In the gloomy, dusty kitchen, the boys stared at one another.
Frank broke the silence.
"I'm going to find out about this!" he declared firmly, striding over to the door that led to the interior of the house.
"Me too," said Joe.
Taking heart by the Hardy boys' example, the others crowded at their heels.
Frank flung open the door and strode into the room beyond. It was a very gloomy chamber, for the one window was boarded up, but when their eyes became accustomed to the meager light the boys saw that a door on the far side of the room led into a hallway. It was evidently not the hallway that they had already been in at the front of the house, but presumably one that led to a side door.
"Nothing here," said Frank. "I'd like to find those stairs. That yell came from the upper part of the house."
The boys made their way across the room. Outside they could hear the sweep of the rain and the steady rumblings of the thunder, for the storm was now at its height. Through the chinks of the boards over the window they could occasionally see the lurid glare of lightning.
Suddenly there was a blast of wind that seemed to shake the entire house. A sharp,
