"What's the trouble? What's the trouble?" demanded George excitedly when
the boys had run out through the kitchen door.
"Uncle Sim says that my car is gone," replied George.
"Gone? Gone where?" demanded Grant.
"He doesn't know and that's what he wanted to find out from us."
"Yas, suh. Yas, suh," broke in the old colored man who now approached
the place where the boys were standing. "Dat car sho' am gone. I jes'
came to fin' out if any ob yo' young gen'lemen disremembered who might
hab tuk de car."
"Why, there hasn't anybody taken it," said John. "Have you looked in the
garage, George?"
In spite of his perplexity George laughed slightly as he said, "I
certainly have. You don't think I would solemnly state to you that the
car was gone if I had seen it in the garage, do you?"
The boys by this time had advanced to the open door of the garage and a
hasty examination confirmed the statement of the old colored man that
the automobile was not there.
"What do you suppose it means?" inquired Fred.
"It means somebody has taken it," replied George.
"You mean stolen it?"
"That's what I don't know. I'm trying to explain to you fellows that the
car isn't here and if it isn't here it must be somewhere else. Now, if
it is somewhere else how did it get there and who took it there? Do you
see? Can I make any impression on any of you?"
"Why don't you say in plain English just what you mean?" retorted John.
"Do you think your car has been stolen?"
"I know it's gone and that's all I know."
"What are you going to do about it?"
"I'm going to take you fellows and Uncle Sim in the old car and find out
what has happened to the new one, if I can."
"That's all right, we'll be with you in a minute," declared George.
Speedily the boys entered the house and securing their caps at once
prepared to accompany George, who soon started down the lane toward the
road beyond. There was no plan clearly defined in his mind nor had any
one in the party any suggestions to make as to whom the thief might be
or what had become of the missing automobile.
In response to George's queries Uncle Sim related his own experiences.
He had been coming in from the barn and noticed that the door of the
garage was still open. As he had strict orders to see that this was
closed every night, he turned aside to carry out the directions. To his
surprise he found that the new automobile was not in its accustomed
place. His first thought naturally was that the boys had taken it for
another drive and yet at that very moment he heard the sound of their
laughter issuing from the dining-room.
Puzzled by the fact he at once entered the house and soon made his
presence and his errand known.
His statement, startling as it was, at first had not alarmed George, but
as soon as he had made a hasty investigation he too was as troubled as
his dusky friend. The car was gone and there was no accounting for its
departure.
"Did any of you fellows hear the automobile when it went down the
driveway?" George inquired of his friends as they sped along the dusty
road.
"Not one of us," said John, positively.
"That's the trouble in having such a good car," said George dryly. "You
see it makes so little noise that it couldn't be heard a few feet away."
"I don't think that was it," spoke up Grant. "I think it's because
certain members of our party were making so much noise that an
earthquake or thunder would have been drowned."
"That's all right, then," said George dryly. "You wait until we find
that car and then we'll talk a little more about it."
"What was the number of your car?" asked Fred.
"27155."
"I think a man has got more nerve to steal an automobile than anything
else. Of course he knows he will be taken," declared Fred.
"Not always," answered George. "Down on the sea shore there was a
certain firm last summer that did a regular business in stolen
automobiles. They painted them different colors and did a few little
things that altered the appearance so that a man wouldn't recognize his
own car."
"Is that so? Is that true?" demanded Grant.
"It certainly is. I know a man who lost a car down there. Those men work
all through the towns and cities in the northern part of the state and
run down to the seashore with the stolen cars in the night when nobody
is around and the next day the cars wouldn't be recognized by the very
men who were looking for them."
"Well, I hope we shan't find your car down there," said Fred warmly.
"I hope we shan't," replied George, "though the main thing I want just
now is to find the car anyway. Some of the good times I promised you
fellows this summer will go begging, I'm afraid, if we have lost our
automobile."
"We'll find it, George," said John, patting his friend on the shoulder.
Meanwhile Uncle Sim, who was still a member of the party, had taken no
share in the conversation. At that moment, however, he uttered an
exclamation of surprise and directed the attention of the Go Ahead boys
to the old Meeker House which now was not far ahead of them.
"Yas, suh. Yas, suh," said Uncle Sim, his voice trembling in his
excitement. "I sho' do see some lights in dat cellar ob de ol' house.
'Pears like dere's always somethin' wrong in de ole Meeker House."
"How it is, Fred? Do you agree with Uncle Sim?" laughed George.
"I never saw any lights in it," replied Fred glumly.
"No, but that's what you wanted to see, I guess, more than anything
else," laughed Grant. "But there's a light there now," he added
suddenly, "I saw it myself. It shines for a minute and then it is gone.
There it is again!" he exclaimed a moment later. "You can see it shining
through the cellar windows. What do you suppose it is?"
"Spooks," said George solemnly. "They usually have a supper there once a
year and I think to-night is the regular time for their meeting."
"Do you want to stop?" demanded Fred quickly.
"I don't mind," replied George. There was no enthusiasm, however,
manifest among the boys, although every one jokingly declared that he
was not afraid. The excuse was commonly given that the necessity of
hasty investigation into the loss of the automobile demanded action in
other directions. Consequently no stop was made and although every boy
was frequently glancing behind him at the old Meeker House no light was
seen nor did any additional or unusual sounds come from that direction.
When the boys had gone beyond the corner their thoughts once more
returned to the problem which was confronting them. The mystery of the
lost car must be solved. Although there were many suggestions offered
there was not one of the boys that had any clearly outlined plan as to
what must be done in order to find the lost car or obtain information
concerning those who had taken it.
"I have a suggestion," broke in Grant at last.
"What's that?" demanded Fred.
"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 button 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, "nobody 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.