CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE SKELETON IN THE CELLAR.
Mrs. Bayne was wild with grief, as she saw Rob taken away in this heartless way.
“This is the worst blow yet,” she moaned. “Oh, why have they taken my boy—our support?”
“And my poor Mary,” cried Mrs. Little.
“And my boys, Tom and Jerry,” added Aunt Vinnie.
It was a hopeless group, and Joe, the only one among them who could look bravely up, had all she could do to try and console them.
“Let us hope for the best,” she said. “They cannot harm Rob. He has surely done no wrong.”
“But we are so helpless,” said Mr. Little. “That infernal——”
“Hush! Hush!” spoke up Joe. “You must be careful how you speak. We can only hope and wait.”
“Oh, that Gideon should come home at this time and under such conditions as these!” moaned the distracted wife.
“Don’t condemn him,” said Joe, courageously. “We know all the others are innocent, and we will think he is until we know differently.”
“He says he is not guilty of this terrible thing. But what will become of us? We are so helpless!”
“We must not give up,” said Joe. “I wonder what they will do with Rob? I’ve a mind to go to the village.”
“Go, Joe. We can take care of ourselves.”
“I think you had better,” assented Mr. Little. “How I wish that I was well again. It is so hard to suffer and do nothing when one is so needed.”
“But you are so much better than in the city,” said Mrs. Little. “It is that alone which keeps me from wishing that I was back to the city once more.”
Having decided to go to Basinburg, Joe lost no more time in making such preparations as she could for the visit, having really no idea of what good it could do. She hoped to find out what would be done with Rob, and that was incentive enough.
She was ready to start in less than five minutes. She had very little change to make in her apparel, for the reason that, despite the desires of Rob, she had not allowed much to be bought for her. She did have a new print dress, a pair of shoes, and a straw hat. These she put on in place of her everyday clothes, and bidding the others be of good cheer until she returned, she started on a run toward the village.
So rapidly did she go that inside of half an hour she came in sight of the village.
The crowd about the store was larger than when Rob had been there, and the excitement was running higher than even. She learned that Rob had been put under close surveillance, and that the sheriff and his posse were searching for Gideon Bayne.
At first nobody seemed to notice her, and then she began to attract attention, when sneering remarks were made, and she heard several suggest that it would be the proper thing to arrest her as one of a gang of outlaws and public enemies.
She did not mind this as much as she would have done under ordinary circumstances. In her anxiety to learn what she could of Rob, she dared much, ay, jeopardized her own safety.
She had become confident that no harm would be done him until another day, when he would be given a justice trial before being taken to jail.
Determined to be present, she started homeward, happily unconscious that it had already been decided to arrest her, though she was not followed to her home.
Incidentally she had learned that Deacon Cornhill had been demanded to meet his liabilities, and that he was about to sign over all his property to satisfy his creditors.
These things were among those she told to her anxious friends at home, whom she found anxiously awaiting her coming.
No new development had taken place since her departure, except that two or three men had been seen hovering about the house, who it was thought were spies who had been left by Sheriff Stanyan.
So the occupants of the old red house saw the shades of night fall with dire misgivings.
To make their situation more gloomy, threatenings of a storm appeared, and the wind moaned through the trees overhanging the back side of the building.
“I shall go crazy,” declared Aunt Vinnie.
At that moment Chick and Ruddy, their faces white with terror, burst into the room, exclaiming:
“We have heard it ag’in! There are ghosts, and they are crying and moaning, ‘Murder! Murder!’”
This announcement, given at this time, sent a thrill of horror through the frames of the little group, the most of whom shivered and remained silent.
“Nonsense, Chick,” said Joe. “You are frightened and imagined you heard such sounds.”
“Come up into the back chamber if you think we lie, Joe. I——”
A peal of thunder caused the frightened Chick to stop in the midst of his speech, while he crept nearer the others.
The first alarm of the rising storm was quickly followed by another flash of lightning, and a second peal of thunder louder and nearer than the first.
Soon after the rain began to fall, while the lightning and the thunder gradually passed over, but not until it seemed as if the old house would be destroyed.
When the fury of the storm was beginning to wane, the little party of frightened people slowly gained courage.
“It must be leaking into the chambers,” said Joe. “I will get one or two of those old buckets in the cellar and put them under the worst places.”
“Oh, don’t dare to move,” admonished Aunt Vinnie. “This is awful.”
Not to be deterred from her purpose, Joe lit the stump of a candle, and carefully descended the old stairs leading to the damp, musty cellar. But she had not gone far before she was startled to find a light already in the dismal place.
At first she thought the house must be on fire, but a second look showed her that the glare came from a lantern, and in a moment she was alert for what might be discovered.
Concealing her own light behind her, instead of crying out or beating a hasty retreat, she descended the stairs more stealthily than before until she could command a full view of the cellar.
What she now saw was a sight calculated to have sent a thrill of terror to the heart of a less brave girl.
Three men were near the farthest corner, one of them holding the lantern, while another was digging hurriedly into the earth, the third seeming to have no other occupation than to watch the work of his laboring companion.
“Hark!” he exclaimed, suddenly. “I thought I heard some one move.”
“Bosh!” said the one with the lantern. “I never see you so nervous, Jed, as you are to-night. It was only one of the trees scraping against the roof of the old house.”
“I guess you’d be nervous if you were in my place. A man’s mind plays the devil with him sometimes. I ain’t forgot——”
“So does his tongue,” interrupted the other. “The—ha! you have reached it, Bill!”
Joe could hear the spade strike something which gave back a hollow, metallic sound that sent a shiver through her body, but she bravely stood her ground.
The man with the spade resumed his work, throwing up the earth faster than before, until suddenly he stopped. He peered closer into the pit he had dug.
“Hold the lantern lower, Bill.”
The other quickly obeyed, when the one who had made the request gave expression to a low cry of dismay.
The one holding the light now looked sharper down into the ground, when he exclaimed:
“Great heavens! it is a human skeleton! What does this mean, Jed?”
Then the trembling man called by this name glanced downward, to start back with a wild cry of fear.
“I made a mistake, boys. I—I——”
He started to flee without finishing his sentence.