We stopped everything and listened. For a minute or two we had
quite forgotten that we were midnight burglars, and we were going
on as if we were right at home.

"Sh-h-h-h-h-h-h!" said Mr. Daddles again, "don't you hear
something?"

We all did hear something that very instant. No one could help
hearing it. It was the strangest sound,--as much like the sawing
of wood as anything I can think of. Except that toward the end of
the stroke it seemed to run into some tough knots in the wood, for
it made two or three funny, little noises, like "yop, yop, yop."
Then it stopped for a second or two, and then there was another
long stroke, with "yop, yop" on the end.

"Do you s'pose it's another cow?" whispered Jimmy.

Mr. Daddles shook his head, and held up his hand again for
silence. The noise continued with perfect regularity for half a
minute,--then it stopped altogether.

"It's in the wall," I suggested, pointing. "P'r'aps it's a mouse
gnawing."

"It's more like a buffalo gnawing," said Ed Mason.

"Sh-h-h-h-h-h!" said Mr. Daddles, "we ought to have looked about
the house a little before we began to eat. I think that's only the
branch of a tree, or something like that, scraping against the
house outside. Anyhow, we'd better investigate."