Joe the Hotel Boy Part 18

"That doctor is away," said our hero. "I wonder if we can't smuggle the skulls and the skeleton into Mr. Chaster's room?"

"Just the cheese!" cried the bell boy, enthusiastically. "And let us rub the bones with some of those matches that glow in the dark!"

The plan was talked over, and watching their chance the two transferred the skeleton and the skulls to the apartment occupied by Wilberforce Chaster. Then they rubbed phosphorus on the bones, and hung them upon long strings, running over a doorway into the next room.

That evening Wilberforce Chaster remained in the hotel parlor until ten o 'clock. Then he marched off to his room in his usual ill humor. The gas was lit and he went to bed without delay.

As soon as the light went out and they heard the man retire, Joe and the bell boy began to groan in an ominous manner. As they did so, they worked the strings to which the skulls and the skeleton were attached, causing them to dance up and down in the center of the old man's room.

Hearing the groans, Wilberforce Chaster sat up in bed and listened. Then he peered around in the darkness.

"Ha! what is that?" he gasped, as he caught sight of the skulls. "Am I dreaming--or is that--Oh!"

He started and began to shake from head to foot, for directly in front of him was the skeleton, moving up and down in a jerky fashion and glowing with a dull fire. His hair seemed to stand on end. He dove under the coverings of the bed.

"The room is haunted!" he moaned. "Was ever such a thing seen before!

This is wretched! Whatever shall I do?"

The groans continued, and presently he gave another look from under the bed clothes. The skeleton appeared to be coming nearer. He gave a loud yell of anguish.

"Go away! Go away! Oh, I am haunted by a ghost! This is awful! I cannot stand it!"

He fairly tumbled out of bed and caught up his clothing in a heap. Then, wrapped in some comfortables, he burst out of the room and ran down the hallway like a person possessed of the evil spirits.

"Come be quick, or we'll get caught!" whispered Joe, and ran into the room, followed by the bell boy. In a trice they pulled loose the strings that held the skulls and the skeleton, and restored the things to the doctor's room from which they had been taken. Then they went below by a back stairs.

The whole hotel was in an alarm, and soon Mr. Mallison came upon the scene.

"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded, severely, of Wilberforce Chaster.

"The meaning is, sir, that your hotel is haunted," was the answer, which startled all who heard it.

CHAPTER XII.

THE PARTICULARS OF A SWINDLE.

"This hotel haunted?" gasped the proprietor. "Sir, you are mistaken.

Such a thing is impossible."

"It is true," insisted Mr. Wilberforce Chaster. "I shall not stay here another night."

"What makes you think it is haunted?"

"There is a ghost in my room."

"Oh!" shrieked a maid who had come on the scene. "A ghost! I shall not stay either!"

"What kind of a ghost?" demanded Andrew Mallison.

"A--er--a skeleton--and some skulls! I saw them with my own eyes," went on the victim. "Come and see them for yourself."

"This is nonsense," said the hotel proprietor. "I will go and convince you that you are mistaken."

He led the way and half a dozen followed, including Wilberforce Chaster, who kept well to the rear. Just as the party reached the door of the apartment Joe and the bell boy came up.

Without hesitation Andrew Mallison threw open the door of the room and looked inside. Of course he saw nothing out of the ordinary.

"Where is your ghost?" he demanded. "I see nothing of it."

"Don't--don't you see--er--a skeleton?" demanded the man who had been victimized.

"I do not."

Trembling in every limb Wilberforce Chaster came forward and peered into the room.

"Well?" demanded the hotel proprietor, after a pause.

"I--I certainly saw them."

"Then where are they now?"

"I--I don't know."

By this time others were crowding into the apartment. All gazed around, and into the clothes closet, but found nothing unusual.

"You must be the victim of some hallucination, sir," said the hotel proprietor, severely.

He hated to have anything occur which might give his establishment a bad reputation.

"No, sir, I saw the things with my own eyes."

The matter was talked over for several minutes longer and then the hired help was ordered away.

"I shall not stay in this room," insisted Wilberforce Chaster.

"You need not remain in the hotel," answered Andrew Mallison, quickly.

"You can leave at once. You have alarmed the whole establishment needlessly."

Some warm words followed, and the upshot of the matter was that the fussy old boarder had to pack his things and seek another hotel that very night.

"I am glad to get rid of him," said the hotel proprietor, after Wilberforce Chaster had departed. "He was making trouble all the time."

"We fixed him, didn't we?" said the bell boy to Joe.