"It is rather creepish," laughed Frank; "but I do not think it is very dangerous."
"All the same, you do not attempt to explain the mystery."
"Not now."
"Not now? Can you later?"
"Perhaps so."
"It is plain he knows no more about it than the rest of us," said Diamond. "As for me, I am getting sick of seeking vanishing lakes and vanishing skeletons. If I get out of this part of the country alive, you"ll never catch me here again."
"Meh, too!" exclaimed Toots.
"Well, I don"t know as any of us will care to revisit it," laughed Frank. "Anyway, we have been very lucky in escaping from those Indians. That you can"t deny."
"You fooled them easily," said Rattleton.
"Yes, and they did not even take a shot at me, which was a surprise. I expected they would pop away a few times."
"What are we going to do after we get out on the open desert again?"
asked Jack. "It seems to me we"ll be as bad off as ever."
"We"ll have to go around the range to the south, or wait for the Indians to get away from that water-hole, so we can go through the mountains as we originally intended."
"The Indians may not go away."
"I rather think they have been scared so they"ll not hang around there long. I don"t fancy they"ll be anywhere in the vicinity by morning."
"If they are gone----"
"We"ll be all right, providing we can make our hard bread and dried beef hold out till we can reach one of the small railroad towns."
"How far away is the railroad?"
"Not much over fifty miles."
"That is easy!" declared Rattleton. "We can make it on a spurt!"
As they reached the eastern opening of the pa.s.s their attention was attracted by a bright light that seemed to shine out from the very niche where they had found the jewel-decorated skeleton.
"What does that mean?" exclaimed Jack, in astonishment.
"Land ob wartermillions!" gasped Toots. "It am de debbil"s light fo"
suah, chilluns! Don" yeh go near it!"
"By Jove!" cried Frank. "That is worth investigating! Come on, fellows!"
He headed straight toward the light, and as they came near the niche they saw the bejeweled skeleton was again seated as they had seen it in the first place, and a bright flood of light was shining upon it from some mysterious place.
"It"s back!" exclaimed Harry, in astonishment.
"Sure enough!" said Frank. "It is on deck again."
"I tells yeh to keep away from dat skillerton!" shouted Toots. "Hit am gwan teh grab yo" this time if yo" gits near hit!"
"We"ll take chances on that," declared Frank. "This time we won"t give it time to get away, but we"ll go right up and examine it."
"That"s what we will!" agreed Harry.
But even as he spoke, the light disappeared, and this made it impossible for them to see anything up there in that dark nook.
"Ha! ha! ha!"
Again they heard the mocking laughter, smothered, hollow and ghostly in sound.
"Somebody is having lots of fun with us," said Frank, as he leaped from his wheel. "It may be a good joke, but I fail to see where the "ha, ha," comes in."
"Is the skeleton gone?"
"I don"t know, but I"ll mighty soon find out."
Without hesitation he swung himself up to the niche in the rocks, and Rattleton followed, determined that Frank should not go alone into danger.
Harry afterward confessed that he was shivering all over when he climbed up there in the darkness, but his fear did not keep him from sticking to Merry.
A cry broke from Frank"s lips.
"What is it?" called Browning, from below.
"By the eternal skies, it"s gone again!"
"Didn"t I tole yeh!" cried Toots, from a distance. "Come erway from dar, Ma.r.s.er Frank! If yo" don", yo"s gwan teh be grabbed!"
"It is gone!" agreed Rattleton. "This beats the Old Nick!"
Again they heard that mocking laugh, which seemed to come down from some point above their heads.
"Wooh!" shivered Harry. "That sounds pleasant!"
"Hang it all!" exclaimed Frank, in a voice that indicated chagrin. "I don"t like to be made fun of this way! If we don"t solve this mystery before we go away I shall always regret it."
"Beware!"
It was the same voice that had uttered the warning when they were riding into the pa.s.s, and now, in the darkness of night, it sounded even more dismal and uncanny than before.
"Come out and show yourself," called Frank.
For some time the boys remained there, but they were forced to abandon the task of solving the mystery that night. Frank descended to the ground with no small reluctance, and Harry kept close to him. They mounted their wheels and rode away once more, fully expecting to hear the mocking laughter, or the ghostly voice calling after them. In this, however, they were disappointed, as nothing of the kind happened.