u, Frank?"

"It's just ahead a little way, if some one hasn't found the loose
board and fastened it up securely," replied the pilot of the
expedition.

They were pleased to discover that this had not happened. The loose
board still hung in position, and could be easily moved to one side,
allowing them a ready entry to the enclosed grounds.

Neither of them spoke above a whisper as they advanced. Frank followed
the tracks he and Bluff had made when leaving, since these marked the
shortest route to the building. And it was not long before they
caught their first glimpse of the house.

The sun happened to be just about right for a good picture of the
front; Will hoped those drifting clouds would not come along in an
exasperating way, as so often happens in the experience of every
amateur photographer, and obscure the light.

"It's going to make a cracker-jack of a picture, Frank!" said Will,
eagerly, and in the lowest of tones, as though he feared that
something might still happen to keep him from accomplishing his
cherished purpose.

"Just what I thought," replied the other, in an equally cautious
voice; "which was one reason I agreed to bring you up here. Get busy
now, Will."

The boy with the camera glanced about him, looking for the proper spot
from which to snap off his picture. Taking into consideration the
situation of the sun at that particular minute, together with the
direction the long, low building faced, Will saw that he could get in
the entire front and the western side.

He moved a little to the left and gauged matters with his practiced
eye. Being quite a skillful operator with the lens and the shutter,
Will could judge these things much better than any of his chums. In a
case of this kind at least he had no occasion to ask the advice of
Frank.

The latter in the meanwhile was looking from window to window of the
two-story building. It must have many rooms, he judged, from the
number of these openings. He was also wondering whether that old and
vigilant housekeeper would chance to discover the intruders in front
of the house, and hasten out to warn them away, lest they get in
trouble with her master.

Then, too, Frank was letting his curiosity have free rein again; he
remembered the weird cry that had come floating to the ears of himself
and Bluff, giving them such a queer feeling.

Nothing happened to spoil Will's chance of getting a good picture. The
clouds kept away from the sun in the mo