FRANK TRIES TO SOLVE THE RIDDLE
Frank and Jerry gazed at each other in utter consternation.
"Tell me about that, will you? The ghost walked, and while we were away
visiting, too! Was there ever such beastly luck?" groaned the latter, in
dejection.
"But what's this about Bluff? You say he fell over. Was he struck with
anything? And where's Jed?" asked Frank, eager to reach a conclusion.
"I'm here, all right," said a voice, and the bound boy came crawling out
of a dense thicket close by. He was shivering, and his face looked white
and drawn, as with fear.
"Bluff fell right over there by the bear, Frank. See! There he is now,
getting up again. Thank goodness! He isn't dead, anyway!" cried Will.
Frank sprang to the side of Bluff.
"What ails you, old fellow? Are you badly hurt?" he asked.
"I don't just know. Seemed as if the sky fell on me; but I reckon I must
have banged my head against this tree here in my excitement. I never
noticed the pesky tree, I declare. All I could see was that terrible
thing standing there and waving its awful bony hand. Gee! I was scared!
I admit it, boys. Never got such a shock in my whole life," said Bluff,
rubbing his forehead, where quite a large lump told of contact with some
hard substance.
"Do you really mean to say that the ghost appeared to both of you while
we were away?" asked Frank, hardly able to believe his ears, and looking
to see if the others could be putting up some joke on Jerry and himself;
but that lump was genuine, all right, and the look of pain on Bluff's
face meant sincerity.
"Sure he was here. He kept waving us away all the time," declared Will.
"Evidently, then, from what you say, he does not like campers on his
preserves, and would warn us to go home. H'm! That is something to be
considered when trying to understand this riddle. Did the ghost speak at
all?"
Bluff looked inquiringly at Will.
"If it did, I didn't hear it. I just gave a yell as I saw Bluff keel
over, and rolled back behind this log, where I cowered till I heard
Frank call. Oh! what a chance I lost to snapshot a real, genuine
ghost!" And Will shook his head with disgust over his timidity.
"I wish you had done it; then we'd have something tangible to work on.
As it is, we hardly know where we stand. The evidence of a frightened
person is hardly enough to prove anything," mused Frank.
"Look here! Can either of you describe the ghost?" demanded Jerry.
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 bump,
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 noble 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 passing 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 lassoing 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.