ting to follow the others, who went
boldly along the passage, intending to enter the haunted room by a
broken doorway of which Yaspard had been aware. His chagrin was great
to find that aperture closed by a number of stout boards nailed firmly
across it.

"What a bother! Now, I wonder why on earth this has been done?"
Yaspard exclaimed aloud, disappointment overcoming caution; but he was
recalled to the "position" on hearing some strange sounds on the other
side of the boarding, evidently provoked by his own unguarded tones.
The sounds were like a child's cry, blended with the sharp short
barking noise which is supposed to be the manner in which trows give
expression to their mirth; and these vocal utterances were supplemented
by a sound of scratching and thumping applied to the boards.

The boys retreated into the outer room, where Gilbert had remained. He
was leaning over the ruin, looking up at a window in the angle of the
wall, and when the others reached him he said in tones of fear, "Look!
there is a light in the haunted room!"

[1] A basket.

[2] "Raiding-strake," the final blow which clears up everything.

[3] "Peerie," little.

CHAPTER VIII.

"THEREFORE THEY GO THEIR WAYS."

I ought to explain that the passage leading to that "haunted" chamber
sloped upwards steeply enough to require a step here and there along
it. It might even be called a stairway; therefore the little
room--which had been the goal of Yaspard's present raid--was situated
on a much higher level than the larger and more dilapidated apartment.

It was not possible to walk round and peep into the room, from which a
flickering light was streaming through a tiny slit in the thick wall
that did duty for a window. But we must not suppose that the courage
of a Viking-boy was going to be daunted by trow-laughter or
ghost-lights. No; nor by stone walls and high windows! The walls of
Trullyabister were rugged, and, on _that_ side at any rate, perforated
by holes convenient for supporting the toe of a boot, and for otherwise
assisting an athletic youth, thirsting for information, to solve the
mysteries of the interior.

"I'll know what it means, or----" Yaspard did not finish his sentence
in words; he shut his mouth up tight, and, scrambling over the ruins
like a monkey, he was soon climbing up to the window.

The Harrisons watched him with intense interest, and when his hands
were on the window-sill their excitement reache