ck whispered.

"Are they in the cottage?" Dave demanded.

"I don't know. They went around to the other side. Let's wait
and see if we can guess what's up."

So, forgetful of their suppers for the time being, Dick & Co.
waited, screened by the bushes.

"There's smoke coming up out of the chimney," whispered Tom Reade.

"Yes," nodded Dick. "I had just noticed that. I'm wondering
what it can mean. No one has any right to break into the cottage."

"Fred Ripley and Bert Dodge, because they have a lawyer and a
bank officer for fathers, don't feel that they need any rights
when they want to do a thing," muttered Darrin resent fully.

It was impossible to see what might be going on inside the cottage,
for the simple reason that all of the windows were shuttered tightly.

"Let's go ahead," begged Dave, after a few more moments spent
in idle watching. "I want to know why that crowd has broken into
the cottage."

Truth to tell, even the leader of Dick & Co., usually very discreet,
felt himself a victim of curiosity.

"Shall we try to find out the secret, fellows?" Prescott inquired.

"That's just what we ought to do," responded Greg. "Especially
as Ripley and Dodge have always been so mean to us."

Dick went forward, with his best imitation of the way he imagined
an Indian scout would approach a strange house. Greg and Dan
were at his heels, while Dave and Harry went around the other
side of the cottage, Tom remaining well to the rear to watch.

Some low, vague sounds came from within the cottage. These were
not such noises as scurrying rats would make, so the boys were
quick to conclude that human beings were moving inside.

But what could possibly be going on? The noises that the Grammar
School boys heard were hard to classify.

At last Dick and Dave met before the door of the little cottage.
Nor were they much surprised at finding that the door of the
cottage stood perhaps a half an inch ajar.

This, however, did not furnish light enough to give a glimpse
of what was happening inside.

"Two or three of us may as well slip inside, eh?" whispered Dave
to Dick.

"Wait! Listen!" counseled Prescott. "We don't want to please
that crowd by stepping right into a trap. And I've an idea that
by this time they must know that we're around here."

"If they knew, they'd be out here making faces at us," retorted
Darrin wisely.

"And ordering us to get off the earth," supplemented Greg, in
a whisper.

"Listen," whi