When John and Grant climbed into their seats in the waiting automobile
both were nearly breathless. Before either of them spoke there came
another loud burst of laughter from the house of mystery, and a moment
later Fred and George were seen approaching. Both were running but
neither apparently had been as greatly alarmed by the occurrences in the
old Meeker House as had their two friends.
"I thought you fellows were not going to run," said Fred as he seated
himself.
"We thought the place was being bombarded," explained John. "I noticed
that you didn't stay very long either."
"We had to come out and find what had made you fellows run so fast,"
said George.
"That's all right," said John. "I'm willing to go back there now if you
are."
Fred hesitated a moment, but as George had now seated himself and the
car was under motion and there was slight prospect of turning back, in
his boldest tones he said, "I'm perfectly willing to go back. I wasn't
scared to-night anyway."
"Come on, then," said John, rising as he spoke.
George, however, ignored the conversation and increasing the speed at
which the car was moving soon left the corner far behind him.
When the Go Ahead boys arrived at the farmhouse neither John nor Grant
had much to say concerning their recent experience. The blinding flash
which they described had been seen also by their companions, but both
George and Fred declared that they had not been frightened by the
unexpected occurrence.
There was no possibility of denying the fact that John and Grant had
fled much more precipitately than had their companions, although there
had been no great difference in the time of their return to the waiting
automobile.
For some reason conversation flagged and not many references were made
to the mysteries of the old Meeker House which still were unexplained.
"To-morrow morning," said George, "you understand that we are to go to
Morristown. Are we all going?"
"We are," replied his friends together.
"I didn't know but John would like to stay behind and make some further
investigations," laughed George.
"No, sir. I'm not going to be left this time," explained John. "I want
to see Morristown. I have heard so much about the place that I want to
see it for myself."
"It's well worth seeing," said George.
The following morning directly after breakfast, the Go Ahead boys were
speeding swiftly toward the beautiful Jersey town which was to be their
destination. The ride across the rolling country, with its frequent
streams and hills and villages, was most attractive. Many beautiful
homes, erected by the people of the great city beyond the borders of the
state, added much to the beauty of the scenery.
However, the enthusiasm of the boys reached its highest point when at
last they arrived at Morristown. The combination of age with the best
that the thought of modern times could accomplish in the architecture of
the houses was most impressive. Beautiful homes, many of which had
extensive lawns and shade trees and the many evidences of thrift and
prosperity to be seen on every side, were most attractive.
The first duty of the boys, however, was to visit the garage to which
they had been directed by George's father. Here, however, again their
efforts proved unavailing. The missing car was not found. An automobile
of the same make and concerning which there was some question of
ownership was still in the garage, but the Go Ahead boys speedily
decided that they had no claim to its possession.
"I don't believe we'll ever find the car," said Fred despondently when
the boys departed from the garage.
"I guess you have forgotten our name," suggested John. "We are the Go
Ahead boys, not the Give Up boys."
"That's all right," spoke up George, "but just now I am going to show
you some of the sights of this old historic town."
"Did Washington sleep here?" inquired Fred demurely.
"He lived here for a while," explained George, "but the British tried to
find out whether he was asleep or not. They never found him asleep."
"Still I suppose he did sleep sometimes."
"When was he here?" inquired John.
"Why, don't you know the history of your own country?" spoke up Fred.
"Washington came here after the battle of Princeton. That winter was a
hard one for the little colonial army. People have talked about Valley
Forge just as if there wasn't as much suffering at Morristown. I don't
know why it is that people start on one line and then forget there are
any others."
"He was here twice," explained Grant. "That winter of '77 and '78 and
then too in the winter of '78 and '79."
"Yes," said George. "The house which is called Washington's Headquarters
is where he lived during his second winter. I'm going to take you
first," he added, "out to Washington Valley. That's where the most of
the soldiers camped."
In a brief time the Go Ahead boys gained the summit of the hill from
which they were able to look down upon the marvelously beautiful valley
before them. It was like a great bowl among the hills. The rich and
cultivated fields and beautiful homes on the hillsides and the nature of
the place itself combined to make a most beautiful as well as
interesting picture.
"It looks almost as if it was built for an army to hide in," said Grant.
"They were pretty well protected here," explained George. "You see, the
hills were as good as forts. Now we'll go back to Washington's
headquarters," he added, as he turned around and started once more back
toward Morristown.
Not far from the public square the boys found the famous building. Built
of brick and covered with boards and shingles, its sides painted white,
it produced not merely an impression of age, but also of freshness as
well.
"Then this is where the father of his country stayed, is it?" said Fred.
"Just look at this picture," he added as he pointed toward the house and
then turned around to George and said, "then look at this. We have
fallen from that to this, Washington was the father of his country and
G. Washington Sanders is just 'Pop'."
"That's all right," replied George, joining in the laugh of his friends.
"I'll admit that Pop isn't the biggest word in the language any more
than Pyg is."
"Quit this," demanded Grant. "We're going into the old house and you
will have to behave yourselves."
The visit proved to be most interesting. Many articles that had been
used when Washington was living in the house and many more which had
been contributed were on exhibition. Indeed, as the boys passed from
room to room they became more subdued in their manner, for somehow the
knowledge that they were looking upon the same sights that had greeted
the great commander had produced a marked effect. Even the old cannon on
the lawn and the piles of cannon balls had stories of their own.
The silence, however, was broken when the boys resumed their seats in
the automobile.
"I wonder why Washington stayed so far away from his army," suggested
John.
"He had a body guard here all the time," explained Grant. "There were
about two hundred and fifty men stationed here. They used to call them
the life guard."
"What did they do?" inquired Fred.
"It was a special guard to protect General Washington. You see the red
coats and Hessians, as I told you, tried a good many times to catch
Washington asleep. Sometimes they crossed over from Staten Island and
came up through Springfield, trying to catch the 'old fox' off his
guard. But the people all through the country knew just what to do. They
had guns or little cannon mounted on several of the hills and whenever
word came that the redcoats were coming the boys fired one cannon and
that would be heard by other people and the guns on the other hills
would be fired too so that the soldiers at Morristown knew long before
the British could arrive that they were trying to advance."
"But they never got him," said Fred gleefully.
"It wasn't because they didn't try hard enough," laughed George. "My
grandfather used to tell me that when the soldiers at Morristown heard
the 'old sow,' which was the name of one of the guns, they understood
right away that there was danger of an attack. Everything in the old
house was shut up except the windows, and then five of the continentals
took their stand at every window and were ready to fire upon any one
that came near the place."
"I would like to have seen Washington," said John thoughtfully.
"They say," said George, "that he was about as tall as you are, String,
but he had some breadth and thickness as well as length. He weighed
about two hundred pounds. All the time he was at Morristown he was very
quiet. I fancy he was worried all the while. That didn't prevent him
from being very strict with his soldiers, however. He issued an order
that there should be no gambling or swearing, that nobody should be
permitted to do any stunts on Sunday, and the men who disobeyed didn't
forget the lesson taught them."
"Why, what did Washington do?" inquired Fred.
"He had guilty soldiers whipped in the presence of their companies. A
man would be tied up to a tree and then the drummers or fifers would
have to lash him. Sometimes they got forty blows, sometimes more. One
time a soldier who had disobeyed orders about poaching and had stolen a
pig from a poor farmer was reported to the commander. Washington had him
whipped with more than a double dose. They say that the men did not make
any complaint though, and even when they were going through the
performance every man used to take a lead cartridge between his teeth
and bite hard on it whenever he was struck a blow."
"I guess that's one reason why Washington was so popular," suggested
John thoughtfully.
"It's an easy way to become popular," laughed Fred.
"Never you mind," retorted George. "You know just as well as I do that
no fellow likes a teacher that is not strict. My father says that the
man or boy who tries to be popular never is."
"And your father is dead right too," said Grant quickly, turning to his
friend.
"Yes, sir, he's all right," responded John.
CHAPTER XXI--AN EXPLANATION IN PART
It was the middle of the afternoon when the Go Ahead boys returned to
George's home. Apparently they had not been cast down by their failure
to obtain information concerning the missing car. Indeed, as one of the
boys laughingly remarked, George was the only one deeply and personally
concerned in the loss and if he did not feel discouraged there certainly
was no reason why his friends should be despondent.
On the broad piazza of the old farmhouse the boys sat for a half-hour
talking over the experiences of the day. Different suggestions were made
as to possible plans that might be adopted in the search for the stolen
automobile.
"I'm not thinking so much about the car as I am about what we saw to-day
at Morristown," said Grant thoughtfully. "I feel almost as if I had
stepped right back into the eighteenth century."
"My friend," said Fred soberly, "that is where you belong. I have often
been puzzled to know how to account for some of the strange traits of
your peculiar personality. You have hit the nail now squarely on the
head. You have been born one hundred and forty years too late. You are a
rare old antique."
The boys laughed as Grant arose from his seat and lifting his diminutive
friend bodily from the chair in which he was seated, he dropped him over
the rail.
"When you grow up," he called, "and learn to behave you may come back
here."
"I'm not coming back," called Fred glibly.
"We'll try to live through our disappointment," said Grant.
"You'll be disappointed all right the next time you see me," called
Fred. Then turning to John he eagerly beckoned to him to follow him.
With a groan John slowly arose from the chair in which he was seated and
followed Fred as he led the way around the corner of the house.
"What I want of you," said Fred when he and his companion could not be
seen by the other boys, "is to go with me over to the Meeker House. I
think I have found something."
"Is it the same thing you found last night?" inquired John.
"Not at all. I don't mind telling you that I have fixed a trap over
there."
"What do you mean, a steel trap?"
"No, no," said Fred. "I sprinkled some bran last night all around the
floor. I filled my pockets with it before we started and while we were
in the old house I scattered it on the floors. Now, I want to go over
there to find out if--"
"If what?" interrupted John. "Are you trying to feed those spooks on
bran?"
"As usual, my friend," retorted Fred, "you begin at the wrong end. I am
not trying to get an impression of their heads, but of their feet. Only,
spooks don't make a deep impression when they step on the floor, and I'm
more than suspicious that I'll find some tracks."
"I'll go with you," said John eagerly. "Wait until I tell the other
fellows that we are going away for a while. Are you going to walk,
Fred?"
"Yes, I am. I have been riding all day and I want to stretch my
muscles."
Both George and Grant laughed when John told them that he and Fred were
going for a walk.
"You'll walk in one direction," called George, "but you'll be running
when you come back. I think I'll take the car and in a half an hour I'll
come over after you. You'll want to see some of your friends by that
time and you will want to see them bad."
"I don't want to see them 'bad,'" retorted John as he turned away. "They
are 'bad' enough as it is. I want to see them badly."
Together the two boys walked through the woods and across the lots and
by a shorter route than the highway arrived within a half-hour in the
yard of the house they were seeking.
"Come around to the kitchen," said Fred. Almost unconsciously he had
lowered his voice and although it was still daylight he was glancing
nervously about him when he and John softly opened the rear door and
stepped within the kitchen.
The boards of the floor were twisted and uneven. The floor was of pine
and George had explained that his father had said that he believed the
floor was as old as any part of the house. There were marks of the
places where the women of another generation had scrubbed the floor.
Doubtless it had been their pride to keep the pine boards clean, just as
it is a source of pride to many of their sisters of a later day to be
adorned with feathers of various gaudy colors.
Noiselessly the boys advanced and without a word having been spoken
began to examine the floor where Fred had scattered the bran the
preceding evening. No footprints were found, however, and it was
speedily plain that if any one had entered the building since the boys
had departed they had not done so by the kitchen door.
Convinced that they were alone in the house, the courage of both boys
somewhat revived. Indeed there was something in the sunshine of the
summer afternoon and in the not unmusical sounds of the winged
grasshoppers in the adjacent orchard that was soothing to the excited
boys.
They were about to pass out of the room when John abruptly stopped and
whispered, "Look here, Fred. What's that?" As he spoke he pointed to a
small tube which plainly had been fastened recently to the wall. The
tube was of tin, about an inch in diameter and extended almost to the
ceiling. Through the wall a hole had been made and the boys peered
eagerly at the wall in the adjacent room to see whether or not the tube
was there also.
"That's just how it is! That's good, String!" exclaimed Fred excitedly.
"That explains the sound of the voices we heard the other night."
"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."
John obediently stretched his long form upon the floor and peered up
through the flue of the open fireplace. As he did so the clatter in the
chimney suddenly increased in volume and for a moment John was on the
point of hastily withdrawing from the spot.
As he prepared to do so, however, suddenly a little, young bird fell,
striking the floor close to John's head. At the same time there was a
renewal of the clatter in the chimney and John hastily withdrew.
To his amazement he found when he arose that Fred was laughing.
"What's there so funny about it?" demanded John as he tried to brush the
accumulated dust from his person.
For a moment Fred was almost unable to control himself, but at last he
said, "Oh, Jack, what fools we have been. There we were so scared by the
sound of the wings that we heard in this room and the strange noises
that came from the chimney that we couldn't get out of the place fast
enough. And now it's all as plain as daylight."
"I don't see it," said John blankly.
"Well, have a little patience, and in time you'll see it, Johnny."
"Why don't you talk? Why don't you explain yourself? What are you
laughing at?" demanded John, irritated by the manner of his companion.
"Why those sounds we heard were made by chimney-swallows."
"What is a chimney-swallow?"
"Do you mean to tell me that you have lived to be seventeen years old
and don't know what a chimney-swallow is?"
"They don't have them in the city where I live."
"Well," said Fred, pretending to be discouraged, "I cannot understand
how any fellow can live as you have and yet not know that there are some
birds called chimney-swallows that live in the chimneys of old or
deserted houses. If you should look up there now you could see some
nests fastened right to the sides of the chimney. I have never seen the
birds, but I'm sure that's what they are. Whenever we have come into the
house we have probably frightened them and they have been flying around
the room. They were the spooks that scared us so."
"Do you suppose George knew about it?" demanded John ruefully.
"Of course he knew it. He has been saving it all up to add to his story
of the speaking tube."
"Well, it's a comfort to know the old house isn't haunted anyway."
"Of course it isn't haunted. There isn't anything haunted because there
isn't anything like ghosts or spooks."
"I'm glad to hear you talk so nicely, Freddie," said John, who now had
recovered from his chagrin. "If I'm not mistaken I've heard you talk in
a different tone once or twice before when we have been here."
"That's all right," said Fred glibly. "Now we have found out what the
spooks are and we'll show George that we're not afraid of anything in
the old Meeker House."
The boys were still conversing in whispers, and as Fred made his bold
declaration he abruptly stopped and looked anxiously toward the
stairway. A sound mysterious and unexpected had been heard in the room
directly above them. Both boys were convinced that either others were in
the house, or that they had not yet found an explanation for all the
mysteries of the old Meeker House.