while he takes a notion and goes up into the attic and blows
on the horn. I imagine he did it this time to amuse you children. I'll
ask him.

"Jabez!" she called up the stairs that led to the small second story of
the house. "Jabez! Is that you blowing the old bass horn?"

"Yes, Sarah, that's me," was the answer.

"Only I can't seem to blow it just right. Something appears to have got
stopped up in the horn, or else maybe it's frozen. It doesn't blow like
it used to."

"I should think it didn't!" laughed his wife. "Stop your tooting, and
bring the horn down where the children can see it. Some of 'em thought
it was a ghost, such as they have at Great Hedge. Did you ever hear of a
ghost there?"

"Oh, I've heard some talk of it," answered Mr. Thompson, and now the six
little Bunkers could hear him coming downstairs. He seemed to be
carrying something large and heavy.

"Why didn't you tell me about it?" asked his wife. "I like ghost
stories."

"Oh, this isn't really a ghost," quickly explained Rose. "It's just a
queer, groaning sound, and it comes in the middle of the night
sometimes, and my daddy and grandpa can't find out what it is."

"Maybe it was Mr. Thompson blowing his horn," suggested Russ. "It
sounded like that."

"Well, I'm sorry my playing sounds as bad as that," laughed Mr.
Thompson, and then he came into the room where the children were,
carrying a large brass horn, the kind that play the bass, or heavy,
notes in a band. Putting his lips to the mouthpiece Mr. Thompson made
the same "umph-umph!" sound that had so startled the children at first.

"Does that sound like the ghost?" he asked Russ.

"Just like it, only louder," was the answer.

"I wonder what it can be at Great Hedge," said Mrs. Thompson. "I should
think it would scare you dreadfully," she went on.

"Why, no," answered Rose. "But we want to find out what it is. So does
my daddy and Grandpa Ford. We're going to help him, Russ and I, only
every time we hear a funny noise it turns out to be Mun Bun falling out
of bed, or an alarm clock beating a drum or something like that."

"Mercy sakes!" exclaimed Mrs. Thompson. "You must have great goings-on
at Great Hedge!" She laughed when Russ and Rose told her of the
different queer noises, each one turning out to be something that was
only funny and easily explainable.

"Well, I'm sorry I startled you," said Mr. Thompson. "I sometimes take a
notion to go off by myself and blow the old horn a