soap is still wet on the brush,"
Phil Way observed, picking up that article. "Mr. Grandall forgot it, I
reckon."

"Grandall--your grandmother!" exclaimed Worth quickly. "Look at the
initial B, big as life, on the cup!"

"Just the same, it was Grandall who was here and the only questions
are, what did he come for and where has he went?" said Paul Jones more
positively than grammatically.

"Anyhow the shaving cup or the initial, either one, is no sure sign of
anything except that someone was here, and we knew that before," said Way
reflectively. "Quite likely the reason the mug was left here was that it
had been here all along and did not belong to Grandall," he reasoned.

"Now you're shouting," spoke Jones with emphasis.

At the end of the narrow hall was a small room with a door opening upon
a balcony. Here the boys stepped out. The view of the lake from this point
was extremely pretty. Under the glow of the sun the water shone like
silver. The green shores looked cool and delightful--far cooler than
they really were.

But they were lovely to the eye. Only one tall, dead pine whose naked top
and branches rose gaunt and ghostly above the foliage of its neighbors
offered the slightest omen of the impending danger in a scene so tranquil.

A high trellis on which the roses or some vines had at some time clambered
to this balcony or porch roof where the boys now stood, offered them an
opportunity to climb down to the ground. Only Billy chose this route. He
quickly reached the earth and went out to the decaying remnants of the
wharf while the others resumed their search through the house. But if he
thought to discover any sign of whatever the strange man threw into the
water the day before, he was disappointed.

Worth rejoined his friends in the clubhouse living-room. Striking many
matches to find the way, they all descended the steep steps into the
cellar. Very little light entered this dark place. One small window only
was there beside the one whose presence Paul Jones had found so convenient.

"Here's the place to look carefully," observed Billy. "But I say, we are
a pack of mutton-heads! What if someone should come into the house this
minute? Tell you what! You fellows dig around here and I'll stand guard
upstairs."

"I did think of such a plan but after seeing that broken window, I
concluded it wasn't necessary," said Phil. "Whoever there might be to
disturb us now, has been through the house ahead of us, I'm