The Hickory Ridge Boy Scouts: Under Canvas Part 7

"We've got a big job cut out for us, I'm thinking, boys," faltered George.

"Rats! who's afraid? Gimme two cents' worth of peanuts, please!"

exclaimed Toby, who seemed to be in an unusually good humor, perhaps because of that successful parachute drop, looked forward to with an admixture of hope and fear for a considerable time.

They pa.s.sed through every part of the house that seemed worth while, even visiting the attic, where the rain had beaten in so many times, that some of the woodwork seemed very mouldy. They frightened an army of bats up there, and there was a lively ducking of heads, with numerous attempts at knocking the flying creatures down with whatever the boys could lay hands on.

Underneath lay the cellars, and determined to see it all the boys trooped down the rotten stairs, saving George, who declared he had had quite enough of the exploration, and that after all he didn't believe in ghosts, and therefore an old ruin with a tragic story back of it failed to impress him as worth much time.

When the others came out a little later, talking about what queer dungeons lay underground, some of which possibly had been constructed by the rich judge to serve as wine cellars, they found George sitting at his ease, and watching the shadow on the stone face of an old and unreliable sun dial.

"I guess long ago that pretty young wife used to sit right where you are, George, and watch the shadow creep around to the hour mark," said Elmer, who must have had a pretty good touch of the romantic in his make-up, to speak in this way.

"Mebbe," George retorted, as though falling back on his old principles, and not willing to believe anything unless shown.

"That finishes our visit to the Cartaret place, for this time, Chatz,"

Elmer continued, turning to the Southern boy; "I hope you think it paid you for the trouble."

"A dozen times over, suh, I a.s.suah you; and I'll not soon forget your kindness that made this interesting visit possible. Yes, and that promise to come up here again next week, when we're out for our little vacation camping. I shall look forward to the same with the greatest pleasure, believe me, suh."

"Then we might as well get the horse up, and load our cargo?" Elmer suggested.

"Oh! did you see that?" shouted Toby, just then.

"What was it, and where did you see anything?" demanded George, always suspecting that the others were playing practical jokes.

"Up at one of the windows there!" Toby went on, pointing, while his face filled with excitement and a little touch of awe.

"What was it like?" asked Chatz, his interest aroused to fever heat.

"I only had a peek at it, because it disappeared, just like it might be smoke," Toby went on to explain; "but it was a white face, and if there ever was such a thing on this here earth as a ghost, I saw one then, sure I did, fellows!"

Elmer had his eyes glued on the face of the scout when he was making this astonishing a.s.sertion; and he knew that Toby, though a practical joker at times, was not trying to deceive them now; he had seen _something_ up there at that window, or believed he had, which amounted to the same thing; and yet they had just explored every bit of that portion of the ruins without meeting a single soul!

CHAPTER VII

HARVEST TIME

NO one said a single word for the better part of a minute, after Toby had made this astonishing statement. They continued to exchange uneasy looks, and then cast furtive glances up toward the particular window at which Toby had been pointing his trembling finger.

It was however excitement, not fear, that made Toby shiver; for after all he was the first to break the sombre silence, and then it was to make a proposition.

"Let's go back up there, and take a turn around," he said, eagerly; "mebbe we did miss some room, and after all there's somebody ahidin' in the blooming haunted house. What d'ye say, fellows?"

"I'm on!" replied one of them before Toby had really finished speaking; and of course it was Chatz who agreed so readily.

Elmer immediately made a move that announced his readiness to do what the first discoverer of the ghost proposed; Ted and Toby followed suit; and finally George, shrugging his shoulders as though he considered it all folly, came tagging along at their heels grunting to himself.

In this fashion they entered the house, and immediately pa.s.sed up to the second floor, looking curiously about them again. Nothing was in sight, not even a trespa.s.sing bat, for the little creatures had all been alarmed when the boys made their first entry, and flown through various openings into the outer air.

"Now be sure you pick out the right window, Toby," warned Chatz.

"I counted 'em from the outside," replied the other, with a business-like air, "and it was exactly the seventh from the end; and here she is. Everybody count and see for yourselves."

"That's all right," remarked George, triumphantly; "but suppose you show us your old ghost, Toby."

"Never said it was one," protested the other, as he looked about in a puzzled manner; "what I did remark, and I stand back of it still, was that if ever there was such a thing as a spook in this world that must have been one."

George sniffed contemptuously.

"Go on and poke him out, then; I want to be shown, if I ain't from Missouri!" he told Toby, who turned his back on him.

"Well, there doesn't seem to be anything here, Toby, for a fact," said Elmer, as he looked carefully around, up and down, on the floor, and along the hall.

"It's disappeared, as sure as shooting, Elmer," admitted the pilot of the ghost-hunting expedition; "but I give you my affidavy that I did see a face, a white one at that, though it flipped out of sight before I could grab a second look."

"Beats the Dutch what an _imagination_ some fellows have got," grumbled George.

"I tell you I did see something, George!" repeated Toby, firmly.

"Sure, you might have done that," agreed the other, cheerfully; "but it's my honest opinion that it might have been just a little flash of sunlight on a window pane. I've known such a thing to startle me more'n once. And when you shifted your head, why, you got out of focus, and the thing disappeared as you say, like a wreath of smoke. Now, I'm one of the kind that likes to look deep into things; and I never let a mystery grip me. Make up your mind, Toby, that it was something like I'm telling you, and let it go at that."

Toby did not answer. Truth to tell he did not know what to say, for while he still firmly believed he had seen a human face at the window there was nothing around by means of which he could prove it.

He went to the window and looked out.

"Anyhow," he remarked, disconsolately, "even if I was fooled by something, it sure wasn't the sun, because it never strikes this side of the house after noontime; and look at the heavy trees shading it, will you? I give the thing up, and yet I'd like to take a look over this floor."

"Suppose we start in and do it, then?" remarked Elmer, quietly.

Even George accompanied them, though he continued to look superior, and allowed a skeptical expression to appear on his face. Possibly, in spite of his avowed disbelief in ghosts, George did not really care to be left alone in that house; his valor might all be on the surface.

Nothing was found, and Toby finally admitted that it seemed useless wasting any more time prowling around.

"But I'll always believe I did see something," he avowed, as they started out of the building again; "and if we come up here to camp during the Thanksgiving holidays we ought to look into this business closer. P'raps something might show up in the night time that'd be worth seeing."

"Do you really think so, Toby?" exclaimed Chatz, with rapture, as though even the mention of it gave him secret delight.

"Rats!" sneered the unconvinced George.

They had gone only a little way from the house when Elmer called a halt.

"Just wait for me a few minutes, boys," he said; "or, if you feel like it, fetch the wagon around to load up our sacks of nuts."

With these words he turned and went straight back into the house. The others exchanged looks, but did not say anything, though they must have thought this queer on the part of the scout master. But then Elmer was a privileged character, and often did things that mystified his chums, explaining later on, to their complete satisfaction. Perhaps he may have dropped something up there on that second floor, or else conceived a sudden idea which caused him to return for another look around.