"Woo!" cried Hans, shivering. "I don"d pelief I vant to slept dot summerhouses in!"
"Oh, the ghost only appears occasionally, and it is not at all likely it will visit the summerhouse to-night."
"Vale, you don"d know apout dot. Uf dot ghost heard I vos here, he peen sure to come. Uf you gif me a bistol und dot ghost came, mape he peen aple to shot me."
"You mean that you will be able to shoot the ghost."
"Yaw, I meant dot I peen aple to peen shot der ghost py."
"That wouldn"t hurt him any. Spooks don"t mind being shot."
"I don"d toldt you dot? Oxcuse me! I vill slept py der open air. I don"d care apout sleepin" in dot summerhouses."
"Oh, say!" exclaimed Ephraim; "gol darn it! can"t you see you"re bein"
guyed. There ain"t no ghost there at all."
"How you known dot, Efy?"
"Why, see um larf at ye! Can"t you tell by the way they act?"
But the Dutch boy was not satisfied, and it worried him greatly to think he might be visited by a ghost that night. He insisted that he would not sleep in the Summerhouse unless provided with a gun.
After supper however, Kenneth took Hans aside and explained that a bullet from a gun or a charge of grapeshot and canister out of a cannon would not have the least effect on a ghost, but that ghosts could not stand water.
"In the room where you are to sleep to-night," said Kenneth, "there is a hose pipe with a stopc.o.c.k nozzle. All you need to do is take the nozzle end of the pipe to bed with you. If the spook appears, point the nozzle at him, turn the stopc.o.c.k, and let him have it. He will be knocked out in the first round."
"Vos dot der lefel on?" asked Hans, suspiciously.
"That is strictly on the level," a.s.sured Kenneth,
"Vale, den I done dot. Let dot ghost come, und I vill gif him der greadest path vot I efer got."
In the meantime, Frank Merriwell had taken Ephraim aside, and was saying:
"Gallup, you must scare the wits out of that Dutchman to-night. You are the tallest one in the party, and so you must wrap yourself in a sheet and play ghost on him. St. Ives is going to fix it so we can all hide behind a curtain in one corner of the room and see the fan. Will you do the trick?"
"Course I will," nodded Ephraim. "I"ll skeer the Dutchman aout of his senses, b"gosh! Won"t it be heaps of fun!"
"Sure it will," nodded Frank. "You must strip yourself of all your clothes, so you will look as gaunt as possible, then wrap the sheet around you and stalk in on Hans. He"ll have a fit."
"Haw! haw! haw!" laughed the Vermonter. "I know I"ll die of larfin" to see him! Haw! haw! haw!"
So it was arranged, and Frank hastened to tell the other boys.
"This is where Ephraim gets taken in," smiled Merry. "Kenneth St. Ives has arranged for him to turn the hose on the spook, if one appears. If Hans is not too frightened to do anything, he"ll give Ephraim the surprise of his life. With nothing but a sheet over him, the water from the hose will go through to Gallup"s skin the first squirt, and we"ll be where we can see the fun."
With no small difficulty Hans was induced to sleep alone in a room of the summerhouse. At one end of the room was an alcove that served as a wardrobe. In front of this alcove was a curtain.
Kenneth arranged it so that the hose attached to the private waterworks of Springbrook Farm was run in at the window of the Dutch boy"s room, and a full head of pressure kept on. He showed Hans how to turn the stopc.o.c.k and let the water fly at the spook.
Just before the party was ready to retire Frank came upon Gallup and Dunnerwust, who were talking together and laughing in an odd manner.
"Here!" exclaimed Merry, "what are you fellows chuckling over?"
He was afraid the Dutch boy had told Ephraim about the manner in which he expected to vanquish the ghost.
"Haw! haw! haw!" laughed Ephraim. "I was jest tellin" him I"d eat the gol darn ghost if he"d ketch it."
"Yaw!" chuckled Hans; "und I toldt him I peen retty to pet zwi tollars der ghost vould ketch it. He don"d know vot I mean py dot, un don"d you toldt him nottings."
Frank hastened to get the two boys apart, and remained with Hans till the latter was ready to go to bed.
"You don"d pelief dere peen any ghost, did you, Vrankie?" asked the Dutch lad, sleepily.
"Of course not," a.s.sured Frank. "That"s a guy yarn St. Ives gave you.
There"s nothing in it."
"Vale, I peen so sleeby I can"d kept meinseluf avake no longer.
Good-nighd, poys. I vas goin" to ped."
Then Hans waddled off to his room.
It was not far from midnight when the boys arose and prepared for the fun. Kenneth St. Ives was on hand. He had provided some ice for Ephraim.
"When we all get behind the curtain that hangs before the alcove," said Kenneth, "you come into the room, Gallup, stalk up to the bed and run this piece of ice around over the Dutchman"s face. If that don"t frighten him out of his wits, I"ve made a big mistake."
"It"s a yell thot"ll wake ivrybody fer a moile he"ll be afther givin"
whin he fales th" oice an" sees Ephraim in the whoite shate," chuckled Barney.
In pajamas and nightclothes, the boys tiptoed up to the door of Hans"
room, opened it softly, and listened.
Hans was snoring.
One by one, the young jokers slipped into the room and concealed themselves behind the curtain. The moon was up, and a broad strip of light came in by the window and made the room light enough for them to watch what was to take place.
With a sharp knife, which went the rounds, each boy cut a slit in the curtain so he could peer out.
When everything was ready for the appearance of the "ghost," they were startled to hear Hans muttering:
"I know how to feex you. Vater-goot coldt vater; Oh, uf I don"d gif you a path, you vos a liar!"
"He is sleeping in his talk-I mean, talking in his sleep," whispered Rattleton. "He is thinking of the way he will fix the ghost. Oh, my!
what a joke!"
Then he clasped a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing aloud to think what fun they would have.
"Ven you peen all retty you said so," muttered Hans, apparently continuing to talk in his sleep.