Ralph stood there trembling, too agitated3 to speak; and his two chums turned anxiously towards him, bewildered at the change which had come over him.
"Ralph, old fellow, why, whatever is it? What has come to you?" they asked; and he replied in hoarse4, trembling tones—
"That call! Did you not hear it? There is only one person who would give that, and he is my own father."
For a moment they were staggered by his answer; then Warren said gently—
"But, Ralph, how can it be your father? It was only the echo, old fellow."
"It was not the echo. It was his voice. Listen—try and hear where it comes from!" And once again, through the dripping wood, he sent the Indian cry.
"Now, listen—listen!" he said; and they waited, but no sound came in answer—nothing but the shiver[Pg 214] of the trees, the patter of the rain, and the distant growling5 of the storm.
"There, you see. It must have been the echo!" said Warren; but Ralph shook his head.
"Do not be silly, Warren. If it was the echo it would be heard again; but we heard nothing."
Which direction did it come from? They forgot about the wet and the storm; they forgot everything in the excitement of the moment. Which direction had the cry come from?
Warren declared that it sounded as if it was under ground; Charlton said he fancied that it came from high up, as if some one was in the air; and Ralph fancied that it was straight ahead.
"What shall we do?" was the question of Warren and Ralph answered—
"I am going forward. I mean to search this plantation6 from end to end, if I am trespassing7 twenty times over."
So on the three went, and again and again did they pause while Ralph uttered his wild call, but no answer was heard.
They pushed on, their hearts full of excitement, until they emerged from the trees with almost startling suddenness. The plantation was nothing like so thick as they had thought—it was a mere9 belt of wood, surrounding a neglected lawn; and in the centre of this, encircled by a wall, stood the very last thing they would have expected to find there—a house.
[Pg 215]
A house; but so dreary10, desolate11 looking. All the windows stared blank and empty, and were encrusted with dirt and grime. Not a trace of smoke curled up from the chimney-stack, not a sound of life was heard. It seemed empty, desolate, drear; and the masses of creeper, hanging down and swinging in the breath of the storm, only intensified12 the desolate picture it made.
The three lads, standing13 there with every nerve thrilled by a strange, inexplicable14 excitement, surveyed the place, and looked at each other in questioning silence, until Warren said softly—
"Well, I am blest! Who would have thought of finding a house here?"
"Where are you going, Ralph?" cried Charlton, for Ralph was moving forward; and he replied firmly—
"To that house. I mean to see if any one lives here."
Right up to the wall walked Ralph. It was a high wall, and only the upper part of the house could be seen above it. But they found a gate on the other side; and, without a moment's hesitation15, Ralph pushed it open, entered the garden, and, walking up to the door, lifted the knocker.
With what a dull, hollow sound did it fall! A ghostly sound, that echoed through the house, with that peculiar16 vibration17 which is heard when a place is empty.
"There is no one here," whispered Warren, after a[Pg 216] pause—somehow they found themselves speaking in whispers. "The house is empty."
Ralph, for answer, knocked again, a louder and longer summons. "Listen!" he said; and from somewhere they heard a faint sound, as of a door being shut.
"It's only the wind, making a door slam," was Warren's comment. But, for the third time, Ralph sent his call resounding—there was no mistake about that knock—if any one was in the place they must hear it, for the door fairly creaked beneath the blows.
Another pause, a shuffling18 noise from within, the sound of some one coming from distant passages, then the unfastening of bolts and chains, and the door was opened a little space, while a man, big, burly, and brutal19 looking, filled the doorway20, and barred their entrance—an altogether evil-looking, cruel-faced man, who, scowling21 upon the three lads, demanded in gruff tones what they wanted, and how it was they were here.
Just for the moment the three were taken aback; or, brave as they might be, still they were only lads, and that scowling presence was certainly very ominous22. But Ralph plucked up his courage, and answered that they were three lads from the distant school, and that they had been overtaken by the storm and were seeking shelter.
The man had stood glaring from one to the other as[Pg 217] the explanation was given; and then he said, in the gruffest of accents—
"Well, and what is all this to me? That is no reason why you should trespass8 on my land, and come knocking at my door. I don't want to know that you are getting wet. It's no interest of mine, is it?"
"But we are seeking for shelter," persisted Ralph. "Surely you will not refuse to give that to us?" And he made a slight attempt to push his way in. The man gave him a shove that sent him almost off the step.
"Here, none of that sort of thing," he said, "or you will be sorry for it, my young bantam. You don't think that you can shove your way into my premises23. You three just take yourselves off. You are trespassing on my ground; and it's lucky for you that the dog is tied up, or he would tear you limb from limb. Hear him!" And he paused, as a deep, distant baying was heard from somewhere within. "He is a beauty big enough to eat you. You just get off as fast as you can. Clear! If you are here in five minutes time I will set the dog on you!" And he slammed the door, and left them standing there.
"What a particularly unpleasant person!" said Warren. "His politeness is only exceeded by his good looks. Come on, Ralph, it won't do any good to stand here; and I don't fancy a meeting with that loud-voiced brute24 we heard. He had got a bark like a bloodhound."
[Pg 218]
"We had better do as Warren says," added Charlton, a trifle timidly, for he could understand how badly Ralph must feel. "I know what you are thinking of. You want to see inside that house, but it is impossible now. If it is done at all, it would have to be some other time, when that man did not suspect us. Only I don't think that you are right. I don't see how you can be."
"I shall never rest until I have contrived25 some way of doing as you say," was Ralph's reply, and his face looked very resolute26 again. "That cry was raised by my father. He may not be there—I do not say he is, but somehow I dislike that man and distrust him. Let us go right through the grounds. Don't you understand, Warren? I want to see if there are any other places hidden away here. Who would have said a house like that was here; and who can say what other house may be here? You go back if you like, you and Charlton; I am going on."
"Then on we all go," was Warren's reply; and he and Charlton accompanied Ralph.
They crossed the lawn and went out by the gate, and Ralph was conscious of the face of that man peering at them through one of the upper windows. He might be a recluse27, a miser28, a madman—that seemed the most probable thing; and yet, yet somehow Ralph must get inside that house.
They pushed their way on into the wood again, making for the opposite side to that on which they had[Pg 219] entered; and then Ralph's words that they did not know what else they might find were proved to be very true, for, upon its farther side, bordering upon a stretch of wild open land, they came upon a ruined building. It looked as if at one time it had been a chapel29, or monastery30, or something of that sort; the pillars, the pointed31 windows, and the arched doors gave them that impression. It was a fairly large building, larger than the house they had left, and its crumbling32 walls were thickly overgrown with ivy33. A mournful, silent ruin it was, where only the shapes and shadows of those whose feet had once trodden its stone floors now seemed to lurk34; but it was a shelter, and in Ralph went.
"I don't care for twenty men and dogs," he said resolutely35. "I am not going on in this rain, and I am going to have a look in this ruin."
"But you do not think that you will find any trace of your father there, Ralph," protested Warren.
"I don't, old man; I only hope for shelter. Come on. If the worst comes we will get on the stairs and drive off the dog with stones. Come on."
It looked gloomy outside—it looked more gloomy within, as they passed in through the yawning space where once a stout36 oak door had been. How their footsteps echoed, and how great piles of damp, decaying leaves lay in the corners, and ugly lizards37 scuttled38 away as they went on. But, for all that, after the first disinclination was got over, there was something[Pg 220] very exciting in wandering about the ruin, exploring this way and that, going down into dark, oozy39 places underground, or clambering up into the old, deserted40 turret41 above, at the no small risk of breaking one's neck. They wandered here and there, until at last a single ray of sunlight, falling through a broken casement42, awoke them to the fact that the storm was over, and that they could get on their way again.
"We had better go, Ralph," said Charlton. "I must, for think how mother will feel if I am not home when she expects me."
"Well, I don't think it is much good staying," Warren added. "It seems impossible that your father should be about here, Ralph. That sound was an echo."
"I suppose it must have been something of that sort," Ralph admitted reluctantly. "There seems to be no other explanation. You must forgive me for seeming stupid; but, you see, it—it is my father!" He stopped and Charlton pressed his hand sympathetically, while Warren said hastily—
"Oh, of course, old fellow, I understand; and I only wish that we could have found something out. What a stunning43 place this ruin would be for hiding in! You could play hide-and-seek about it for a week!"
They emerged from the place, and speedily were in the public road again and walking, with their faces in a homeward direction. But as they went Ralph turned, and once again he uttered that wild signal cry; and then, then—was it an echo, or was it indeed a human[Pg 221] voice?—after a pause, faint and low the sound came back once more—whether from earth, or from air, they knew not; but the cry was taken up and repeated note for note.
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1
plaintive
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| adj.可怜的，伤心的 | |
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rumble
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| n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说 | |
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agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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growling
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| n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼 | |
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6
plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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7
trespassing
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| [法]非法入侵 | |
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8
trespass
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| n./v.侵犯，闯入私人领地 | |
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9
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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10
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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11
desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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12
intensified
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| v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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13
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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14
inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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16
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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17
vibration
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| n.颤动，振动；摆动 | |
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18
shuffling
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| adj. 慢慢移动的, 滑移的 动词shuffle的现在分词形式 | |
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19
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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20
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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21
scowling
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的现在分词 ) | |
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22
ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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recluse
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| n.隐居者 | |
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miser
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| n.守财奴，吝啬鬼 (adj.miserly) | |
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29
chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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30
monastery
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| n.修道院，僧院，寺院 | |
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31
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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32
crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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33
ivy
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| n.常青藤，常春藤 | |
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34
lurk
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| n.潜伏，潜行；v.潜藏，潜伏，埋伏 | |
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35
resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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37
lizards
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| n.蜥蜴( lizard的名词复数 ) | |
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38
scuttled
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| v.使船沉没( scuttle的过去式和过去分词 )；快跑，急走 | |
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39
oozy
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| adj.软泥的 | |
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40
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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41
turret
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| n.塔楼，角塔 | |
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42
casement
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| n.竖铰链窗；窗扉 | |
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43
stunning
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| adj.极好的；使人晕倒的 | |
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