggested Grant.

For some reason the boys became silent as the car speeded forward in the dim light. The eyes of every one were turned toward the old house which had perplexed them in so many ways.

As they came near the corner John said in a low voice, "There's not only a ghost of a man in that house, but there's the ghost of the automobile.

Do you hear that horn?"

All the boys listened intently and to their consternation the faint sound of a horn was heard, issuing from the old house.

"What do you suppose that means?" demanded Fred in a whisper.

"I told you there was the ghost of an automobile in that house, didn't I?" demanded John.

"Look yonder," called Grant quickly. "There's that light again in the cellar. Don't you think we had better stop and find out what all this means?"

At that moment the faint sound of the horn was heard again from the house and for an instant lights flashed from every window.

These, however, quickly disappeared and although the boys waited several minutes, the sound was not repeated nor were the lights again seen.

CHAPTER IX-ANOTHER FLIGHT

"What do you suppose that means?" demanded Fred in a whisper.

"Things are seldom what they seem," said Grant.

"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.

"You boys stay here and go into the house by the front door and I'll go around to the kitchen," said George.

"What for?" demanded Fred.

"Why, we'll be more certain," explained George, "to find out if there is anything wrong here if we come at the old house from two sides."

"I think I'll go with you," spoke up Grant quickly.

"There's no need of that," protested George sharply. Indeed the lad spoke too sharply, for the suspicions of Grant were instantly aroused by the evident desire of his friend not to have him accompany him.

Knowledge of that fact, however, was sufficient of itself to increase Grant's determination.

"We had better divide up the party evenly," he suggested. "John and Fred can stay here and watch this side and I'll go with you around to the kitchen door."

With manifest reluctance, though he made no further protest, George accepted the suggestion of his friend and together the two boys soon disappeared from the sight of their companions.

"Who's that?" whispered Fred as he grasped the arm of John, who was standing beside him, and pointing to an approaching figure of a man.