also spoke of the recent interference in their
radio receivers by a sharp and continuous dash sounded over a wave
length of 1,375 meters. A frown of growing concentration fastened on
Mr. Temple's brow as Jack proceeded. When it was apparent that Jack
had concluded, Mr. Temple leaned forward.

"I suspected there was something mysterious about that man," he said.

"What man?" asked Mr. Hampton.

The others at the table looked blank.

"Why, the chap who bought the old Brownell house and property. You
know the place. There are about 750 acres of land, mainly timber. This
inlet, Starfish Cove as the boys call it, is on the property. And
there is an old house back in the trees. It is isolated, there is no
habitation near, and the house has a bad name to boot. Some of the
old-timers in the settlement at the crossroads declare the place is
haunted."

"So that is part of the Brownell property?" asked Mr. Hampton.

The boys looked at each other. Della surreptitiously squeezed Frank's
hand beneath the table. This promised to be interesting. The Brownell
place was one of the delightful bugaboos of their childhood. Old
Captain Brownell, a Yankee whaling skipper, was long since dead. The
house had stood boarded up and untenanted for years. Tradition
declared he had committed acts of piracy on the high seas during the
period of his whaling voyages and that, having retired uncaught, he
had come down to this secluded nook and built the great house in order
to hide there from some of his old associates whom he had cheated, but
that they had found and slain him. It was his ghost, it was said in
the countryside, which haunted the place.

"Yes," replied Mr. Temple, in answer to Mr. Hampton's question.
"Starfish Cove and all that land around there, where Bob found this
secret radio plant located, is part of the Brownell property."

"And who is this man who bought it?" asked Bob, putting the question
in all minds.

"I don't even know his name," confessed Mr. Temple. "But what I do
recall are some things told me by McKay, a real estate dealer in the
city who had the Brownell property on his list for a long time. He
said this chap who bought the place impressed him as a man who only
recently had come into the possession of money, and he wondered what
he wanted with the Brownell property. The newly-rich man usually wants
to make a splurge, he doesn't want to buy a country home away off
somewhere, in an out of the way nook, where peopl