GHOST CABIN
“Ah, me, the joys of camping in the open!” Carol said to the world at
large.
Rain had been steadily pouring down on the file of riders since early
morning. Clad in shining slickers they were riding on through the
downpour. It was decidedly uncomfortable and to make it worse, they had
had to have a cold lunch because everything was soaked and neither Tom
nor Jim could make a fire. Such conditions had led to Carol’s
declaration.
The others smiled but Janet was the only one who grumbled in reply.
“When do we get to this cabin, Jim?” she called over the heads of Gale,
Valerie and Virginia.
Jim knew of a cabin where he promised them they could spend the night in
comparative dryness and warmth. It was an old miner’s shack, long since
deserted by its owner, but no matter how ramshackle and tumbledown, it
beckoned as a heavenly haven to the wet, weary riders because it
promised shelter from the rain.
“In ’bout an hour, I reckon,” Jim replied. “Mebbe less.”
“I hope it’s less,” Gale murmured to Virginia.
Her cousin smiled at her. “Feeling disgusted with camping in the open? I
wouldn’t blame you. This isn’t a nice experience for newcomers to our
state.”
“It isn’t me,” Gale said with a surprised glance, as though the mere
thought of her own comfort had never entered her head. “It’s Val. She’s
looking rather--peaked.”
“She’s bearing up marvelously well,” Virginia replied with equal
concern. “I hope today isn’t too much for her. I don’t want to spend
more than one night in this cabin Jim is taking us to.”
“Why not?” Gale asked.
“Well,” Virginia shifted uncomfortably, “I--just don’t that’s all.”
“Come on, out with it,” Gale said gayly. “Don’t go keeping secrets from
me. Is the place haunted?” she asked hopefully.
“It’s known as Ghost Cabin,” Virginia said reluctantly.
“How interesting!” Gale declared. “Tell me more! How did it come by that
name?”
“It is near the entrance to an old silver mine,” Virginia explained.
“Years ago this region was thought to hold valuable silver deposits.
Some miners came and camped here. The owner of the cabin worked his mine
for a year or so. Some people said he made a lot of money out of it. I
don’t know. Anyway, the miner was found murdered in his cabin,
supposedly killed by thieves.”
“Where does the ghost come in?” Gale wanted to know.
“The miner is supposed to come back to his cabin at night to wait for
the thieves who murdered him,” Virginia told her.
“Cheerful thought,” Gale grimaced wryly. “Do you suppose he’ll come
tonight?”
“I don’t know,” Virginia said doubtfully, albeit a bit hopefully. “It
would be fun, wouldn’t it, to meet a ghost?”
“A lot of fun,” Gale agreed dryly. “I’m not particularly fond of the
things myself. I’ll have to pass this tale on to the others.”
While they rode, Gale, with Virginia’s help, told the rest of the
Adventure Girls the story about the cabin to which they were going. They
were a little dubious about the night and its outcome, but all agreed it
would be highly exciting. Tom and Jim promptly declared the tale a myth,
that there were no such things as ghosts.
“You’re just trying to spoil our prospect of an exciting evening,”
declared Janet loftily to Tom. “I shall look for ghosts just the same.”
“Go ahead,” he grinned, “and may you find a lot of them.”
“Oh, not a lot,” she said hastily. “One healthy one is about all that I
could handle.”
“We’ll all be there to help you--handle him,” Carol assured her friend.
“Don’t tell me we have finally reached our goal!” This last as the party
rounded a clump of trees and through the rain saw a low, ramshackle
cabin ahead of them. A little distance from the cabin was a shed and
Carol demanded to know what it was.
“Entrance to his mine,” Tom replied, “Don’t go near it or you will
probably fall down a shaft or something.”
Carol frowned on him. “I will not fall down anything,” she declared with
dignity.
“See that you don’t,” he laughed. “Come along, Ambitious,” he urged one
of the pack horses who was lolling behind.
Jim was the first to approach the cabin and when they crowded behind him
there were mingled exclamations of disgust and disappointment. A layer
of dust lay over everything and there were dirt and filth in abundance.
But the sight of a fireplace and plenty of dry wood ready to flame up at
the spurt of a match heartened them somewhat.
“First of all,” Jim said, “I’ll sweep the place. There’s a makeshift
broom over there in the corner. You all wait outside.”
So there was nothing for the others to do but go back out into the rain
until Jim and Tom could restore the place to some semblance of
cleanliness.
“We’ll tie the horses back of the cabin,” Virginia proposed, to keep
them busy.
“Feeling tired?” Gale asked anxiously of Valerie as the two walked side
by side, leading their mounts.
Valerie nodded, forcing a smile. “No worse than you, I expect.”
Again Gale felt a thrill of admiration for her friend who was so
cheerfully determined to fight her way back to strong, ruddy health.
“The minute the cabin is respectable, you shall sit down and not stir
again tonight,” she declared.
“I’ll help get supper,” Valerie corrected.
“No you won’t,” Gale said.
“But I want to,” Valerie insisted. “I don’t want the girls to wait on
me. I didn’t intend to be a burden when I came on this trip and I won’t
be one!”
“Darling, you could never be that!” Gale said tenderly. She continued
humorously: “Here we want to give you service and you won’t have it. I
wish somebody----”
“All clear,” Tom called, and there was a sudden rush of wet figures for
the poor sanctuary of the tumbledown shack.
A fire crackled cheerily in the fireplace and the tired riders were
gathered around it gratefully, yielding to the comfort of its warmth and
to the laziness a good supper had instilled in them.
“And still no ghosts,” Madge sighed, leaning her head cozily against
Janet’s shoulder.
“No, and I can’t say that I miss them,” that individual added, stifling
a yawn.
“It has stopped raining,” Jim volunteered from his post at the door.
“Tom and I will put up a tent outside for the night.”
“You girls can roll in your blankets on the floor here in front of the
fire,” Tom continued. “We----”
All of them came to attention. From somewhere, they were not certain of
the exact position, came three slow, measured knocks.
“Ah, the ghost has arrived!” murmured Carol.
“Where was he?” demanded Virginia. “It sounded as though he were beneath
the floor, but the place has no cellar.”
“It came from the ceiling,” contradicted Phyllis.
“Do you really think it is a ghost?” whispered Janet.
The others motioned for silence as the knocks were resumed. Three more
were followed by a low, gurgling scream that rose and wavered on the
night air, dying slowly away. The girls exchanged glances, their faces
white and troubled. Tom was frowning fiercely. Jim’s eyes were darting
about the room to find the source of the ghostly knocks and scream.
“This isn’t funny any more,” Janet said fearfully.
“Do you think we can stay here all night?” Valerie added.
“It will take more than knocks and a scream to scare us away,” Virginia
declared staunchly.
“But suppose it is the old miner come back to wait for the thieves?”
Carol began. “What are----”
Her voice died away as the distinct rattling of chains filled the air.
“All the desired sound effects,” Tom growled.
“It seemed to come from right under our feet,” Gale declared.
“Rattling chains indeed!” sniffed Phyllis. “We can be sure it isn’t a
real ghost now. He has too much to be true. Somebody is trying to scare
us.”
“You’re right,” Jim agreed.
“But where is he? Why can’t we see him?” demanded Virginia.
“He can’t be on the roof,” Tom said thoughtfully, “there is no
cellar----”
“He certainly isn’t here with us,” Carol declared. “There goes that
scream again!” She shivered. “It gives me the creeps. Do you suppose he
could be on the outside?”
“No, he isn’t anywhere in sight,” Jim said firmly, returning from a
quick circle of the cabin.
“We haven’t heard him for some minutes now,” Virginia said
encouragingly. “Maybe he has gone.”
“Just a slight intermission,” murmured Janet calmly.
They waited, but nothing happened. Tom and Jim set a tent up before the
cabin. The girls spread their blankets before the fire, all but Valerie.
The girls had insisted that she take possession of the low bunk the
cabin afforded. It would be slightly more comfortable than the floor.
She was tired, but rolled in her blanket in the silent cabin, Gale found
she could not sleep. All desire for sleep had left her and her mind was
active. The other girls were sleeping, she supposed Tom and Jim were
too, out in their tent. But her ears magnified a thousandfold each
crackling of a log and each creak of the floor sent expectant shivers
along her spine. She realized then she was waiting for the ghost of the
cabin to return. She was sure he would. No self-respecting ghost would
stop after such a mild attempt to frighten them away if he was really
anxious to be rid of them. But who was it that was playing ghost? The
bank bandit? Hardly. Whoever it was, why did he want people to stay away
from the cabin? From where she lay, she looked around at the room. She
could see nothing that anyone might wish to keep from prying eyes.
Quietly she threw back her blanket and stood up. Tiptoeing, she went to
the door and stepped outside. Stentorian snores were coming from the
little tent. Tom and Jim were in dreamland. Smiling, she leaned against
the door and stared up at the stars overhead. The storm had cleared and
there was not a cloud in the sky. The stars hung low like brightly
lighted lanterns. The moon cast its silver light on the earth, causing
huge black shadows under trees and behind the cabin and the shanty set
apart.
Standing in the darkness, the wind ruffling her hair, gray eyes alight
with a hint of the brightness of the stars in their depth, Gale sighed
with sheer enjoyment of the scene. She had never before realized that a
spot such as this, away from the noise and the people of the world,
could be so lovely. It was almost like standing on the edge of the
world. Behind her towered high and mighty mountains, before her lay a
sea of moon-swept valley. Born and brought up in the little town of
Marchton, Gale had known some outdoor life, but never the breathless
beauty and limitless quiet of a night in Arizona. Quiet had she thought?
Far away a coyote howled and yet another. She shivered. The sound was
so--uncivilized. The cry of that animal was like a call straight from
the wild untamed world of which she knew nothing.
Gale was staring at the dark little shanty that Tom had said was
doubtless the entrance to the old miner’s mine. She wondered if the man
had ever realized his dream of great wealth, the dream he doubtless had
when he settled here and began to dig. A shadow, a moving shadow, had
detached itself from the spot of darkness which was the shanty and was
going toward a thick clump of trees. Instantly Gale stiffened to
attention. Who was it? Certainly it was no ghost, for no ghost was ever
so solid. Was it the one who had tried to frighten them from the cabin?
Certainly he had not tried very hard. Perhaps he was coming back later
for a second attempt. Were there more mysterious men in the shaft to the
mine? Gale had a sudden impulse to call Tom or Jim to investigate that
shadow. No, she would investigate it herself, she decided. The man was
out of sight now, lost in the blackness of the trees and she moved
forward.
It was not far from the shadow of the cabin to the protecting darkness
of the shanty and Gale covered it quickly. She did not want to be seen
by that other sleuthing person. She preferred to do her detecting unseen
and unknown. Her exploring fingers found the latch, consisting of a nail
and a piece of string, and in a minute the shanty door swung to behind
her. It was dark and silent in here. From her jacket pocket she took a
small flashlight. Ever since she and Phyllis had been lost in the cave
she had carried her light with her, rather than leaving it rolled in her
slicker. Now she was glad she had it. The little circle of light
revealed a pair of worn wooden steps leading downward. Gale listened
intently and when she heard nothing that indicated another’s presence,
descended into the passage. It was nothing like the big coal mines she
had read and seen pictures of. It was merely a tunnel that had been
hewed out of the ground with pick and shovel. If the ground had once
held a fortune of silver, it gave no evidence of it now. She had to
stoop, so low was the ceiling, as she picked her way along over rocks
and débris.
Suddenly the thin ray of light from her lamp wavered and she noticed
that it had grown dim. The battery was growing weak and would not last
much longer. She switched it off. She must save it so she would have at
least enough light to find her way back to the entrance. That was where
she made her mistake. Creeping along in darkness, she did not see the
black hole ahead and when her foot touched empty air, fell head foremost
down--down--several feet.
For a moment she lay stunned with the unexpectedness of her fall. Too,
the jar of landing had knocked all collected thought from her head.
Slowly she sat up and felt for an injury. Nothing but bruises, thank
goodness. She had dropped her flashlight and had to feel out with her
hands along the damp earth until she found it. She hoped fervently that
the drop had not put it entirely out of commission. No, when she pressed
the little button, a feeble ray of light shot out. The light was bright
enough to see that she had fallen into a pit of some sort that stretched
away out behind her into darkness which the lamp would not penetrate.
She got to her feet and endeavored to shake some of the dirt from her
clothes. It was a risk to go forward without a light, but a glance at
the wall of dirt and rock had shown her that she could never hope to
climb up to where she had been before her fall. There was no course but
to explore this passage here and to hope that that mysterious shadow did
not decide to come back into the mine immediately. But perhaps he had
friends in here, friends that would not welcome her intrusion. The very
thought that any minute she might stumble upon some mysterious, fearful
unknown made her nervous and she proceeded with greater caution.
Gale endeavored to readjust her sense of direction, which had been
somewhat confused with her fall, to find in what direction this passage
led. If she was correct, and she believed she was, it should lead across
to directly beneath the cabin where her friends were sleeping. In that
case, the man she had seen might have been the “ghost” who with his
mysterious knocks and screams had frightened them. But, remembering the
fall which she had had, how did he get down to this lower passage, and
once down here, how did he get up again? She had not been able to find
any means of gaining the higher level. She halted and switched her
flashlight on again. The light was failing rapidly and she dared to keep
it on only a moment. But in that moment she had switched it overhead and
seen the row of four or five boards which she was sure were part of the
floor of the cabin. She sought a rock and hurled it up against the
boards, ducking as it rebounded back at her. She followed it with
another and then another.
“The ghost is back again,” said a nervous voice which she recognized as
Janet’s.
Certainly it was the floor of the cabin and she had discovered how the
ghost had done his mysterious knocking. His voice from here would have
been clearly audible to them, too, just as she could hear the girls now.
“Gale’s gone!” she heard Valerie cry in alarm.
“Gone!” the others echoed.
She was just about to call out to reassure them when a sound in the
passageway behind her made her hold her breath in suspense. Someone was
coming along the tunnel. That must mean that the mysterious ghost had
returned to do some more of his haunting. With quick and as quiet steps
as possible, she retreated back the way she had come, and directly
toward that unknown. Standing flattened against the earth wall, her
heart thumping so she was sure he would hear it, Gale waited for the
ghost to pass her. He did so, actually brushing against her in the
darkness. He carried no flashlight and it was this fact alone that had
saved her from discovery. Evidently he knew his way about in the
darkness.
Aided now by fear, she sped along the narrow, low tunnel to where she
had had her fall. The man certainly had not been in here when she fell,
hence there must be some way he had entered since. She had to find that
entrance to gain her freedom. Now that the others had discovered her
absence, they would be alarmed and a search would be begun. She must get
back and reassure them. She must also send Tom and Jim to find this
mysterious stranger.
Flashing on the last faint rays of her flashlight, she saw the wall down
which she had fallen and against it hung a crude rope ladder. So this
was how he entered and left this lower tunnel! With one foot on the
ladder, she slipped her flashlight into her jacket pocket. It had failed
entirely now and she would have to depend on her memory to lead her to
the entrance. It took but a few moments to climb the ladder and once at
the top she pulled it up behind her. That would keep the ghost in the
lower passage until Tom and Jim could come along and investigate him.
There must be some reason why he “haunted” the cabin with his mysterious
knocks.
Swiftly as possible she went along the tunnel and after several minutes
stumbled against the steps leading up to the door.