The Boy Scout Camera Club | Page 4

"Then ask him to come in here," Ned suggested, "and you, boys," he
added, turning to the wondering faces at the other side of the apartment,
"you get as close as you wish while this man is talking, but don't
interrupt. It may be that we shall have to do something right soon. I
reckon our hunt for the prince starts right here, in the Black Bear Patrol
clubroom, in the heart of little old New York."
The servant Jack had beckoned to now entered the room and stood with
his back to the door, looking from one boyish face to another. He was a
heavily built, muscular fellow, evidently an Irishman, judging from his
face and manner.
"Will you kindly come over here and sit down?" Ned asked.
The servant complied and the others gathered around him.
"Now," Jack began, "tell Ned what you just told me--about the man in
the attic, and about the hole in the ceiling."
Every eye in the room was instantly turned toward the lofty ceiling, but
nothing out of the ordinary was to be seen there.
"The hole he refers to," Jack, smiling, explained, "is not in sight. It is
under the ornamental brass piece that circles the rod from which the
chandelier hangs. It was made to listen at, and not to see through, I take
it!"
"That makes a good starter," Ned smiled, "so go on."
"Half an hour ago," the servant began, "I was called to this floor by one
of the maids, Mary Murphy it was, and she was that scared she looked
like a bag of flour! She pointed to the staircase leading to the attic and

asked me to go up there.
"So I says to her: 'Why do you want me to go up there? If there's a
haunt there, or a burglar, or a man after one of the girls, why should I
risk the precious neck of me, when it's the only one I've got, with no
prospect of ever getting another in case this one was damaged beyond
repair?' So she says to me, she says--"
"Never mind what she said," Ned interrupted, fearful of a long,
involved dialogue between the two servants. "Tell me what you did."
"I went up the staircase, three steps at a jump, an' bumped the head of
me on the edge of the door at the top of it. You can see the dent in my
coco now!"
"And what did you find there?" asked Ned.
"There was a rug on the floor and a hole in the floor, and a twinkle of
light shining into the attic from this room. Some one had been listening
there!"
"You saw no one?"
"Never a soul! I'm that sorry I can't express it!"
"When were you in that attic before--the last time before to-night?"
"Late yesterday afternoon it was."
"Was there a rug in the middle of the floor at that time?" Ned went on.
"No more than there is a bold lion in the middle of this floor, sir."
"Well, what did you do after you got up there to-night?"
"I hunted around for the man who had been lying there listening to the
talk in this room, but I didn't find him, sir."
"Did you ascertain where all the servants were at the time the listening

must have been going on?" asked Jack, after a short pause.
"All but one," was the reply.
"And that one? Where is he now? That is, tell, if you know where he
is?"
"I don't know, sir. He has left the house, I reckon--bag and baggage."
"Who was it?" demanded Jack, moving toward the door.
"Chang Chu, the Chink, may the Evil One get into his bed!"
"And then you came here and notified Jack?" asked Ned. "As soon as
you learned that Chang Chu was not in the house?"
"Indeed I did--within a minute and a half."
"Where is this girl, Mary Murphy?" asked Ned, turning to Jack. "We
must get hold of her right away. I want to hear her story of what she
saw in the attic."
Jack went out of the room, but was back in a minute with the girl, a
pretty, modest maid of about eighteen. She looked frightened at finding
herself the center of interest, but was soon in the midst of her story.
"I went up to the attic to get a piece of cloth for a bandage, Sally having
cut her hand with the bread knife. When I got to the door of that room I
heard some one inside of it. I listened at the crack there is between the
panel and the stile and heard footsteps, slow and soft like. I thought it
was one of the maids, and opened the door