"Thought I saw ghost," he said, and went out and down the stairs,
the candlelight flickering, growing fainter, and finally
disappearing. Silence and eerie darkness enveloped them all as
they waited. And suddenly out of the blackness came a sound.
Something was flapping and thumping around the room.
"That's damned odd." muttered Beresford uneasily. "There is
something moving around the room."
"It's up near the ceiling!" cried Bailey as the sound began again.
Lizzie began a slow wail of doom and disaster.
"Oh--h--h--h--"
"Good God!" cried Beresford abruptly. "It hit me in the face!" He
slapped his hands together in a vain attempt to capture the flying
intruder.
Lizzie rose.
"I'm going!" she announced. "I don't know where, but I'm going!"
She took a wild step in the direction of the door. Then the
flapping noise was all about her, her nose was bumped by an
invisible object and she gave a horrified shriek.
"It's in my hair!" she screamed madly. "It's in my hair!"
The next instant Bailey gave a triumphant cry.
"I've got it! It's a bat!"
Lizzie sank to her knees, still moaning, and Bailey carried the
cause of the trouble over to the window and threw it out.
But the result of the absurd incident was a further destruction of
their morale. Even Beresford, so far calm with the quiet of the
virtuous onlooker, was now pallid in the light of the matches they
successively lighted. And onto this strained situation came at
last Billy and the Unknown.
Pages:
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231