CHAPTER XXI
BOTH AT ONCE
It was not long before there came a recurrence of the strange hummingnoise which had so disturbed the girls. It was only a few nights laterthat Chet sat up in bed with the joyful feeling that here at last was achance to investigate at least one of the ghosts that haunted thehomestead at Cherry Corners.
"Ferd! Teddy! Wake up! What's the matter? Are you dead?" he calledto the boys.
The latter reluctantly opened their eyes and looked at him reproachfully.
"Can't you let a fellow sleep?" Teddy asked. But Chet, with no ceremonywhatever, hauled him bodily out of bed and set him on his feet.
"Don't talk," he ordered. "Run as fast as you can to the roof beforewe miss it."
"What are you raving about?" asked Ferd, although both he and Teddystarted obediently toward the attic stairs.
"If you wouldn't talk so much, you could hear it," Chet answered, pushingup a trap door that led to a small square platform on the roof. "It'sthe motor sound the girls heard and that scared them so."
"It is, for a fact!" cried Teddy in a joyful whisper. "And it's comingright near, fellows, too."
"It's an aeroplane all right," said Ferd, with conviction. "Nothing elseever made a noise like that."
"Say, what are you doing up there?" a girl's voice hailed them from thebottom of the steps, and Chet thought he recognized it as Billie's. "Areyou walking in your sleep or have you gone crazy? Come down here quick,we need you."
"Keep still," Chet yelled back. "We're looking for your aeroplane ghost.Can't you hear it?"
"Yes. But, oh, Chet," Billie's voice was tremulous, "the piano is playingitself again. Won't you come down? We're afraid to stay here all alone."
"Great Scott! all the spirits are roaming at once," cried Teddy,straining his eyes to see through the darkness as the humming of themotor came nearer.
"There, isn't that it?" cried Ferd, pointing eagerly through the treestoward a little patch of sky, palely illumined with stars.
"I think I saw it," said Chet, rubbing his eyes impatiently. "It's soconfoundedly dark--"
"Oh, won't you please come down?" wailed Billie's voice from thespooky depths of the attic. "I'll die of fright if I have to stay hereanother minute."
This appeal moved the boys, and they began reluctantly to descend theladder, keeping their eyes all the time on the pale patch of sky.
"Where are the others?" asked Teddy, as he reached Billie's side.
"They're down looking for the ghost," answered Billie, as she ran downthe stairs in front of them. "They sent me to get you boys, and I foundyou gone. Mrs. Gilligan," she added, with a hysterical giggle, "has thebroom and Laura has the poker."
"Maybe we'd better stop on the way and gather up a few bedposts,"suggested Ferd, as they took the last flight of stairs on a run andlanded in the lower hall.
"Hello, did you find anything?" sang out Chet, as the girls, lookingscared but valiant, came out to meet them. "Where's Mrs. Gilligan?"
"Inside," said Violet. "There isn't a thing to be seen any more thanthere was the other night. I'm absolutely positive now that it mustbe a ghost."
"Well, if it is, he's got a sense of humor," said Mrs. Gilligan, risingfrom her knees where she had been peering into the corner behind thepiano. "I've heard of all sorts of spirits, but I never heard of one whoinsisted upon playing the piano in the dead of night."
"He must have been a musician in his life time," suggested Chet. "That'sthe reason he comes and haunts the piano."
"Well, I don't see why he doesn't choose a regular piano to haunt,"said Billie, feeling irritable because she was very sleepy and had beenvery much frightened. "It's bad enough for a live person to play, letalone a ghost."
"And where could it have gone?" wondered Laura, her eyes big and darkwith excitement. "The minute we heard the noise--I guess we're sort oflistening for it even in our sleep--we jumped up and came down here whileBillie went to call you boys. It was playing almost up to the minute wecame into the room."
"And maybe we weren't afraid to go in!" said Violet, with a shudder. "Idon't know how we ever got the courage."
"Well, you only came because Mrs. Gilligan and I went ahead with thebroom and the poker," sniffed Laura.
"Was it playing when you came down the stairs?" asked Chet, interested."And did it stop as soon as you entered the room?"
"Yes," it was Mrs. Gilligan who answered this time. "And it was good forhim he did. I've lost enough sleep through the miserable rascal and I wasjust ripe for a tussle."
"I don't blame him for running," said Teddy, with a chuckle.
"But where did he go?" asked Laura again. "We were sure that we'd seesomething--goodness knows what--when we turned the corner of the room."
"And all we saw was a--a large amount of nothing at all," added Violet,wide-eyed.
"Perhaps," suggested Ferd, with a chuckle, "the aeroplane we heardbelonged to him--"
"A ghost's aeroplane," murmured Billie, smothering anotherhysterical chuckle.
"And when you girls came in he just soared skyward and went off in it."
"It's funny we never thought of that," said Teddy scornfully.
"Well, I wish we could find out what it is," sighed Billie, as theystarted upstairs again. "This staying awake all night isn't verymuch fun."
"But isn't it strange," asked Laura, stopping on the landing and lookingback at them, "that both the piano and the motor should start again onthe same night?"
"Yes, it is, rather," said Chet, adding seriously: "I wonder if therecould really be any connection between the two."
"There's no use wondering, that I can see," said Mrs. Gilligan, preparingto send them off to their respective bedrooms. "I think the best thing wecan do is not to notice them any more. Perhaps the ghosts will get tired,if they find they don't worry us," this last with a chuckle.
"Well, but they do worry us," said Violet plaintively. "Every time I hearthat piano, I just about die of fright."
"Listen," commanded Billie, and as they listened they heard itagain! The ghost, or whatever it was, was surely making a joke ofthem that night!
As soon as the boys could recover from their surprise they tumbled downthe stairs, tripping over each other in their hurry, while the girlsfollowed more slowly.
But again the noise stopped abruptly, and when they entered the roomthere was nothing to be seen or heard.
"Say, this thing is making me mad!" cried Ferd, glaring at the old pianoas though it were the offender. "I don't mind meeting anhonest-to-goodness ghost, but I'll be hanged if I'll let him laugh atme!"
"I don't see how you're going to help it," said Teddy. "Come on, fellows,it's pretty nearly morning, and we can decide then what we'll do to catchMr. Ghost. I'm so sleepy I'm apt to fall asleep on my feet."
So they went upstairs again, feeling rather miserable and dragged outwith excitement, and crawled into bed.
"If this thing keeps up much longer, I'll just be a wreck, that's all,"groaned Laura, and almost immediately she fell asleep.
After a little while of staring into the dark, Billie and Violet followedher example, and once more there was quiet in the old house.
Nothing more disturbed them, but they woke the next morning, tired andcross and with a decidedly "morning after" feeling.
"I don't want to get up," complained Violet, turning restlessly in bedand punching her pillow. "I can't get more than one eye open."
"Shall we send for the doctor?" asked Billie, regarding her sleepily."That sounds like a serious complaint."
"Humph, I don't need a doctor," grumbled Violet. "I can prescribe for mycase better than he could. What I need is a rest cure."
"So say we all of us," echoed Laura sleepily. "I'm going to takeanother nap, girls, and if anybody dares to wake me up, I'll throw myhair brush at them."
"I'm going to get up," decided Billie. "I'll only get a headachelying here."
"Well, I hope you enjoy yourself," said Laura, and settled herself in ast
ill more comfortable position.
While Billie was dressing the two girls fell asleep again, and asshe turned to look at them she almost wished that she had followedtheir example.
"But I knew I couldn't sleep," she said, turning away, "and, besides, I'mgetting very hungry."
But when she started down the broad staircase she found that she was theonly one stirring in the house, and a strange, lonesome feeling tookpossession of her.
"Ugh," she cried, glancing about her distastefully, "it's the gloomiestplace I ever did see. I'll be glad when we leave it. That is, I wouldbe," she added wistfully, "if only Chet and I were going with the othersto boarding school."
She wandered into the room where the old piano stood and looked at itmusingly for a few minutes. Then suddenly a thought struck her, and sheclapped her hands gleefully.
"I wonder--" she said, then, remembering an old rat trap that she hadcome across several days ago, ran into the pantry to get it. She baitedit with a fresh piece of cheese and set it carefully on the piano.
"Now," she said, standing back and regarding her work with satisfaction,"we shall see what we shall see!"
Billie Bradley and Her Inheritance; Or, The Queer Homestead at Cherry Corners Page 21