Tom Swift Among the Diamond Makers Part 16

"Until we find the diamond makers!" declared Tom, firmly.

Shouldering their packs, the adventurers started off. Tom turned for a last look at his airship, dimly seen amid the trees. Would he ever come back to the Red Cloud? Would she be there when he did return? Would their quest be successful? These questions the lad asked himself, as he followed his companions along the rocky trail.

"Perhaps we can find the road by which these men go in and out of the cave," suggested Mr. Damon, when they had gone on for several miles.

"I fancy not," replied Mr. Jenks. "They probably take great pains to hide it. I think though, that our best plan will be to go here and there, looking for the entrance to the cave. I believe I would remember the place."

"But why can't you follow the directions given by the miner who told you about Phantom Mountain?" asked Mr. Damon.

"Because his talk was too indefinite," answered Mr. Jenks. "He was so frightened by seeing what he believed to be a ghost, that he didn't take much notice of the location of the place. All he knows is that Phantom Mountain is somewhere around here."

"And we've got to hunt until we find it; is that the idea?" asked Mr.

Parker.

"Or until we see the phantom," added Tom, in a low voice.

"Bless my topknot!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. "You don't mean to say you expect to see that ghost; do you Tom?"

"Perhaps," answered the young inventor, and he did not add something else of which he was thinking. For Tom had a curious theory regarding the phantom.

They tramped about the remainder of that day. Toward evening Tom shot some birds, which made a welcome addition to their supper. Then the tent was put together, some spruce and hemlock boughs were cut to make a soft bed, and on these, while the light of a campfire gleamed in on them, the adventurers slept.

Their experience the following day was similar to the first. They saw no evidence of a large cave such as Mr. Jenks had described, nor were there any traces of men having gone back and forth among the mountains, as might have been expected of the diamond makers, for, as Mr. Jenks had said, they made frequent journeys to the settlement for food, and other supplies.

"Well, I haven't begun to give up yet," announced Tom, on the third day, when their quest was still unsuccessful. "But I think we are making one mistake."

"What is that?" inquired Mr. Jenks.

"I think we should go up higher. In my opinion the cave is near the top of some peak; isn't it, Mr. Jenks?"

"I have that impression, though, as you know, I never saw the outside of it. Still, it might not be a bad idea to ascend some of these peaks."

Following this suggestion, they laid their trail more toward the sky, and that night found them encamped several thousand feet above the sea-level. It was quite cool, and the campfire was a big one about which they sat after supper, talking of many things.

Tom did not sleep well that night. He tossed from side to side on the bed of boughs, and once or twice got up to replenish the fire, which had burned low. His companions were in deep slumber.

"I wonder what time it is?" mused Tom, when he had been up the third time to throw wood on the blaze. "Must be near morning." He looked at his watch, and was somewhat startled to see that it was only a little after twelve. Somehow it seemed much later.

As he was putting the timepiece back into his pocket the lad looked around at the dark and gloomy mountains, amid which they were encamped.

As his gaze wandered toward the peak of the one on the side of which the tent was pitched, he gave a start of surprise.

For, coming down a place where, that afternoon, Tom had noticed a sort of indefinite trail was a figure in white. A tall, waving figure, which swayed this way and that--a figure which halted and then came on again.

"I wonder--I wonder if that can be a wisp of fog?" mused the young inventor. He rubbed his eyes, thinking it might be a swirling of the night mist or a defect of vision. Then, as he saw more plainly, he noticed the thing in white rushing toward him.

"It's the phantom--the phantom!" cried Tom, aloud. "It's the thing the miner saw! We're on Phantom Mountain now!"

CHAPTER XIV--WARNED BACK

Tom's cries awakened the sleepers in the tent. Mr. Damon was the first to rush out.

"Bless my nightcap, Tom!" he cried. "What is it? What has happened? Are we attacked by a mountain lion?"

For answer the young inventor pointed up the mountain, to where, in the dim light from a crescent moon, there stood boldly revealed, the figure in white.

"Bless--bless my very existence!" cried the odd man. "What is it, Tom?"

"The phantom," was the quiet answer. "Watch it, and see what it does."

By this time Mr. Jenks and Mr. Parker had joined Tom and Mr. Damon.

The four diamond seekers stood gazing at the apparition. And, as they looked, the thing in white, seemingly too tall for any human being, slid slowly forward, with a gliding motion. Then it raised its long, white arms, and waved them threateningly at the adventurers.

"It's motioning us to go back," said Mr. Parker in an awed whisper. "It doesn't want us to go any farther."

"Very likely," agreed Tom, coolly. "But we're not going to be frightened by anything like that; are we?"

"Not much!" exclaimed Mr. Jenks. "I expected this. A ghost can't drive me back from getting my rights from those scoundrels!"

"Suppose it uses a revolver to back up its demand?" asked the scientist.

"Wait until it does," answered Mr. Jenks. But the figure in white evidently had no such intentions. It came on a little distance farther, still waving the long arms threateningly, and then it suddenly disappeared, seeming to dissolve in the misty shadows of the night.

"Bless my suspenders!" cried Mr. Damon. "That's a very strange proceeding! Very strange! What do you make of it, Tom?"

"It is evidently some man dressed up in a sheet," declared Mr. Jenks. "I expected as much."

"The work of those diamond makers; do you think?" continued Mr. Damon.

"I believe so," answered Tom, slowly, for he was trying to think it out.

"I believe they are the cause of the phantom, though I don't know that it's a man dressed in a sheet."

"Why isn't it?" demanded Mr. Jenks.

"Because it was too tall for a man, unless he's a giant."

"He may have been on stilts," suggested Mr. Parker.

"No man on stilts could walk along that way," declared Tom, confidently.

"He glided along too easily. I am inclined to think it may be some sort of a light."

"A light?" queried Mr. Damon.

"Yes, the diamond makers may be hidden in some small cave near here, and they may have some sort of a magic lantern or a similar arrangement, for throwing a shadow picture. They could arrange it to move as they liked, and could cause it to disappear at will. That, I think, is the ghost we have just seen."