THE OLD MANSION
Sammy Brown and his chums looked queerly at one another. Then they
glanced at Mr. Jessup. He smiled as he peered at them from under his
shaggy eyebrows.
"Camp Mystery, did you say?" asked Sammy, wonderingly.
"That's what I said," was the answer. "But don't get frightened, I don't
believe the mystery will hurt you."
"Is there really a mystery?" asked Sammy, eagerly. "Is there a--a
ghost--or something like that?"
Mr. Jessup laughed heartily.
"No need to ask your name," he chuckled. "You're Sammy Brown? My sister
told me all about you."
Sammy blushed.
"Well--er--well," he stammered, "I only thought----"
"No harm done at all!" went on the hunter, still laughing. "My sister
said one of you boys was always on the lookout for something strange,
like buried treasure, or a lost diamond mine. Well, we haven't got
either of those things on this end of Pine Island, whatever they may
have down below. But that's how I guessed your name, Sammy.
"And now let me see, you ought to be Bob Bouncer, by rights," and he
looked at Bob with his head on one side. "How about it?"
"That's my name," admitted the owner of it.
"I thought so. Then of course, as you're the only one left," he said to
Frank, "you're Mr. Haven's son."
"How did you guess my name?" asked Bob.
"Oh, my sister said Bob was the one with a twinkle in his eye that meant
mischief. You've got it, so you're him. I hope you don't cut-up too
much. I don't mind sitting down on a pin once in a while, but I don't
like to find mud turtles in my bed----"
"I don't do any of those things!" cried Bob, in confusion.
"No, I s'pose you don't, but it's just as well to warn you," and by the
merry twinkle in Mr. Jessup's eyes the boys knew he was only joking.
"Now then," he went on, "forward for Camp Mystery! Got all your
luggage?"
"All we need, I guess," answered Sammy. Each of the boys had a
good-sized valise. "But what makes you call your place Camp Mystery?"
asked the lad. "Your sister didn't say anything about that."
"No, for it's only lately that I've had occasion to call it that. You
see----"
But Mr. Jessup was interrupted by a crashing sound in the underbrush at
one side of the path, and from the bushes there was shaken down a shower
of the light snow that had fallen the night before.
"Look out!" cried Frank, starting back.
"Maybe it's him!" added Bob.
"Don't run!" advised Sammy.
Mr. Jessup stared in surprise at the three lads, but before he could ask
them the reason for their strange remarks there burst out from the
bushes a fine hunting dog, who ran straight for the man, wagging his
tail in delight.
"Oh, so there you are, Maybe!" exclaimed Mr. Jessup. "I was just
wondering what had become of you."
"Is that your dog?" asked Sammy.
"Did he make that noise?" inquired Frank.
"Yes. What did you think it was--a ghost?" Mr. Jessup wanted to know.
Once more he looked strangely at the boys.
"We--we thought," began Bob, and then he glanced at Sammy, as if asking
him to explain the thoughts of his chums.
"Oh, you thought maybe it was the mystery; is that it?" Mr. Jessup
wanted to know. "No, it isn't that. The mystery, if that's what I am to
call it, doesn't make that much noise. It's a very quiet sort of a
mystery; the one in my camp."
The boys were puzzled. Clearly there was more than one queer thing, to
be gotten to the bottom of, on Pine Island.
The dog was frisking about, soon making friends with the boys.
"Quiet now, Maybe," cautioned the hunter. "We can't scare up anything
to-day. Down, sir!"
"Is--is his name Maybe?" asked Bob, thinking there might be a joke
attached to the animal's title.
"It is," said Mr. Jessup. "You see I call him Maybe because when we go
out hunting--he and I--maybe we'll have luck, and--maybe we won't. It's
been mostly not, of late, though maybe my luck will change, now that you
boys have come.
"But come. Tell me what you thought it was when you heard the dog make a
noise in the bushes."
"And then will you tell us what the mystery is?" asked Sammy.
"Of course. I'll tell you first, if you like. To be brief I've been
missing things from my camp--food mostly, though the other night one of
my best blankets was taken. And the funny part of it is that I can't get
a trace of the thief. Things disappear when I'm away from camp, and
sometimes when I'm asleep. It's all quite strange, so that's why I call
this Camp Mystery. I wish I could find out who is at the bottom of it."
Sammy was eager to relate his story now.
"Perhaps we can tell you!" he eagerly exclaimed, when Mr. Jessup nodded
to show that he had finished. "It must be the hermit who's taking your
things."
If he and his chums expected Mr. Jessup to show surprise at the mention
of the hermit they were disappointed. Mr. Jessup only shook his head.
"So you've seen him, too," he murmured. "He's showing himself more often
of late. I hope he doesn't get into trouble."
"Who?" asked Frank.
"The hermit."
"Oh, then you know him?" asked Sammy. His expected surprise had amounted
to nothing. He was rather disappointed.
"Oh, yes, I know him," admitted the hunter, "but that isn't saying I
know what he's up to. That part is queer, I admit."
"Who is he?" asked Sammy, and he briefly told how they had encountered
the strange old man, with his white hair and beard.
"Well, his name is Franklin Addison," answered Mr. Jessup, "and he has
been here for some time. Just when he came I don't remember, but I know
I ran across him one day, and he ordered me off the island. Of course I
didn't go, owning considerable land here. So I stood my ground, and
explained matters.
"Then Mr. Addison grew more reasonable. He told me he had come to live
here to be away from the world, and he showed me a little hut he had
made for himself, on a small piece of land he said was his. A poor
enough place it is, but he seems to like it. Since then, though we
haven't met often, we have been better friends. I let him alone, and he
lets me alone. He lives about a mile from here, in a lonesome place.
"What he is doing here I can't make out. Maybe he's here for his
health. There are some folks, you know, who believe in getting off alone
like that, and living as much out of doors as they can."
"I thought maybe he was the mystery," explained Sammy, "and that he had
been taking your things."
"No," answered the hunter, "Mr. Addison wouldn't do a thing like that.
He has often asked me for food, and I have given it to him. Then again
he has given me money to buy things for him when I go to the mainland.
He isn't the thief, I'm sure."
"Maybe it's a bear--or some wild animal," suggested Bob.
"I wish it was!" exclaimed the hunter. "If it was maybe we could get
it--Maybe and I. But there are no animal tracks, and anyhow the biggest
beasts here on Pine Island now are foxes. No you'll have to guess again,
boys."
"Well, it will give us something to look up," said Sammy. "We can solve
that mystery, and the one about the hermit, too."
He was quite delighted over the prospect, as his chums could easily tell
by the light in his eyes. Give Sammy a mystery, or put him on the trail
of buried treasure, be it ever so small, and he was happy.
"Well, come on to Camp Mystery," suggested Mr. Jessup. "You must be
hungry--I know I am."
With Maybe, the dog, running on ahead, and the hunter and the boys
bringing up in the rear, the little procession started off along the
snowy trail.
They went on for perhaps a mile, when, through the trees, the boys
caught sight of a large house--a mansion in size.
"Is that your cabin?" asked Sammy. "It's big!"
[Illustration: "Is that your cabin?" asked Sammy.]
"No, my shack can't compare with that in build," answered the hunter.
"That's an old deserted mansion. It used to be a sort of hotel, or
boarding house, but it hasn't been used as such in a good many years. It
didn't pay.
"I'm a sort of care-taker of it, and I have one or two rooms fitted up
that I use when my shack gets filled. But the rest of the place is
deserted, except for the bats and rats."
The boys came to a stop in front of the old house. It was bare and
gaunt, and looked lonesome. On most of the windows the sagging shutters
flapped dismally. Somehow there seemed an air of mystery about the
place. Sammy Brown's spirits rose.
"Fellows!" he cried, "maybe the mystery is in here!"