The Blue Ghost
Rick, Scotty, Barby, Jan, and the Millers walked leisurely along the
slow-moving creek, down the dirt road to the old Bailey bridge. They
passed the Sky Wagon and its protecting alarm system, and Rick wondered
humorously to himself if the alarm would warn of spirits or only of
humans.
The sun had set only minutes before and the sky was still tinged with
red. Rick noted that the waters of the creek picked up the color, and
for a moment his active imagination peopled the empty fields with blue
and gray cavalrymen locked in mortal combat. He could almost hear the
thunder of hoofs, the excited neighing of the mounts, even the solid
sound of a heavy saber meeting yielding flesh. He shivered. After all,
it had been like that for a brief period many years ago.
Scotty moved to his side. "This is the oddest ghost-hunting expedition
I've ever been on. No equipment but a flashlight. Not even an electronic
spook spotter."
Rick nodded agreement. "Too true. But any experienced ghost grabber
knows that you can catch a sackful with only a flashlight and a pair of
shoestrings."
"Why the shoestrings?"
"You tie their ectoplasm together top and bottom and they're trapped in
it. Like a burlap bag."
The boys had been bringing up the rear of the little procession and the
others had not heard the soft-spoken exchange. Rick was just as glad.
Weak jokes somehow didn't fit. It was the very lack of preparation, the
simple walk after dinner to see the ghost, that made it all somehow very
convincing. The Millers, both quiet people, were never much at small
talk, but both girls were chatterers. Yet, even the girls were quiet.
"They _know_," Rick thought. "They know what we're going to see. They're
awed and a little frightened, but they're leading us to it, even knowing
how it will be. Scotty and I are the ignorant ones. The others feel the
weirdness and we don't."
He lengthened his stride and joined the Millers. "Sir, how can you be so
sure we'll see the apparition tonight?"
"One can't be sure, of course. But so far as we have heard, the
apparition hasn't missed a public gathering in a month. There will be
one tonight, a service-club outing from over in Manassas."
"They must not be afraid of the ghost," Rick commented.
"They may not have heard of it," Mrs. Miller explained. "I don't believe
any newspaper has carried a story, so word of mouth would be the only
way of knowing."
"Or perhaps they have heard but couldn't cancel it," Dr. Miller added.
"That's the case with most of the affairs now being held at the grounds.
A great number have been called off. Only those scheduled far in advance
with lots of guests are still going on, simply because it's too
difficult to change them."
Scotty asked, "Then the ghost is having an effect?"
"Definitely. At this time of year the grounds are usually one of the
most popular places around. Families come for cook-outs, and the kids
swim in the creek. Clubs hold their outings almost every night,
sometimes two or three groups at once. But since the ghost came people
are staying away, except for the affairs that would be difficult or
awkward to cancel or change."
That was what Barby had meant, Rick thought. He asked, "Is this a public
park of some kind?"
"No indeed," Dr. Miller answered. "We own part of it, and a family named
Hilleboe owns part. But it's not used for anything and we've never
objected to the public using it. The local Boy Scout troops have taken
on the job of keeping it clean as a regular project, and most people are
careful. It's no trouble for us."
Rick glanced at his watch. It was getting dark rapidly now, and the
apparition was due in fifteen minutes. The bridge was just ahead. They
were in plenty of time.
"Strange," he thought. "The ghost of Captain Seth Costin, late of the
Union Army, probably the Army of the Potomac, will perform for all
comers promptly at nine. 'We regret there can only be one performance
each evening.' Or was that true? Had anyone stayed to see? Maybe the
obliging phantom performed every hour on the hour during darkness."
He shook his head as though to clear it of cobwebs. This didn't check
with any ghost story he had ever heard. No holding hands around a table,
no incantations or strange phrases in forgotten languages, no incense,
no nothing. It was bum theater.
The group crossed the bridge and entered the trees, still following the
dirt road. Rick saw that the road forked, one branch going to town, the
other to the picnic area. The trees around them were huge oaks, and
almost certainly most of them had been healthy and along in years when
Seth Costin fought among them.
Rick enjoyed the feeling of history, of a definite past. He resolved to
do a little reading on the area.
Barby and Jan, who had been walking boldly in the van, dropped back now
and the group seemed to huddle more closely together. There were voices
among the trees, and here and there the glow of a fire. Then the edge of
the tree belt was reached and the group stopped.
There was a clearing beyond the tree belt, and in the clearing were
rough-hewn tables and benches. Beyond the clearing a grassy hill rose
gently to an upland meadow, except for a section that rose sharply for
nearly a hundred feet.
The upthrusting section was barren of grass, and at its base, boards
were nailed across what was obviously the opening into the mine.
"Interesting formation, isn't it?" Dr. Miller asked.
It definitely was, and Rick said so. Even to his relatively untrained
eye, this was a place where a volcanic fissure had opened ages ago,
allowing igneous rock to thrust sharply upward through the sedimentary
layers of the older ground. Now the formation had weathered until it was
like a barren hill built on top of a fertile one. On the steep slope of
igneous rock no grass had managed to get hold, although a few hardy
weeds clung to it.
Barby pointed to a shelf, actually a terrace in the rock structure,
above and a few yards to the left of the mine entrance. "He appears
there," she said.
"Let's get a good position," Rick urged. "It's almost nine."
The sky was still blue in color, but it was already dark on the ground.
Fires flared up brightly, but the picnickers were hushed, as though they
knew what was coming. They probably had not seen the ghost, and it was
likely few believed they would see anything, but the unknown casts a
strong web, and they were feeling its effects.
The Spindrifters moved along through groups of picnickers until they
were directly opposite the old mine shaft, and took up positions in the
shelter of an oak tree.
"There's a pool of water on top of that shelf," Dr. Miller told the
boys. "It's from a spring, actually an artesian well. There's a pipe
outlet up there from which water flows constantly. It collects in the
pool, which overflows into a natural drainage ditch."
The scientist pointed to where the tiny stream made its way down the
hillside and disappeared among the trees. "Over the years it has cut a
natural channel to the creek. So far as anyone can remember, it has
always been here. The pipe was replaced a few years ago, apparently by
driving a new one into the hillside. The original well probably was
driven during the Civil War."
Rick examined the terrain. "Odd, water coming out of a hillside like
that, especially when the hillside isn't part of a mountain."
"The water comes off the Blue Ridge, and it develops a pretty good head
of pressure in its underground channels. Whoever drove the original well
simply tapped that hydrostatic head, although why they didn't drive the
well at this level is beyond me."
A sudden scream from nearby brought the conversation to an abrupt end.
Rick turned in time to see a spout of water vapor, or something that
made a white cloud, rise from the place where Dr. Miller had said the
pool was located.
Rick felt a chill run through him and the short hairs on the nape of his
neck bristled in a reaction older than the race of man. "You've got to
keep calm," he warned himself sternly. "Be objective. Don't miss a
thing!"
Scotty let out a low whistle, and Rick suddenly felt Barby's fingers
biting into his arm. For, through the white rising mist, there came an
officer in Union blue, and from under the broad cavalry hatbrim,
piercing eyes looked straight at them.
Rick swallowed hard. He was vaguely aware of the terrified scurry around
him as most of the picnickers departed as fast as their legs would carry
them.
The apparition extended hands, as though in welcome to a loved one. The
youthful, handsome face smiled.
Rick shook his head to clear it. This couldn't be happening! The
apparition was faintly blurred, as though by the writhing of the mists
in which he appeared, but details were clear enough. Rick could see the
smile vanish suddenly, and shock replace it. He could see the gauntleted
hands suddenly clasped to the chest, see red spurt from between the
gloved fingers.
Jan Miller let out a long-drawn, soft, shuddering sound from between
clenched teeth. Barby's fingers clamped tighter on her brother's arm.
Rick fought to shake off the feeling of horror and dread. "There aren't
any ghosts," he tried to tell himself. "This isn't a ghost. There are no
ghosts."
Except that he was looking at one!
The apparition began to fade, holding out bloody hands. The phantom
officer swayed a little, and the young face was distorted with agony. It
grew dimmer and dimmer until only the white mist remained.
Rick was aware of Barby's soft sobs next to him, but his eyes remained
riveted on the white mist.
A yell from Scotty snapped him out of his reverie.
"Let's go, boy!"
Without quite knowing how it happened, Rick found himself next to his
pal, climbing frantically up the rocky slope to the shelf, hurrying to
catch the Blue Ghost before even the mist vanished!
Not even bothering to draw themselves to an upright position, the boys
flung themselves forward into the rapidly vanishing mist. Rick felt with
horror a thin, icy tendril curl around his face, and he heard a gentle
bubbling sound, like phantom laughter.
Scotty's flashlight probed with a bright yellow beam, and Rick saw, in
the instant before the mist vanished and all movement ceased, that the
surface of the pool boiled gently and then was quiet.
The flashlight beam disclosed solid rock, broken only by the pipe from
which water trickled.
There was no ghost.
There was no place he could have gone.
[Illustration: _There was no place the Blue Ghost could have gone_]
There was no sign of human handiwork.
There was--nothing.