Dan Carter And The Haunted Castle Part 11

"Aw, you're making that up!" challenged Ross. "What did Bunny Bright Eyes see?"

"It wasn't in the foreground," Dan said slowly. "Just for an instant, I thought I caught a flash of a face back in the bushes."

"So what?" demanded Ross, getting up from the floor. "Cubs were all over the place."

"This didn't look like one of our boys. The face wasn't clear, but I'm sure it was no one I'd ever seen before."

As Ross was on the verge of making another jibe, Mr. Holloway said quickly:

"Dan is right. The camera lens picked up an extra character."

Dan and Brad exchanged a glance, as the same thought occurred to them.

"Then I didn't imagine that someone was hiding out in the bushes watching us!" Dan exclaimed. "It must have been that crack-shot-the ghost of the castle!"

CHAPTER 7 A Mysterious Arrow

Dan's observation about seeing an extra person in the background of the film greatly excited the other Cubs.

"Show the scene again," they begged Mr. Holloway.

The Den Dad re-threaded the film into the projection machine and ran it through at slow speed.

"There he is!" suddenly exclaimed Dan, catching the first glimpse of the unfamiliar face in the scene.

Before he obtained a definite impression of the person, the figure had ducked back into the bushes.

"Golly!" exclaimed Red in amazement. "Where did _he_ pop from?"

"Couldn't it have been one of the Cubs from Den 1?" demanded Fred.

Dan reminded the boys that during the filming of the banquet scene all of the Cubs had taken part.

"Someone was watching us from the bushes," Brad confirmed the younger boy's opinion. "Too bad we didn't get a clearer impression of him."

At the request of the Cubs, Mr. Holloway ran through the film a third time. However, it was impossible for anyone to identify the stranger in the scene.

Mr. Holloway, Dan and Brad were of the opinion that the intruder was another boy. The others thought he had looked older and might be a man.

"At any rate, we know there's a little substance to our 'ghost of the castle,'" Dan laughed. "Maybe next time we're out there, we can catch him. I don't like the idea of being spied on."

Mr. Holloway and Mr. Hatfield devoted some time to discussing the various scenes of the play with the boys, pointing out where improvement could be made.

"For the movie we'll need t.i.tles," the Den Dad explained. "Also, it will be necessary to do a great deal of editing and cutting in the final version. We'll need a committee."

"Make Dan chairman," suggested Brad. "He knows the Robin Hood story better than anyone."

"I'll appoint Dan, Red and Chips," Mr. Holloway said. "There will be plenty of work to do because we must start the final filming by next Sat.u.r.day."

"Which reminds me that we'll have to speed up the archery contest," added Sam Hatfield. "To avoid argument, the winner of the match shall have the role of Robin Hood."

"Fair enough," grinned Dan.

Aware that costumes for the play would be needed in a hurry, the boys promised to turn their money in as quickly as possible so that materials could be bought.

During the early part of the week, the Cubs of both Den 1 and 2 canva.s.sed the neighborhoods, seeking odd jobs.

As Dan already had observed, they were discouragingly scarce.

Except for Ross Langdon, not a single Cub was certain of earning the amount needed within a short period of time.

"What we should have is a project all the boys can work on together,"

Brad declared one night as he and Dan discussed the problem.

"We might gather and sell papers."

"The market has collapsed. I've already investigated that job possibility."

"At this time of year, all the odd jobs are taken," Dan said gloomily.

"It's so dry, even the lawns hardly need cutting."

"I know," Brad agreed. "City Council has warned folks to go easy on using water. The pressure is low. Every vacant lot with so many dried weeds presents a hazard."

Dan stared at the older boy, as an idea suddenly came to him.

"Say, maybe that's the ticket!" he exclaimed.

"What is, Dan? I don't follow you."

"Why, maybe the Cubs could get a job from the city cutting weeds!"

"The city has its own crew."

"Sure, but not half of the outlying areas have been mowed. I read in the paper yesterday, the city is having trouble finding workers."

Brad thought the matter over. "We never could sell our services to the city," he said. "But we might get individual jobs for the Cubs-especially from real estate men who have considerable vacant property."

"There's a lot of it near the castle," Dan recalled. "We might be able to round up a few jobs in that area."

The two boys discussed the matter with the other Cubs. Very few of the organization members had been successful in earning enough money.

Everyone except Ross Langdon immediately favored the project. Ross declared that to cut weeds would inflame his nose and bring on an attack of hay fever.

"Anyway, I have more than enough money now for my Robin Hood costume," he said smugly. "No weed cutting for me."

"Okay," Brad shrugged. "Suit yourself. Don't forget though, that you have a section of ground at the castle to clear before next Sat.u.r.day. We gave our promise to the bank that it would be done."