"Sh! Not so loud! What are you doing here?"
"And you?"
"Listen! It has stopped. He has heard our scuffling."
"It seems, then, that we are both here for the same purpose?" said Fitzgerald, pulling down his cuffs, and running his fingers round his collar.
"Yes. You came too late or too soon." Breitmann stooped, and ran his hands over the rug.
The other saw him but dimly. "What"s the matter?"
"I have lost one of my studs," with the frugal spirit of his mother"s forebears. "You are stronger than I thought."
"Much obliged."
"It"s a good thing you did not get that hold first. You"d have broken my arm."
"Wouldn"t have given in, eh? I simply cried quits in order to start over again. There"s no fair fighting in the dark, you know."
"Well, we have frightened him away. It is too bad."
"What have you on your feet?"
"Felt slippers."
"Are you afraid of the cold?"
A laugh. "Not I!"
"Come with me."
"Where?"
"First to the cellar. Remember that hot-air box from the furnace, that backs the chimney, way up?"
"I looked only at the bricks."
"We"ll go and have a look at that box. It just occurred to me that there is a cellar window within two feet of that box."
"Let us hurry. Can you find the way?"
"I can try."
"But lights?"
Fitzgerald exhibited his electric pocket lamp. "This will do."
"You Americans!"
After some mistakes they found their way to the cellar. The window was closed, but not locked, and resting against the wall was a plank. It leaned obliquely, as if left in a hurry. Fitzgerald took it up, and bridged between the box and the window ledge. Breitmann gave him a leg up, and in another moment he was examining the brick wall of the great chimney under a circular white patch of light. A dozen rows of bricks had been cleverly loosened. There were also evidences of chalk marks, something on the order of a diagram; but it was rather uncertain, as it had been redrawn four or five times. The man hadn"t been sure of his ground.
"Can you see?" asked Fitzgerald.
"Yes." Only Breitmann himself knew what wild rage lay back of that monosyllable. He was sure now; that diagram brushed away any lingering doubt. The lock had been trifled with, but the man who had done the work had not been sure of his dimensions.
"Clever piece of work. Took away the mortar in his pockets; no sign of it here. The admiral had better send for his bricklayer, for more reasons than one. There"ll be a defective flue presently. Now, what the devil is the duffer expecting to find?" Fitzgerald coolly turned the light full into the other"s face.
"It is beyond me," with equal coolness; "unless there"s a pirate"s treasure behind there." The eyes blinked a little, which was but natural.
"Pirate"s treasure, you say?" Fitzgerald laughed. "That _would_ be a joke, eh?"
"What now?" For Breitmann thought it best to leave the initiative with his friend.
"A little run out to the stables," recalling to mind the rumor of the night before.
"The stables?"
"Why, surely. The fellow never got in here without some local a.s.sistance, and I am rather certain that this comes from the stables.
Besides, no one will be expecting us." He came down agilely.
Breitmann nodded approvingly at the ease with which the other made the descent. "It would be wiser to leave the cellar by the window," he suggested.
"My idea, too. We"ll make a step out of this board. The stars are bright enough." Fitzgerald climbed out first, and then gave a hand to Breitmann.
"I understood there was a burglar alarm in the house."
"Yes; but this very window, being open, probably breaks the circuit.
All cleverly planned. But I"m crazy to learn what he is looking for.
Double your coat over your white shirt."
Breitmann was already proceeding with this task. A dog-trot brought them into the roadway, but they kept to the gra.s.s. They were within a yard of the stable doors when a hound began bellowing. Breitmann smothered a laugh and Fitzgerald a curse.
"The quicker we get back to the cellar the better," was the former"s observation.
And they returned at a clip, scrambling into the cellar as quickly and silently as they could, and made for the upper floors.
"Come into my room," said Fitzgerald; "it"s only midnight."
Breitmann agreed. If he had any reluctance, he did not show it.
Fitzgerald produced cigars.
"Do my clothes look anything like yours?" asked Breitmann dryly, striking a match.
"Possibly."
They looked themselves over for any real damage. There were no rents, but there were cobwebs on the wool and streaks of coal dust on the linen.
"We shall have to send our clothes to the village tailor. The admiral"s valet might think it odd."