But whoever would be grunting like that in this old rookery, I'd like to
know?" Bristles continued as though unable to fully grasp the idea.

"For my part," said Fred, bluntly, "I can't explain it. How about you,
Colon?"

"Yes, how is that, Colon?" Bristles hastened to add, as if to lend
weight to the sudden demand.

"Me? What should I know about a groan, except that I happened to be the
first one to notice the same, and thought it was rats fighting?" Colon
expostulated.

"Well, for one thing," Fred told him, "we happen to know that some time
ago you had a strong notion you could throw your voice, like the fellow
on the stage who makes the dummies in the trunk talk, and say funny
things. And it struck me that perhaps you might be trying it out on the
dog, meaning your good and faithful chums."

That aroused Colon as few other things might have done.

"Give you my word of honor, Fred, I never thought of such a thing," he
said, in the most tragic of ways. "You c'n put your ear close to my
mouth, and wait till it sounds again, when you'll find I haven't got any
hand in that grunting. Maybe it's a poor pig that's half drowned by the
rain coming into its pen near by."

"I know how hogs grunt," Fred told him, "and it wasn't along that line at
all. This must be a human being in pain!"

"Whew! if we don't just strike queer happenings wherever we go!" declared
Bristles, though from his wide-awake manner it was evident that he did
not feel at all averse to these lively episodes coming right along, but
rather enjoyed the excitement they brought in their train.

"We ought to do something, oughtn't we, Fred?" asked Sid. "If it did
turn out there was a sick man in this old shook, and we learned later
that he'd died for want of a little attention, we'd feel mighty sorry."

"First of all, back out, everybody," said Fred. "Then once clear of the
mow, we can talk it over, and lay some sort of plan. Push along there,
Bristles, you're blocking the line of retreat."

Of course Bristles would not stand for this, and so he began to back out,
following the line of least resistance, which in this case was the tunnel
by means of which they had crept under the haymow.

Once free and clear, the four runners clustered together, and proceeded
to listen attentively again, almost holding their breath in the effort to
locate the sound that had startled them so.

"There it is, boys!" exclaimed Fred.

"And louder than before,"