owls, but I
don't think it was. Still, if you tell maid-servants as there's
something wrong in the house, they'll either go out of the house or out
of their skins."

"Do you know what you are talking about, Nat?"

"Yes, sir. Course I do."

"Well, then, just be a little plain, and don't go smothering your words
up as if they were seeds that you'd put in to come up in a month. Now,
then, what is it?"

"You needn't be quite so chuff with a man, Master Scarlett--a man as is
trying to do his duty."

"Well, go on, then."

"I will, sir. I went into the kitchen, and the women was all talking
about it. Her ladyship's maid was the one who heard it, yes'day
morning, before breakfast."

"Heard what?"

"Groans, sir, and cries."

"Where?"

"That's what they can't make out. All she could say was that it sounded
close to the best bedroom, and it was as if somebody was crying for help
in a weak voice, and then shouting, `Red--red!' which they think means
blood."

"Stuff and rubbish, Nat!" cried Fred, hastily.

"That's what I said to them, sir."

"Then go and tell them so again," cried Fred. "Come along, Scar; I want
a run."

He hurried his companion away, and they went off down to the lake,
leaving Nat staring after them before going slowly away toward the
garden, muttering to himself--

"It's all very well," he said; "but it couldn't be howls."

"What made you hurry away so?" cried Scarlett, as they walked on, and he
came to a stop. "Let's go back and speak to my father. Something may
be wrong. How do we know? Nat--"

Fred burst out laughing.

"Why, don't you see?"

"No: what do you mean?"

"Didn't you tell me you were afraid to shout yesterday because your
voice went echoing along the passage?"

"Yes."

"Well, what did you call?"

"Fred--Fred!"

"Well, wouldn't that sound to any one who heard it like, `Red--red'?"

"Of course," cried Scarlett, laughing. "I never thought of that."

"Now, then, which way shall we go? Straight to the mouth where the
water ran, or to the hole in the wood?"

"To the hole;" and, after taking the trouble to make quite a circuit, so
as to be sure of avoiding observation, they entered the little wood,
made their way to the prostrate oak, and found that the bottom of the
hole was dry.

"There!" cried Scarlett, "I was right."

They dropped down, and found that by the time they had reached the end
of the portion illumined by the light which came down the hol