A jolly party it was. They laughed, and joked, and told stories. They
ate, and drank, and were happy. Browning fairly groaned with
satisfaction, and then tried to disguise the groan by a cough. Hans
gasped as he looked about at the good things with which the table was
loaded, and his eyes bulged.
"Shimminy Ghristmas!" he gurgled. "I feel like all dot stuff could ead
me up und not half dry. I ain'd seen nottings like dot for so long dot
you don'd rememper id."
"Wal, gol darned ef this air ain't a slappin' good layout!" observed
Ephraim. "I was beginnin' to wish I was to hum on the farm where I could
git some baked 'taturs, but baked 'taturs won't cut no ice with me arter
I git threw with this fodder."
"Hearty appetites are in vogue at Springbrook Farm," laughed Kenneth;
"and I want you all to eat till you are perfectly satisfied. Athletes
should eat well at times."
"Yaw," nodded Hans, "I pelief me; but dot Vrankie Merrivell peen keepin'
der barty in draining so much dot I don'd had nottings to ead vot you
like two veeks a time at. Dot kindt uf pusiness makes you got fat like a
ghost."
"Speaking about ghosts," said Kenneth, with a sly wink at Merriwell,
"there is a story that our summerhouse is haunted. As you fellows are
going to stop there to-night, I trust you will not be troubled by
spirits."
Hans' jaw dropped.
"Vot?" he squawked. "I don'd toldt you dere peen a ghost dot house in?"
"Sure," nodded Kenneth. "Those who have seen it describe it as a tall,
white figure, and those who have felt it say it has clammy, ice-cold
hands."
"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 stopcock 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 stopcock, 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," assured 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
stopcock 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," assured 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.
"Wal," said the "ghost," speaking aloud, to the astonishment of the boys
behind the curtain, "I ruther guess ev'rything's all ready. Let her
rip!"
Then the curtain behind which the jokers crouched was suddenly snatched
away.
At the same instant, Hans sat up in bed, and turned the stopcock of the
hose.
Swish--spat!
A powerful stream of chilling water shot through the air directly toward
that alcove. If struck the astounded boys, drenching them in a moment
and knocking some of them over. The others piled upon the fallen ones,
and all shouted with astonishment and disgust.
Then Hans, grasping the hose, bounced to his feet, standing upright in
the middle of the bed, and poured the stream of cold water down upon
that struggling, squirming mass in the corner.
"Oh, say, vot a shoke dot vos!" cried the Dutch boy, swaying the nozzle
of the hose to evenly distribute the water over all the boys. "Ain'd you
hafin' fun mit us! I don'd belief you nefer seen der peat uf dese shoke
before all your life in! You don'd vorget der fun vat you had mit us
to-nighd a long dime in."
"Haw! haw! haw!" roared Ephraim. "Soak it to um, Hans! Ain't they havin'
a regular picnic with us! Ho! ho! ho! This is more fun than hoein'
'taters!"
"Stop it!" cried Rattleton, gasping for breath. "You blundering Dutchman
turn that hose----Woogh-uh-oogh-uh--oogh!"
The stream from the hose had struck Harry full and fair in the mouth,
and he was nearly drowned.
"Oi'll murther thot Dutch chaze!" shouted Mulloy. "Oi won't lave a whole
bone in his body! Oi'll---- Wa-ow! Murther! Boo! Thot's cold! It's dead
Oi am intoirely!"
"Hello, Parney!" called Hans, mockingly; "how you don'd like dot ghost
pusiness, hey? Don'd id peen vunny!"
"Thunder and guns!" roared Browning. "This will give me another Arkansaw
chill! Somebody will get hurt when I find out who put up this job on
me!"
Hodge and Diamond made a desperate attempt to get away, but Hans saw
them, and gave them a straight shot that knocked them down again in the
midst of the struggling, squirming, kicking and shouting lads.
"Great Caesar!" cried Kenneth St. Ives, as he untangled himself from the
drenched and kicking mass. "The joke is on us!"
"It looks that way from the road," admitted Frank, who was laughing
heartily as he crowded his body back into a corner to get away from the
water. "That confounded Yankee was too sharp to be taken in, and he put
up this job with Hans. Goodness! hear him laugh!"
Ephraim was haw-hawing in a manner that told how delighted he was, and
the roly-poly Dutch boy was dancing up and down on the bed, as he
continued to drench the shivering, scrambling, shouting lads in the
alcove.
"Oh, don'd you think dese pen der most fun I efer had!" gurgled Hans.
"Dese peen der vay to got a shoke a ghost on. Yaw! Vot do I think uf
dese ghost pusiness now, hey?"
"Haw! haw! haw!" roared Ephraim, holding onto his sides, and doubling up
with laughter. "Gol darned ef this wouldn't make a kaow larf! Give it to
um, Hans!"
"Oh, yaw, I peen goin' to cool them down. After 'dese don'd you pelief
me ven dey toldt you I vos scared mit a ghost. Hello, Raddleton! Oxcuse
me uf you got der vay in. I didn'd seen you pime-py. You oxbect I vos
havin' a goot time, hey?"
Harry had been untangling himself from the others, and now he tried to
get up, but the stream of water struck him behind the ear, and keeled
him over once more, plumping his head with great force fairly into
Browning's stomach.
"Thunder and lightning!" roared the big fellow. "I'd rather be in a
football rush! I'll give ten dollars to anybody who will pull me out of
this and get me out of the room. My eyes are full of water, and I can't
see."
"You don'd haf to took a shower path der morning in, Prowning," laughed
Hans.
Then St. Ives and Merriwell got hold of each other, and made a break for
the door, doing it so suddenly that they escaped before the Dutch boy
could turn the hose on them. They remained outside, laughing and calling
to the others, who came stumbling blindly out, one by one, dripping wet
and hopping mad.
"The joke is on us, boys," laughed Frank, "and we may as well make the
best of it. It's no use to kick."