ng again. It rattled a window, and somewhere about the
building it made a loose board clap, clap, clap, in a way that made
Browning think of clods falling on a coffin.

All at once, somewhere down below in the old building, a shriek rang
out, startling, shrill, wild and awful. It froze the blood in Browning's
veins and seemed to cause his hair to stand upon his head. Following the
shriek came--silence!

CHAPTER XX.

FRANK SEES THE MONSTER.

Instantly Browning thought how the fisherman had told of the awful
screams that came from the lips of the monster of the island. Had that
monster uttered this cry?

Where was Merriwell?

"Frank!"

Browning shouted the name of his friend and the empty rooms echoed with
the sound.

"Frank Merriwell!"

From room to room rushed the big fellow. There was no answer to his
cries.

Quickly satisfying himself that Merriwell was nowhere in the upper story
of the boarding house, Bruce bounded down the stairs four at a time.

"Frank, where are you?"

No sound save his own voice and the echoes.

A sickening sensation seized upon Browning. He began to feel that a
calamity, a tragedy, had taken place.

From room to room he rushed, but he saw nothing of the one he sought.
Was it possible Frank had left the building without saying anything to
him? He could not think so.

All at once he stood before an open door, and he dimly saw a flight of
stairs leading downward into the darkness. A cold, dank smell came up
from the depths below.

Browning quickly decided that there must be some sort of a cellar or
basement down there. The door was open. Frank had gone down to
investigate.

But the cry that had rung through the building! What had happened below?

For a moment Bruce hesitated. Then he quickly felt in his pocket and
drew forth a match safe. A moment later, with lighted match in his
fingers, he was descending the stairs into the dank and moldy basement.

At the bottom of the stairs was another door. It was open. Bruce stepped
through it and stumbled over something, dropping his match, so that he
was in the densest darkness.

At that moment the wild shriek rang out again so near that it seemed
uttered in his very ear.

He had his revolver in his hand, and he whirled, his heart having sprung
into his mouth, ready to use the weapon. In the darkness he saw nothing.

Bruce was shaking as he crouched there. He heard his teeth rattle
together, and he realized that he wa