Again Will and Bluff exchanged mournful glances.
"Not so you could understand it, I guess, boys. All I know is that he seemed ten feet high to me, and was all in white, that seemed to flicker, just like you see phosphorus in the dark," said the former.
Frank laughed.
"Exactly. I knew you would say that before you spoke. It is always the accompaniment of modern ghosts. In fact, you"d think these visitors from another world had to come out of a volcano in order to get here, and the sulphur and phosphorus-match smell hung to their garments. How did this wonderful thing vanish?"
Bluff shook his head.
"I wasn"t in the running after that tree kicked me. Perhaps either of these others could say," he admitted candidly, still rubbing his b.u.mp, which Frank was getting arnica to relieve.
"Why, so far as I know, it just _went_, that"s all. Now you see it, and now you don"t. But it was a sure-enough ghost, Frank. I could prove it if I hadn"t fallen over that log before I thought of my camera," avowed Will.
"What strange things we see when we haven"t got our gun," jeered Jerry, who did not seem to fully believe the story of the others.
"You appear to doubt their words," said Frank, turning on his chum questioningly.
"Oh, I don"t think they"re faking. That pigeon egg on Bluff"s n.o.ble brow proves that he was scared nigh to death, and banged into a tree for keeps; but I don"t believe in ghosts. They saw something--yes, but I"ve got a little suspicion that somebody"s putting up a fine old joke on the crowd."
"Somebody, eh? Perhaps you"ll go further, and state which way those aroused suspicions of yours slant?" demanded the injured Bluff, as he bent his head so that Frank could fasten a handkerchief, saturated with arnica, about his brow.
"Well, didn"t we receive plain warning, not an hour ago, that there were fellows hovering around these regions bent on playing some sort of practical joke on us? How about that Pet Peters crowd, eh?" said Jerry firmly.
"Frank, do you believe that possible?" asked Will.
The one addressed looked serious.
"To tell the truth, I can"t take much stock in it," he admitted finally.
"And why?" demanded Jerry aggressively.
Bluff was romping off with all the honors, and Jerry begrudged him the chance. He had won the contest the first night; the bear had fallen to his gun just recently, in conjunction with Frank, of course; and now he had been favored with the first sight of the wonderful ghost of Oak Ridge, the presence of which had stirred the entire community around Centerville.
Why, really, Jerry even envied his rival the possession of that lump on his forehead, since it was a mark to signify that he had been in the brunt of battle.
"Well, according to what the boys tell, this thing that has appeared to them was too astonishing to be the work of those crude plotters. Pet and his cronies can hatch up mean games, like throwing rocks into a camp, digging a pit to catch a fellow as though he were wild game, and such pranks, but they could never think up or carry out a big thing like this. If it is a game, depend on it, the one responsible for the deception is a smarter man than any of our old enemies."
"A game! Do you think that ghost wasn"t real?" asked Bluff.
"Of course I do. Why, if I believed in such supernatural appearances, do you imagine for a minute I"d come up here hunting experiences? No, sir!
I"d stay safe at home. Surely there must be some sort of reason for this party to play at ghost. I"m trying to put things together. Why should any one want to make people keep away from Oak Ridge?"
The others began to comprehend what Frank had in mind.
"I believe you"re getting close on to its track, Frank," said Jerry confidently.
"Perhaps, after all, we couldn"t have seen very well," admitted Will, grinning as boys do when they feel that they have done a foolish thing.
"The only thing I can swear to is that it hurt," vowed Bluff.
"Well, we don"t intend to go away to please Mr. Ghost. Perhaps then he may pay us another visit," laughed Frank, tying the bandage securely.
"Hey! Leave me the sight of one eye, anyway, or I"ll be doing it some more, and have lumps all over my poor cranium. That"s better, Frank. I only wish I had got my gun--that"s what," pursued the injured member of the group.
"Well, I advised you before not to use it on the ghost. If it proves to be a man, how badly you"d feel if you had shot a harmless lunatic,"
observed Frank.
"I guess that"s so," muttered the other, shrugging his shoulders.
"Things seem to be happening to us mighty fast this time," observed Will.
"I should remark to that effect. Here we have only been away from home parts of two days and nights, and see how many strange things have come about. The raid of the camp by the Peters crowd, the finding of Jed, the coming of the farmer, and our bold defiance, the rush of old Bruin out of his cave into our fire, and now the appearance of the ghost on the scene," declared Jerry.
"You forgot one little event--the pa.s.sing of Andy Lasher," put in Frank.
"Well, I didn"t think that amounted to anything worth mentioning."
"You can never tell. When the story has all been told some of the things that at the time appeared very insignificant may loom up as big as mountains. But it does look as if we were bound to keep things hustling so long as we stay up here in the Sunset Mountains," remarked Frank.
Jerry was working at a long piece of rope.
"Just let that fine, healthy spirit from the other side of the Styx show up while I"m around, that"s all," he said resolutely.
"What are you making?" asked Bluff.
"Why, that cowboy who was in town last year taught me something about throwing a rope, and I"m going to keep ready for Mr. Ghost," he avowed.
"Oh! If I could only get you in the act of la.s.soing him, what wouldn"t I give for the chance of a picture!" sighed Will enthusiastically.
"I see very plainly that if you keep along with us much longer there"ll be the greatest lot of freak pictures ever seen on the market. It makes me shudder to think what rowdy things my parents will see me doing,"
came from Jerry.
"It"ll be a long time before I get the equal of that one where you are chasing around the tree with those wild dogs in pursuit. A fellow never could have kinder chums than I have--so willing to pose to please me.
But it"s really worth while," said Will.
All of them were tired by this time, and soon preparations began, looking to a night of rest. The rubber mattresses were blown up again, and this time Jerry proved an easy winner. Bluff, of course, declared that his swollen forehead was the cause of his defeat, and immediately challenged the winner to another match on the very next night.
And while the rest slept, Frank took the first watch, wondering whether that remarkable ghost would condescend to pay him a visit.
CHAPTER X
THE "TOTE" ROAD IN THE FOREST
"Wake up there, lazybones!"