Aunt Janes Nieces on the Ranch

Chapter 11

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Ascending once more to the library the weary watchers resumed their former attitudes of waiting, as patiently as they might, for the coming of the day. Uncle John looked at his watch and found it was only a little after two oclock. The minutes seemed hours to-night.

Suddenly a tremendous shriek rent the night, a shriek so wild and blood-curdling in its intensity that they sprang up and clung to each other in horror. While they stood motionless and terror-stricken there came a thump!thump!as of some heavy object tumbling down the three or four steps leading from the hall to the corridor of the old South Wing, and then the door burst open and Major Doyleclothed in red-and-white striped pajamasfairly fell into the library, rolled twice over and came to a stop in a sitting position, from whence he let out another yell that would have shamed a Cherokee Indian and which so startled big Runyon that he held a tenor note at high C for fully a minutemuch like the whistle of a peanut roasterthe which was intended for an expression of unqualified terror.

The major shuddered and clapped his hands to his eyes. Then he rocked back and forth, moaning dismally, while Patsy clung to his neck, sobbing and nearly distracted.

See it? shouted the major, removing his hands to glare angrily at Mr. Merrick. How could I see anything in the dark? The room was black as pitch.

Of course I said a ghost, retorted the major, querulously, as he rubbed his bare ankle with one hand to soothe a bump. You dont have to see a ghost to know its there, do you? And this ghostOh, Patsy, darling, I cant say it!its too horrible.

Again a fit of shuddering seized him and he covered his eyes anew and rocked his body back and forth while he maintained his seat upon the floor. His legs were spread wide apart and he wiggled his big toes convulsively.

Arthur sobbed and dropped his head upon the table. Rudolph groaned. Runyon swore softly, but with an accent that did not seem very wicked. Uncle John stared hard at the major.

The major could not bear such an aspersion, even under the trying circumstances. He scrambled to his feet, this time trembling with indignant anger, and roared:

Arthur leaped to his feet, a resolute expression upon his face. Instantly they all turned and followed him from the room. Into the hall, up the steps and through the corridor of the South Wing they passed, and just inside the majors room Rudolph struck a match and lighted a lamp that stood upon the table.

The place was in wild disorder, for when the major leaped from the bed he had dragged the coverings with him and they lay scattered upon the floor. The chair in which he had placed his clothing had been overturned and there was no question that his flight had been a precipitous rout. The casement of the window, set far back in the thick adobe wall, was wide open and the night breeze that came through it made the flame of the lamp flicker weirdly.

Beth proved her courage by bolding crossing the room and closing the window, while the others stood huddled just inside the door. Back of them all was the white face of Major Doyle, a brave soldier who had faced the enemy unflinchingly in many a hard fought battle, but a veritable poltroon in an imaginary ghostly presence.

Scarcely daring to breathe, they stood in tense attitudes listening for a repetition of the babys cry. Only an awesome, sustained silence rewarded them.

The majors open watch upon the table ticked out the minutesfivetenfifteen. Then the doctor crept back to the library and quietly resumed his book. Presently Runyon joined him.

I dont know about that, answered the boy. Seems to me a ghost would do about as a person in life did. The child criedpoor little baby Jane!and the ghostly wail was heard in the one room in this house that is hauntedthe blue room. Perhaps theres something about the atmosphere of that room that enables those who have passed over to make themselves heard by us who are still in the flesh.

Dolph sat down without reply. His wife came in and sat beside him, taking his hand in hers. In another quarter of an hour back came Uncle John, shivering with the chill of the corridor, and stood warming himself before the grate fire.

If the major heard the baby, he said reflectively, it must be proof thatthat somethinghas happened to the little dear, andand we must face the worst.

Well, it was baby I heard, asserted the major, who, having hastily donned his clothes, now made his reappearance in the library. I was lying in a sort of dose when the cry first reached my ears. Then I sat up and listened, and heard it again distinctly, as if little Jane were only two feet away. Thenthen

I admit it, sir! said Major Doyle, haughtily. Had it been anyone else who encountered the experienceeven a pill peddlerhe would have fainted.

In the blue room Patsy and Beth alone remained with Arthur Weldon. Not a sound broke the stillness. When an hour had passed, Patsy said:

Father isnt a coward, she remarked, and either he heard the cry, or he dreamed it. In the latter case it amounts to nothing; but if Jane really cried out, that fact ought to give us an important clue.

He started at this suggestion, which the girl had uttered without thought, merely to reassure him. Yet now she started herself, struck by the peculiar significance of her random words.

Cristoval, I suppose. Ive heard it was the original dwelling, he replied. The rest of the house was built at a much later date. Perhaps two generations labored in constructing the place. I do not know; but it is not important.

Oh, yes it is! cried Patsy with increasing ardor. The rest of the house is like many other houses, butthese walls are six or eight feet in thickness.

Yet these cant be solid blocks, persisted the girl, rising to walk nervously back and forth before the walls. There must be a space left inside. And see! the majors bed stands close to the outer wall, which is the thickest of all.

He stared at her in amazement and then, realizing the meaning of her words, sprang to his feet. Beth was equally amazed and looked at her cousin in wonder.

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