To all, save Abe and the girls, there was a fascination about this weird hunt.  Something or some one screamed.  This was surely a vigorous type of ghost.

“Easy, now!” whispered the major as they turned the end of the hall “There!” he exclaimed.  “I saw a light flash back of that double door!”

“So did I,” agreed Tom, “Let’s look in the room.”

“Come on, Abe,” urged the major, for Abe quickly fell behind.

The heavy folding-doors were pushed aside with some effort.  This opened the way into a small room like a butler’s pantry.

“What was that?” asked Nat as a noise sounded.

“The shutting of a heavy door—­and the light went with it,” declared Major Dale.  “Now to find the door.”

Nat took the light from Abe, and flashed it up and down the heavily paneled walls.

“It’s some secret passage, likely,” said the major.  “Every old house has one, I believe.”

“What’s—­this?”

Nat had come upon a joining in the woodwork.

“That’s it!” declared the major, examining the crack carefully.  “But where might it open?”

All, even old Abe, felt the wall, up and down, covering every inch within reach.

“There!” exclaimed the major finally.  “I’ve covered a square.  It opens from the other side.  Tom, here with your ax!”

Dorothy and Tavia had heard every word.  Now they stopped their ears.  It was too dreadful.

Blow after blow fell on the heavy woodwork.

Chop!  Chop!  Chop!

But not a word was spoken.

Then the sound of splintered wood.

The panel was falling in.

“Careful!” cautioned Major Dale.

“There she goes!”

Another scream!

“Here, now!” cried the major, seizing the lamp and dashing through the opening with the agility of a schoolboy.  “Just surrender, and stop that!”

But he almost fell back—­Tom’s arm saved him.

“I never!” he exclaimed.  “It’s old Captain Mayberry!”

CHAPTER XXIV

THE RESCUE

The sight that had so suddenly shocked Major Dale and his helpers was indeed appalling.

Within the secret room they had found a man, not a ghost nor a demon, but a sick, almost helpless old man—­the once popular Captain Mayberry.

At a glance it was plain he was in hiding in the wretched place, and the surroundings showed he had food and some of life’s necessities within reach, although the very rats, whose presence were painfully evident, must have enjoyed a keener advantage in the mansion, once proud of the name “Mayberry.”

Frightened almost into convulsions, the decrepit old man fell back into a corner, his eyes glaring with the unmistakable gleam of insanity, and his teeth chattering terribly.

A stove, barely alive with heat, served to shelter him from the intruders, for he managed to get behind the old piece of iron, and there crouched and shuddered.