The Hickory Ridge Boy Scouts: Under Canvas Part 16

As a matter of duty he ran forward to where that strange figure in white had been marching to and fro, but just as he fully expected there was not a single sign of the late presence.

So Elmer walked back to where his anxious chums were crouching, craning their necks in the endeavor to ascertain what was going on. He found them ready to ply him with questions; and Toby's first act was to free himself from suspicion.

"George did it, Elmer!" he hastened to say; "with his silly little sneeze. It sure gave us all a shock, and when I thought to look again that bally ghost was gone."

"But how could I help it?" complained the guilty culprit. "I never had the least idea it was coming, when all at once it gripped me hard. If you'd offered me half a million dollars right then not to sneeze, I couldn't have earned thirty cents. It took me just as quick as that,"

and he snapped his fingers to ill.u.s.trate how impotent he had been in the grasp of a necessity.

"I've been there myself, George," said Elmer, kindly, because he knew how badly the other scout must feel on account of having upset all their plans; "and just as you say, sometimes a sneeze comes so fast you can't keep it back if your life depended on it. Of course it was unfortunate, because in another minute I'd have been close enough to have done all I wanted."

"But my stars! Elmer," exclaimed Lil Artha, in dismay, "you didn't expect to jump that spooky thing all alone, I hope?"

Elmer laughed, which act proved to the distressed George that his offense could not set so heavily on the mind of the scout master after all.

"Certainly not, Lil Artha," Elmer told the long-legged scout; "I expected to drop back, and get the rest of you before anything was done.

But accidents will happen even in the best regulated scout troops, and that was something n.o.body could help. Better luck next time."

"Then, suh, you don't mean to give up this ghost hunt?" asked Chatz, with a ring of exultation in his voice.

"Not if we have another chance to hook up with the mystery," replied Elmer.

"But tell us, weren't you close enough up to see whether it was a real ghost or not?" demanded George, arousing to his old self again.

Chatz could be heard giving a little indignant snort. He was evidently unable to understand how any one could doubt after seeing what they had.

Chatz, with all his leaning toward a belief in spirits, had never before come so close to an object that had all the earmarks of a ghost; and he was correspondingly elated.

"I guess I was all of that," Elmer replied, quietly.

"And what do you think about it, Elmer?" continued George, persistently.

"We want to know!" added Toby, determined to get his word in somehow.

"There's a whole lot to tell," said Elmer, "and this isn't just the place to begin the story. So let's get back to the camp, where we can sit around the fire for another half hour, while I enlighten you on some things I happen to know."

What he said gave the others a new thrill. For the first time some of the scouts became aware that their leader had all along been in possession of certain facts in connection with the strange appearance of this reputed ghost. One or two there were, notably Chatz Maxfield, who had suspected something of the kind, owing to the queer way Elmer had often smiled while the others were disputing fiercely concerning the possible ident.i.ty of the specter.

"That sounds good to me, Elmer," announced Lil Artha, without a second's hesitation, "and for one I'm ready to skip out of this place. It's raw and spooky enough here to give us all pneumonia. Let's get alongside a cheery old camp fire; and then you to spin the yarn. It wouldn't surprise me so much if I heard that you'd known the pedigree of our ghost all along, and was just holding back to see what fun you could shake out of the situation."

"No, you're wrong there, Lil Artha!" declared the scout master, earnestly; "that isn't so. I began to have my suspicions, but up to now had found nothing to confirm them enough to warrant me telling what I knew, or thought. But the time has come, because this thing has gone far enough. Lend me your little flash-light torch, Lil Artha. The rest of you wait here for me again, please."

As Elmer hurried away they noticed that he was making along the hall directly toward the spot where they had recently seen the weird white object that moved forward and back, again and again, with the regularity of clockwork.

"He's gone to see if he can find any footprints in the dust on the floor?" suggested Ty Collins.

At that Chatz gave another grunt, as though to his superior mind it was a very foolish remark; because ghosts never left any tracks behind them.

But as he seemed to be in the minority, and knew it was hardly wise to invite another verbal attack, Chatz chose to seal his lips and remain dumb. His triumph would come later on, when they were seated around the glowing fire, and Elmer chose to explain his views of the matter, gleaned at close range.

A short time pa.s.sed thus. The scouts were keyed up to top-notch pitch, and the seconds dragged fearfully while they awaited the coming of their leader. They could see him moving about, by means of the little glow cast by the hand electric torch he had borrowed from Lil Artha; who felt that his fetching such a useful article along had vindicated his wisdom. Scouts should look ahead, and prepare themselves for all sorts of possible needs. That was what they were learning to do day after day, as they strove to earn new honors, and reach a higher plane in the great organization.

Finally when the waiting scouts were beginning to sigh, and wish Elmer would get through with his searching around, they heard him give the well-known signal that was meant to call them to his side.

"All ready to go back to camp now, fellows," was all Elmer said as they hastened to join him; for it was necessary to pa.s.s by that way in heading for the stairs.

Whether or not he had been successful in finding any traces of the mysterious _thing_ they had been gaping at so long, Elmer did not bother telling them just then. That would keep until he was ready to explain fully.

The camp, as we happen to know, was not far removed from the haunted house that had gained such a bad name among the farmers of that section for many years, on account of the sad story connected with its past; and in a short time they filed in before the two guardians of the stores, much to the satisfaction of Landy and Ted.

Of course the pair who had been left behind were eager to know what had happened to their more fortunate comrades who had gone on the ghost-hunting expedition; and they started to bombard Toby and Lil Artha with a series of questions that made the victims throw up their hands.

"Yes, we did see something, and that's right," admitted the latter scout.

"A tall white figure, too," broke in Chatz, who wanted to make sure that nothing was omitted in the telling that ought to be narrated; "and it kept moving up and down again and again like an uneasy spirit. If you asked me I'd say it was the ghost of old Judge Cartaret, come back to visit the scene of his crime!"

"Oh! gosh!" was all the staggered Landy could say, but it expressed the state of his feelings exactly.

"Don't believe too much of what Chatz says till you hear what Elmer's got to tell us all," warned Toby. "You see, he went and crept up close to that _aw_ful figure, and then George here, just like he wanted to try things out, and see if it really was a ghost, had to give a whopper of a sneeze; and when we looked again the thing had disappeared like smoke.

But Elmer knows something, and he promised to tell us the real stuff when we got sitting around our bully fire here. So pull up, fellows, and let him know we're all ready to listen."

"Take my word for it," Lil Artha told them, "I'm wild to hear what Elmer knows."

"What he _believes_, say, Lil Artha," corrected the scout master, pleasantly; "for I haven't been able to prove it to my satisfaction yet, though I hope to do that before we leave up here."

"That's all right, Elmer," said Toby, quickly; "your word's as good as your bond, and when you _think_ a thing it's pretty sure to be it!"

This remarkable confidence which his chums had in him always spurred Elmer on to doing his level best. He felt that he could not afford to lose a shred of such sublime faith; and no doubt on many occasions this had enabled him to gain his end when otherwise he might have considered the case hopeless, and abandoned all design of succeeding.

Accordingly the whole eight of them found places around the fire, which had of course been built up again until it was a cheery sight. Around midnight at the extreme end of November the air is apt to be pretty chilly during the small hours of the night, so that the boys could hardly keep up too hot a blaze to satisfy their wants.

Naturally all of them had made sure that from where they sat they could see the face of Elmer. As he was the center of attraction it was bound to add more to their pleasure if they could watch him as he explained, and told his story of achievement.

The scout master looked around at that circle of eager boyish faces, and smiled. He was very fond of every one there; after his own fashion each scout had his good points, and Elmer knew them all, for had he not seen them tested many a time?

"First of all, fellows," he remarked, "I'm going back to the other time we were up here, and Toby declared he saw a white face at one of the windows, which news gave us all such a queer feeling, because we couldn't tell whether it was so or not. You remember after we left the house I went back again?"

"Yes, sure you did, Elmer; but you never said a word about finding anything!" George remarked.

"But he looked it," muttered Chatz, with increasing uneasiness.

"I went up to that window again, and hunted around to see if there was any sign of footprints there," Elmer continued. "You know that in all the years the house has been lying there deserted the dust has collected everywhere, though don't ask me where it could come from, because I don't know. Sometimes rain would beat in through the broken windows, and lay it, but the wind coming later on set it free again. Anyway, there was tracking dust there on that floor, and I found what I was looking for!"

Everybody was hanging on his words. Chatz gave a groan. He saw that a death blow was being given to his cherished belief; for of course if Elmer had found _tracks_, the one who had made them could never have been a ghost.

No one else was sorry, apparently. Indeed, there was more or less actual relief in the series of sighs that welled up, especially from George, who had secretly been getting a little shaky with regard to his disinclination to believe in the ability of spirits to return to the scene of their earthly troubles for divers purposes.

"You mean there was a track there; is that it, Elmer?" asked Toby.

"I found several of them, though our tramping around had almost covered the trail up," Elmer went on, steadily.

"But how could you tell them from the marks we left?" continued Toby.