THE WATCHING POST
Ted nodded as he looked the suit over. It was a coarse white sheet and
the dweller in the hut was taking some pains on the construction of it.
But there was no doubt as to its proposed use.
“Yes, sir, it’s a ghost uniform, if there is such a thing!” smiled Ted.
“And I guess I have an idea where he intends to wear it!”
“He isn’t going to a masquerade, I’ll bet on that!” grinned Buck.
“If I’m not mistaken he’ll turn up pretty soon at our camp with this
nightgown on!”
“When he does, we’ll take it off!” promised Ted, grimly.
“Shall we wait for him to come home and then nab him?” Buck asked.
“No the sight of this ghost costume has made me change my mind, and if
you agree to my plan, we’ll work this thing out another way. Let’s get
out of here before he returns and wait around camp until he does show
up in this sheet affair. Then, when we grab him, we’ll have him just
where we want him. If we accuse him of anything now he can easily back
out by saying that he doesn’t know anything about it, but if we catch
him around the camp in this suit we will have him just where he’ll find
it impossible to escape.”
“That is all right as far as it goes, but how are we going to know just
what night he does visit the camp? We don’t want a chase such as we had
the other night.”
“No, but I have a plan for a trap. However, let’s get out of here first
and we’ll discuss it on the way back. Now I’m particularly anxious that
he doesn’t catch us in here or know that we have been here.”
“All right. We haven’t disturbed anything, have we?”
Ted looked around thoughtfully and then shook his head. “I guess not.
We didn’t touch anything and I’m glad we didn’t even touch the suit.
By the way, while we are here, let’s see if there is any sign of that
skeleton that was in the bushes back of the camp.”
They hunted hastily around for the skeleton, looking in every corner
and into a small closet space off of the main room, but there was no
sign of the object which had so startled them. Satisfied that they
could not find anything, which would add to their store of knowledge
concerning the man, and anxious to get out of Hogs’ Hollow as soon as
possible, they left the hut, arranging the door as they had found it,
and struck at once off into the swampland toward the higher ground. No
words were exchanged between them until they had quitted the hollow
and had arrived at higher ground, where they started off side by side
toward the camp.
“What is your idea about trapping the fellow when he comes ghosting?”
asked Buck, as they skirted the cemetery and started along the rough
road.
“Now that we have a fairly good idea that he’ll visit us, we’ll prepare
for him,” explained Ted. “I guess that after the surprise attack on him
the other night he won’t come any too near the camp in his white sheet,
though he must be going to show himself, or why bother with a sheet at
all? He may plan to reveal himself on a rock as he did with the black
horse that time, but whichever way he plans it, I guess we can be sure
that he is coming sooner or later. Now, if we’re going to be in the
camp we won’t have much chance to cope with him, but we won’t be in
camp!”
“Won’t be in the camp!” Buck echoed. “Where will we be?”
“We’ll be outside of camp and hidden in a clump of bushes, watching
the camp to see what happens. You know our tents back up against the
hill where the springs are and that will be an advantage. My idea is
for us to lift the backs of the tents, creep out and along the slope
until we reach that bunch of maples on the east side of the camp. Those
trees are pretty close together and there is a fine screen of bushes,
where we can lie in wait and watch the camp.”
“Oh, I see! Then if he gets to fooling around back of the camp we can
see him better than we could if we were down in the camp.”
“Yes, and not only that, but I think the sight of an empty camp will
lure him on. If he has no evil intentions toward the camp I think that
sheer curiosity will draw him into it. Then, from our watching post on
the hill we can figure out a plan to swoop down on him and surround
him. How does that sound to you?”
“All right,” approved Buck, enthusiastically. “But we’ll have to be
regular Indians to crawl from the tents to the maples!”
“That is all right, we’ll be able to do it. Of course, if he ever sees
us at it, everything is over, but we’ll just have to be so careful that
he won’t see us. If anyone is to do the seeing, we’re the ones to do
it. I’d like to catch him red-handed prowling around the camp and then
we’ll have a clear case against him.”
“Yes. But don’t forget that he must have a helper. Things have happened
in such a way that he can’t possibly be doing them all by himself.”
“I realize that, and I don’t know whether they’ll work in pairs or not,
but I think if we can get him we’ll have no trouble in getting his
friend, whoever he is. We’ll concentrate on getting him and that will
probably clear up the atmosphere quite a bit.”
They arrived at the camp, to find the other boys anxiously awaiting
them, though they had not been idle. Preparations had been made for
supper and everything was ready to put on the fire when they got back.
The boys were at first disappointed because they had not brought a
prisoner back with them, but Ted soon explained his plan to them and
they fell in with it whole-heartedly.
“That will mean we’ll be sleeping out in the open for a few nights at
least,” Ted told them. “You see, when we crawl out there we’re not
going to just sit there for a few hours and then go back into the
tents. It is pretty likely that this fellow will try his next piece
of funny work in the middle of the night, and when he does we’ll want
to be out of the camp and a whole lot nearer to him than he thinks
for. If he tries anything more like setting the woods afire we’ll be
right on top of him before he can get very far, and in order to do so
we’ll want to camp out and away from the tents. So tonight when it gets
dark we’ll let the fires die down a bit and then we’ll go to our tents
as though we intended to turn in early. From in the tents we’ll slip
out the back one by one, each with his own blanket, and we’ll make an
outdoor camp in the maple grove.”
“Won’t it be cold outdoors?” a boy asked.
“No, it won’t be. It is warm nights, as you know, and it won’t hurt us
a bit to sleep outside. Of course, if a storm comes up we’ll crawl back
and wait until a better night comes along.”
After supper that night they allowed the fires to die away to a mass
of red embers and then one by one drifted into their tents. As soon as
they entered the shelters they rolled up their blankets, strapped them
on their shoulders and one by one raised the back wall of the tents and
slipped out into the darkness back of the tents.
Here the blackness was intense and they found that crawling was not
necessary. Keeping well to the darkness and out of the feeble light
from the fires they stole one by one to the grove of maples and there
assembled, until all of them were in the place. This grove was of
ample size to hold them all and after some low-pitched conversation,
which Ted and Buck took care to keep down and discourage, they spread
out their blankets and made their first attempt at outdoor sleeping.
Some of them went to sleep at once, while others, finding sleeping
under the stars a distinct novelty, lay awake for some little time. But
all of them were getting used to the camp life by this time and it was
not long before all of them slept soundly.
Morning came without anything having happened and they awoke in some
disappointment. Ted saw that he had omitted some important part of his
scheme.
“We should have had them sneak back in camp and come out of their
tents, just as though they had slept there all night,” he told Buck.
“If anyone is watching the camp and sees us come out of here, they’ll
catch on to the plan at once. I never thought of that part.”
“Tomorrow morning we’ll have to wake up just before dawn and sneak
back, to finish our sleep in the tents,” nodded Buck. “I’ll tell you
what we do know. Suppose we go off into the woods a short distance and
then enter the camp from a direction back of the springs? Then, if
anyone should be watching and sees us come in, they’ll think we took
an overnight hike and are just getting in.”
“Providing they didn’t see us going into the tent for the apparent
purpose of going to sleep there,” reminded Ted. “But we’ll do it that
way and trust to luck.”
They moved off into the woods and approached the camp from a different
direction from the maple clump.
The day passed pleasantly enough, the boys enjoying the camp life and
the swimming. That evening, as they finished their suppers, a beautiful
full moon made its appearance in the sky.
“Going to have a fine old moon to sleep under tonight,” remarked
Drummer.
The act of retiring to the tents and stealing off to the maple grove
was again performed and once in the grove they sat on their blankets
and talked in low tones. The night was so fine that no one actually
wanted to go to sleep, though it was now the usual time.
“Well, we might as well turn in,” yawned Ted, beginning to unbutton his
shirt. The others reluctantly followed his example and soon most of
them had slipped in under the blankets. Ted took a final look down at
the camp.
The fires were low, almost out, in fact. The brilliant moon lighted
up the camp like a silvery lantern and the entire landscape, done
in silver and black, was hauntingly beautiful. Ted felt a flash of
annoyance at the train of circumstances which was compelling them to
spend the night away from their tents.
“Too bad we have to fool around with those fellows,” he grumbled,
inwardly. “This would be a beautiful night to lie in the tents and look
out at things. I wish—”
He broke off in his thoughts and bent forward, his eyes narrowed. Then
he snapped his fingers softly and hissed. The boys sat up in their
blankets.
“What’s up?” Buck whispered, quickly.
“Get up, but don’t make any noise, on your lives!” was the thrilling
reply, in a carefully guarded tone. “There is a figure all in white in
the trees close to the creek!”