The boys slept so soundly that the morning came very quickly.  It seemed like they had just fallen off to sleep and it was time to get up.  Bobby shook Billy, telling him to get up, that they had to meet Amanda and The Professor.  Billy dragged himself out of bed and got dressed.  Bobby noticed that Billy was having trouble getting his shoes on and walked over and tapped Billy on the shoulder.

”You’re putting the shoe on the wrong foot,” he said.

Billy looked down; he was trying to get his left shoe on his right foot.

“I need more sleep,” he told Bobby, as he put the shoe on his left foot.

“Well you better wake up,” Bobby told Billy, “you’re the one that wanted to go exploring in the old house.”

The boys had breakfast, cleaned up the kitchen, locked the door and headed down the trail towards Amanda’s house.  When they got there Amanda and The Professor were waiting for them. 

“Good morning boys” said The Professor as they walked up.

“Good morning,” Billy said returning the greeting.

Amanda asked Bobby if the house is very scary.

“It was last night,” he told her, “but in the daylight its just and old house.”

The Professor, Amanda and the boys walked up the trail until they came to the spot where they could see the old Iron gate in the woods.  Billy pointed into the woods towards the gate.

“Do you see it?” he asked The Professor.  

“Yes I do,” replied The Professor, as he scratched his head.

In all the years that The Professor lived in the Woodland he had never seen the gate before.  They started up the brick path towards the house.  As they neared the top of the hill they could see the large house hidden in the trees and brush.  

“Well I’ll be a monkey’s uncle,” The Professor said, seeing the house, “In all the years I’ve been here I never knew this house was here.”

Billy was puzzled by what The Professor said, and The Professor noticed that Billy looked confused.

“What’s the matter Billy?” The Professor asked.

“Do you really have a nephew that’s a monkey,” he asked.  

The three of them tried very hard not to laugh.  

Amanda explained to Billy that “I’ll be a monkey’s uncle,” was only a figure of speech.  

They went up on to the porch and entered the house, the floor boards creaked as they walked across them.  The Professor asked Billy and Bobby if that was the scary sounds they heard?  Bobby explained that they heard that last night, but they knew that it was the floor boards.  Billy added that the sounds they heard was more like a moaning or howling.  Just as he said that from up stairs came a low moaning sound.  

“That’s it,” Bobby cried out, “that’s the sound we heard last night.”

The Professor led the way and they went up stairs were the moaning sound was louder.  

The Professor turned to Billy and Bobby and asked, “Did you notice that there’s a fireplace in this room?”

“Yes Professor,” Bobby answered, “there’s a fireplace in every room.”

The Professor walked over to the fireplace and called over the boys and Amanda.

“Look up there,” he told them as he pointed up the chimney, “what do you see?” he asked.

“I see sky” Bobby answered. 

Just then a strong gust of wind blew down the chimney, and the chimney started to moan.  The Professor explained that what they heard the night before, that they thought might be ghosts, was only the wind blowing down the old chimneys.

“Well that explains the creepy sounds, but who kept turning on the red light in the tower?” Billy asked.

“Let’s see if we can find out,” replied The Professor, and they started up the stairs to the tower.  They walked around the small tower room that had two windows on each one of its four walls.

“This almost looks like a lookout tower” Bobby noticed.

“It probably was just that” The Professor replied.

He explained to the boys and Amanda that before they had telephones they built a tower on the house, so they could look out for forest fires.  

Looking around the only thing that The Professor noticed was an old rail road signal lantern. The lantern had a large red lens and was sitting on the window sill facing the path in the front of the house.  The door in the back of the lantern that you would open to light the oil lamp was missing, and you could look through the lamp and see the large red lens.  The Professor turned and walked to the back window.  He called everyone over to the back window.

“Do you see that?” he said, pointing to a street light off in the distance on a road behind the house.  They all could see the street light, but they didn’t see what that had to do with the light in the attic. The Professor told them that there was never anyone in the tower the night before.  The red light that they were seeing was coming from the big red lens of the rail road lantern. It was magnifying the light from the street light on the other side of the hill.

“Well I guess that solves the mysteries of this old house,” said Billy as he started down the stairs.  

Billy stopped in his tracks on the stairs and Bobby bumped into him almost knocking him down the stairs.  

“What’s the matter?” Bobby asked.

“Someone’s playing the piano down in the living room,” Billy replied.

They hurried down stairs and just as they came into the living room the piano stopped playing.  They stood there looking at each other.

Amanda took Bobby’s arm, “maybe there really are ghosts,” she said, standing much closer to Billy and Bobby.

“What do you think Professor,” Billy inquired, “do you think there really are ghosts.”

“I don’t know, but I know that piano didn’t play itself,” The Professor said as he told them that its time to get out of the house.  

They all agreed that something strange was going on, but as they entered the hall the piano started playing again.  Cold chills ran down their backs and even The Professor’s fur on the back of his neck was standing on end.  As the piano played they could hear a very low voice of someone laughing.  Billy peeked around the corner and there was Chester the Chipmunk dancing on the piano keys and laughing.  When he saw Billy he stopped and laughing he asked Billy if he scared them.  Responding to the question Billy told him that he scared them real good and that even The Professor was a little nervous.  They all stood there laughing about how Chester really gave them a good scare.

The Professor said he had enough excitement for one day and was going home, now that all the mysteries on the old house have been solved.  Chester climbed into The Professor’s top pocket.

“You don’t mind giving me a ride home do you?” he asked The Professor.

The Professor told him he’d enjoy the company and they walked down the brick path to the trail.  Billy turned to Bobby and Amanda and asked them if they wanted to explore around out side the house.  They still had plenty of daylight so they agreed that they could look around for awhile.  They were looking around behind the house when Billy tripped over something in the bushes.  Feeling a little embarrassed he popped up saying he was alright.  He looked down to see what he tripped over, it was a rail road track covered with weeds and leaves.  Bobby and Amanda came over.

“What’s a train track doing here?” Amanda asked.

“Don’t know” Billy replied, “I don’t think anyone has ever seen a train here in the Woodland.”

“Where do you think it goes?” Bobby asked.

They had just solved the mystery of the old house and now they have another mystery.  The three of them worked most of the afternoon clearing the weeds and brush from the tracks. They worked in both directions and the tracks still went off into the Woodland as far as they could see.

The sun was now starting to set.  Long shadows stretched through the woods and across the house giving it an eerie look.  Billy turned to Amanda and Bobby and told them that he thinks they had enough excitement for one day.  He was ready to go home get cleaned up and have a nice dinner.  They walked down the trail until they got to the fork were the trail split off to Amanda’s house.  Amanda told them that they didn’t have to walk her home, but the boys disagreed.  They said that there were lots of dangers in the woods at night and that they’d walk her home.  In a few minutes they were on Amanda’s front porch saying good night.

“Tomorrow we’ll find out where those tracks go,” Billy called out, as they walked off up the trail.

By the time the boys got to their cabin they could hardly climb up the steps to their porch.  The boys were really exhausted; they had two very busy days. Bobby said he’d start dinner while Billy cleaned up.

“Sounds like a plan,” Billy replied as he went to take a shower.

Bobby looked in the refrigerator to see what he was going to cook, but he was just too tired.  Billy came out of the bedroom ready to eat.

“Why don’t I smell anything to eat?” Billy asked.

“Because it didn’t get here yet,” was Bobby’s answer to the question.

Bobby had ordered out,

“What are we eating?” Billy asked.

“Pizza,” Bobby replied, as he headed to the shower.

Bobby just came out of the bathroom when there was a knock on the door. The pizza’s here Billy called out to Bobby.

“Well answer the door” Bobby replied.  

Billy looked out the window and saw Brownie and Marvin standing on the porch holding two big pizza boxes.  He opened the door and with a big smile on his face Brownie said, “Pizza delivery.”  Billy invited Brownie and Marvin in.

“Why are you delivering the pizza?” Billy asked.

“Well,” replied Marvin, “Bobby called us and asked us where he could get a good pizza. Brownie and I hadn’t eaten so pizza sounded real good, and here we are.”  

While the four of them ate pizza, Billy and Bobby told them about their adventure in the old house on the hill, and how they found the old train tracks in the woods.  Bobby explained that tomorrow they were going to try and find out where the train tracks went.  Brownie and Marvin told the boys that they would be glad to help.  They finished eating and cleaned up. The boys said good night to Brownie and Marvin,

“See you tomorrow,” Brownie said, as the boys closed the door and went right to bed.