TOLD AROUND THE CAMP FIRE
OF course Elmer was disappointed when his carefully laid plans all went
by the board, owing to that unfortunate sneeze, just at the worst
possible time.
As a matter of duty he ran forward to where that strange figure in white
had been marching to and fro, but just as he fully expected there was
not a single sign of the late presence.
So Elmer walked back to where his anxious chums were crouching, craning
their necks in the endeavor to ascertain what was going on. He found
them ready to ply him with questions; and Toby's first act was to free
himself from suspicion.
"George did it, Elmer!" he hastened to say; "with his silly little
sneeze. It sure gave us all a shock, and when I thought to look again
that bally ghost was gone."
"But how could I help it?" complained the guilty culprit. "I never had
the least idea it was coming, when all at once it gripped me hard. If
you'd offered me half a million dollars right then not to sneeze, I
couldn't have earned thirty cents. It took me just as quick as that,"
and he snapped his fingers to illustrate how impotent he had been in the
grasp of a necessity.
"I've been there myself, George," said Elmer, kindly, because he knew
how badly the other scout must feel on account of having upset all their
plans; "and just as you say, sometimes a sneeze comes so fast you can't
keep it back if your life depended on it. Of course it was unfortunate,
because in another minute I'd have been close enough to have done all I
wanted."
"But my stars! Elmer," exclaimed Lil Artha, in dismay, "you didn't
expect to jump that spooky thing all alone, I hope?"
Elmer laughed, which act proved to the distressed George that his
offense could not set so heavily on the mind of the scout master after
all.
"Certainly not, Lil Artha," Elmer told the long-legged scout; "I
expected to drop back, and get the rest of you before anything was done.
But accidents will happen even in the best regulated scout troops, and
that was something nobody could help. Better luck next time."
"Then, suh, you don't mean to give up this ghost hunt?" asked Chatz,
with a ring of exultation in his voice.
"Not if we have another chance to hook up with the mystery," replied
Elmer.
"But tell us, weren't you close enough up to see whether it was a real
ghost or not?" demanded George, arousing to his old self again.
Chatz could be heard giving a little indignant snort. He was evidently
unable to understand how any one could doubt after seeing what they had.
Chatz, with all his leaning toward a belief in spirits, had never
before come so close to an object that had all the earmarks of a ghost;
and he was correspondingly elated.
"I guess I was all of that," Elmer replied, quietly.
"And what do you think about it, Elmer?" continued George, persistently.
"We want to know!" added Toby, determined to get his word in somehow.
"There's a whole lot to tell," said Elmer, "and this isn't just the
place to begin the story. So let's get back to the camp, where we can
sit around the fire for another half hour, while I enlighten you on some
things I happen to know."
What he said gave the others a new thrill. For the first time some of
the scouts became aware that their leader had all along been in
possession of certain facts in connection with the strange appearance of
this reputed ghost. One or two there were, notably Chatz Maxfield, who
had suspected something of the kind, owing to the queer way Elmer had
often smiled while the others were disputing fiercely concerning the
possible identity of the specter.
"That sounds good to me, Elmer," announced Lil Artha, without a second's
hesitation, "and for one I'm ready to skip out of this place. It's raw
and spooky enough here to give us all pneumonia. Let's get alongside a
cheery old camp fire; and then you to spin the yarn. It wouldn't
surprise me so much if I heard that you'd known the pedigree of our
ghost all along, and was just holding back to see what fun you could
shake out of the situation."
"No, you're wrong there, Lil Artha!" declared the scout master,
earnestly; "that isn't so. I began to have my suspicions, but up to now
had found nothing to confirm them enough to warrant me telling what I
knew, or thought. But the time has come, because this thing has gone far
enough. Lend me your little flash-light torch, Lil Artha. The rest of
you wait here for me again, please."
As Elmer hurried away they noticed that he was making along the hall
directly toward the spot where they had recently seen the weird white
object that moved forward and back, again and again, with the regularity
of clockwork.
"He's gone to see if he can find any footprints in the dust on the
floor?" suggested Ty Collins.
At that Chatz gave another grunt, as though to his superior mind it was
a very foolish remark; because ghosts never left any tracks behind them.
But as he seemed to be in the minority, and knew it was hardly wise to
invite another verbal attack, Chatz chose to seal his lips and remain
dumb. His triumph would come later on, when they were seated around the
glowing fire, and Elmer chose to explain his views of the matter,
gleaned at close range.
A short time passed thus. The scouts were keyed up to top-notch pitch,
and the seconds dragged fearfully while they awaited the coming of their
leader. They could see him moving about, by means of the little glow
cast by the hand electric torch he had borrowed from Lil Artha; who
felt that his fetching such a useful article along had vindicated his
wisdom. Scouts should look ahead, and prepare themselves for all sorts
of possible needs. That was what they were learning to do day after day,
as they strove to earn new honors, and reach a higher plane in the great
organization.
Finally when the waiting scouts were beginning to sigh, and wish Elmer
would get through with his searching around, they heard him give the
well-known signal that was meant to call them to his side.
"All ready to go back to camp now, fellows," was all Elmer said as they
hastened to join him; for it was necessary to pass by that way in
heading for the stairs.
Whether or not he had been successful in finding any traces of the
mysterious _thing_ they had been gaping at so long, Elmer did not bother
telling them just then. That would keep until he was ready to explain
fully.
The camp, as we happen to know, was not far removed from the haunted
house that had gained such a bad name among the farmers of that section
for many years, on account of the sad story connected with its past; and
in a short time they filed in before the two guardians of the stores,
much to the satisfaction of Landy and Ted.
Of course the pair who had been left behind were eager to know what had
happened to their more fortunate comrades who had gone on the
ghost-hunting expedition; and they started to bombard Toby and Lil Artha
with a series of questions that made the victims throw up their hands.
"Yes, we did see something, and that's right," admitted the latter
scout.
"A tall white figure, too," broke in Chatz, who wanted to make sure that
nothing was omitted in the telling that ought to be narrated; "and it
kept moving up and down again and again like an uneasy spirit. If you
asked me I'd say it was the ghost of old Judge Cartaret, come back to
visit the scene of his crime!"
"Oh! gosh!" was all the staggered Landy could say, but it expressed the
state of his feelings exactly.
"Don't believe too much of what Chatz says till you hear what Elmer's
got to tell us all," warned Toby. "You see, he went and crept up close
to that _aw_ful figure, and then George here, just like he wanted to try
things out, and see if it really was a ghost, had to give a whopper of a
sneeze; and when we looked again the thing had disappeared like smoke.
But Elmer knows something, and he promised to tell us the real stuff
when we got sitting around our bully fire here. So pull up, fellows, and
let him know we're all ready to listen."
"Take my word for it," Lil Artha told them, "I'm wild to hear what Elmer
knows."
"What he _believes_, say, Lil Artha," corrected the scout master,
pleasantly; "for I haven't been able to prove it to my satisfaction
yet, though I hope to do that before we leave up here."
"That's all right, Elmer," said Toby, quickly; "your word's as good as
your bond, and when you _think_ a thing it's pretty sure to be it!"
This remarkable confidence which his chums had in him always spurred
Elmer on to doing his level best. He felt that he could not afford to
lose a shred of such sublime faith; and no doubt on many occasions this
had enabled him to gain his end when otherwise he might have considered
the case hopeless, and abandoned all design of succeeding.
Accordingly the whole eight of them found places around the fire, which
had of course been built up again until it was a cheery sight. Around
midnight at the extreme end of November the air is apt to be pretty
chilly during the small hours of the night, so that the boys could
hardly keep up too hot a blaze to satisfy their wants.
Naturally all of them had made sure that from where they sat they could
see the face of Elmer. As he was the center of attraction it was bound
to add more to their pleasure if they could watch him as he explained,
and told his story of achievement.
The scout master looked around at that circle of eager boyish faces, and
smiled. He was very fond of every one there; after his own fashion each
scout had his good points, and Elmer knew them all, for had he not seen
them tested many a time?
"First of all, fellows," he remarked, "I'm going back to the other time
we were up here, and Toby declared he saw a white face at one of the
windows, which news gave us all such a queer feeling, because we
couldn't tell whether it was so or not. You remember after we left the
house I went back again?"
"Yes, sure you did, Elmer; but you never said a word about finding
anything!" George remarked.
"But he looked it," muttered Chatz, with increasing uneasiness.
"I went up to that window again, and hunted around to see if there was
any sign of footprints there," Elmer continued. "You know that in all
the years the house has been lying there deserted the dust has collected
everywhere, though don't ask me where it could come from, because I
don't know. Sometimes rain would beat in through the broken windows, and
lay it, but the wind coming later on set it free again. Anyway, there
was tracking dust there on that floor, and I found what I was looking
for!"
Everybody was hanging on his words. Chatz gave a groan. He saw that a
death blow was being given to his cherished belief; for of course if
Elmer had found _tracks_, the one who had made them could never have
been a ghost.
No one else was sorry, apparently. Indeed, there was more or less actual
relief in the series of sighs that welled up, especially from George,
who had secretly been getting a little shaky with regard to his
disinclination to believe in the ability of spirits to return to the
scene of their earthly troubles for divers purposes.
"You mean there was a track there; is that it, Elmer?" asked Toby.
"I found several of them, though our tramping around had almost covered
the trail up," Elmer went on, steadily.
"But how could you tell them from the marks we left?" continued Toby.
At that Elmer laughed.
"Well, that was as easy as tumbling off a log, Toby," he replied. "I
guess even a tenderfoot could have told, because you see the strange
track showed that the other party was _barefooted_!"
"Oh!" gasped George and Lil Artha in a breath; while Chatz did not say a
single word, only sat there with his eyes fixed on the beaming face of
the scout master, and the light of a cruel disappointment in their
depths.
"I tried to follow the trail," continued Elmer, "but that dust happened
to be limited in its scope, so that it was more than I could master, and
I had to give it up. But of course the fact that a barefooted man had
been at that window where Toby said he saw a white face gave me lots to
think about, even if I did make up my mind not to say anything about my
find until I had more to tell."
When Elmer paused to get his breath Toby grinned as though greatly
pleased.
"See!" he ejaculated, thrusting his chin out aggressively, "some of you
other fellows thought I was seeing things that didn't exist, and you
knocked me right hard about gettin' a pair of specs, because I needed
the same. But seems like it was you ought to go and visit the oculist. I
_did_ see a face, and it was sure a white one in the bargain. But excuse
me, Elmer, for keepin' the floor so long; that's out of my system now,
and let's forget it. Please go on and tell us the rest, because I'm dead
sure there's a lot more back of this."
"Well," the other scout observed, "of course, when we got home I was
bound to go around and ask a lot of questions about the old Cartaret
place up here; and everything else I could hit on. What I learned didn't
add a great deal to my stock of knowledge until just by accident I
happened to read a little item in an old number of the Stackhouse _News_
that came to our house, and it set me to thinking out a theory. That
article was about a family named Oxley that live near Stackhouse I
should think. It seems that they have the misfortune to have a son who
is crazy, because of some accident to his head several years ago. He
wasn't violent, and like some people they couldn't bear the thought of
having him shut up in an asylum; so they hired a keeper, and he was
watched at home. But it seems that he must have slipped away, for a
report had gone out that he was missing, and the paper asked its readers
to communicate with the family if by chance they came upon a demented
man, dressed in the white uniform of a Spanish officer; for it seems he
had been in Cuba during the war, and imagined himself a soldier again."
Elmer paused to let what he had said sink into the minds of his chums;
and it could be easily seen from the way they exchanged knowing looks
that the full significance of the scout master's discovery had struck
them heavily.
"Elmer, you hit the right nail on the head when you guessed that!" cried
Toby.
"Dressed in white, too; that clinches the thing!" added Lil Artha.
"I'm afraid it does," sighed Chatz, in a disappointed tone, while George
only said:
"Mebbe it does; but you can't always sometimes tell!"