d not been regularly occupied for some time.

Garry saw a door at one side of the kitchen, for that was the room into
which he had penetrated, and carefully opened it. The door led into a
long room, with a half a dozen tables, bare of cloth, and with chairs
stacked on them.

From the appearance of this room, and judging by the big range in the
kitchen from which he had just come, Garry decided that the house was
used in the winter as a boarding house for lumberjacks.

He went back to the kitchen and opened the only other door. A cool draft
told him this was the cellar, and he listened intently, then flashing
his light, went down the steps. A few moments' investigation showed him
that there was no living person down there. The air was musty, and the
cellar seemed damp.

While Garry was examining the lower floor, Phil and Dick had gone up the
stairs. Here, too, all was quiet. Wishing Phil a hasty good luck, Dick
began the ascent of the flight that led to the third floor.

Left alone, Phil stood stockstill for a few minutes, getting his
bearings. There was a long hall from which led off ten doors, five on
either side.

Phil decided he could do nothing better than go from door to door,
listening intently at each one, then enter the room and flash his light
about, for each of the boys had provided himself with a heavy batteried
flashlamp.

He wondered where the screams could have come from, as there wasn't a
sound of anyone stirring on the floor. He could hear Dick's stealthy
footfall above him occasionally.

He listened at each door intently, and peered at them for a sign of
light creeping through a keyhole or chance crack, but his vigilance went
unrewarded.

Finally at the very last door he saw a mere speck of light through the
keyhole. He dropped to his knee and glued his eye to the keyhole. By the
flaring light of a couple of candles stuck into bottles, he could make
out the still form of a man on a cot.

The room was considerably torn up, as though a search for something had
been made.

Then a man crossed his line of vision and shook up the form on the cot.
The sleeping, or unconscious man, made no move, and the other
disappeared for a moment and then returned, bearing a small pail
containing water which he proceeded to splash vigorously on the face of
the recumbent man.

Presently this had its desired effect for the form stirred, and in a
voice hardly above a whisper the man began to speak.

Phil coul