Under Canvas: or, The Hunt for the Cartaret Ghost

"Well," the scout master remarked, "let's hope that's plenty for you to-day, Toby. We've stood and watched you make a record drop, and you came through in pretty decent shape; but enough's as good as a feast. The next time things mightn't turn out as nice for you; and we don't want to carry a scout with a broken leg home in our wagon to-day."

"But think of that little 'coon coming down with it all, and then running away as if he didn't have a scratch to show for it?" George observed.

"He got off sound and unhurt, did he?" asked Toby; "I'm real glad of that, 'cause I wouldn't want him to be injured. I reckon that 'coon was a mascot to me, and gave me good luck. But do we get ready to start home so early in the afternoon, Elmer?"

Before any opinion could be advanced by the scout master, Chatz broke in hastily:

"I'm going to ask you a great favor, suh," he told Elmer; "and which I hope you can grant without interfering at all with any plans you have formed."

"What's that, Chatz?" asked the other; although from the quick look he cast in the quarter where lay the haunted house, it was easy to see that he could give a pretty fair guess what it's nature would prove to be.

"Why, suh, we may never get the chance again, and I've always wanted to see what the inside of a haunted house looked like," Chatz went on to say.

"Whee!" burst from the lips of Ted; while both George and Toby pricked up their ears, and began to show considerable interest.

"You mean that while we're up here, and have half an hour or so on our hands," Elmer suggested, "we might as well take a look-in over there, and see if the rats and the owls are the only things living in the Cartaret house."

"I'd like to very much, suh, believe me, I would," Chatz continued, with one of his winning smiles that were very difficult to resist.

"What do the rest say about that?" and as Elmer made this remark he turned to the other three scouts.

"I vote in the affirmative!" Toby immediately answered.

"Thame here," purred Ted.

"Oh! of course I'll join you in anything you hatch up, fellows," George told them; "though I don't take any stock in all this nonsense about ghosts and such. If you show me one, and I can pinch his arm, and feel the bones in his hand, I might believe in the stuff; but you never can, and that's a fact. Still, I'd like to see what the inside of this old Cartaret house is like. I don't believe there's a single fellow in Hickory Ridge that can boast he's been through it. Lead the way, then, Elmer, or Chatz. We'll follow you."

That was always the way with George. He would oblige a comrade every time, but his chronic way of fault-finding, or unbelief, often took away much of the pleasure his accommodating nature might have afforded.

They had bundled the cooking utensils together, ready to be placed in the wagon when it was brought up; Toby also fastened his wonderful parachute in as small a compass as possible, and laid it down alongside the other things.

"Wouldn't want to forget to take that along home for a king's ransom," he stoutly declared, looking defiantly at George, because of course that individual was smiling in a fashion that smacked strongly of incredulity.

After that the whole five of them headed toward the spot where they knew the deserted house was to be found. Chatz was fairly quivering with eagerness, and there was a glow in his dark eyes that told how much he appreciated this chance to pry into the secret lodging place of a reported ghost.

Everything was overgrown, and looked very wild. Elmer remarked that if there really were such things as hobgoblins in this world, they certainly could look long and far without finding a more congenial neighborhood in which to reside; for the whole appearance of the place seemed to smack of the supernatural. The breeze actually whined as it passed through the bare branches of the untrimmed trees close to the house; and loose shutters and windows added to the creaky sounds by their rattling, every time a little gust happened to blow.

"Wow! this sure is spooky enough around here to suit me," Toby frankly admitted, as they stood there, and looked about them.

The house itself had once been quite an extensive, and perhaps costly affair, with two wings, and a spacious hall in the center. That was long ago, for now it was in the throes of dissolution, a mere wreck of its former self, and fit only for bats, owls, and rats. Doors hung on a single hinge, and shutters had been torn off long ago by gales, leaving the paneless windows gaping beyond. Moss streaked the rotten roof, and parts of the porch had given way under accumulated snow piles in previous winters.

As Toby said it certainly was gloomy enough, and one did not need to have a very vivid imagination to picture the tragic scenes that were said to have been enacted here many years ago, when the place was a regular Eden, with flower beds and outbuildings on all sides.

"Gives you the creeps, all right," admitted George.

"Now, for my part," Elmer remarked just then, "I kind of like the feeling it makes pass over you. And as few people have visited here for the last ten years, I'm glad you asked us to look around with you, Chatz. Let's go inside."

There was no trouble about finding a place of entrance, for there were plenty of the same, some originally intended for this purpose, and others the result of decay while the old mansion lay here year after year the sport of winds and storms, winter and summer.

They wandered around from room to room, viewing the wreck of what had once been a very fine house.

"Looks to me like there might be some truth in that story about the Judge making this a regular prison for his young and pretty wife," Elmer announced as his opinion, after they had been pretty well through the lower story, and were climbing the shaky stairs to the upper floor.

"Why, yes, there were actually bars across the windows in that last room!" declared Chatz; "it's just such a place as I've always had in my mind whenever I got to thinking about haunted houses. You could imagine anything might happen here. Right now, if it was midnight, we could watch and see if there was any truth in all those stories about the ghost of the Judge's young wife storming around here, going through all that terrible scene again. I'd give something to be able to learn if she does come back to visit the scenes where she was so unhappy."

"Here, you'll have uth all shaking like we had the ague, if you don't stop that thort of talk," said Ted, apprehensively, and when he thought no one was looking, rubbing the back of his hand across his eyes, as though something connected with the sad story of the old-time tragedy had brought unbidden tears there.

"Well, perhaps you may have just such a chance, Chatz," said Elmer, suddenly, as though he had made his mind up.

"Tell me how," requested the Southern boy, trying to control the eagerness that burned within his soul when he heard this said.

"You remember that we'd about made up our minds to spend the Thanksgiving holidays in camp somewhere, just to have another little outing before winter dropped down on us?" Elmer went on.

"Yes, that's right, we did," muttered Toby, who was almost as much interested in the matter as Chatz.

"And where could we find a better place for spending those few days than right here in the dense woods close to the Cartaret house? There's everything to be had that the heart of a camper might wish; and if you're a ghost hunter, why, here's a splendid field for your activities."

"Elmer, will you do that much for me?" asked Chatz, earnestly.

"Much more, if the chance ever came along, and you know it, Chatz," replied the scout master, warmly. "So, what do you say, shall we consider that settled, boys?"

All of them held up a hand, which meant that they voted in the affirmative.

"But," interposed the Great Objector, "we mustn't forget that there will be several other fellows of our troop along with us on that little outing; and p'raps they mightn't just fancy camping so close to a mouldy old ruin, where the owls and bats fly around nights, and lots of other unpleasant things are apt to crop up."

"Oh! we know Lil Artha, Ty Collins, and Landy Smith well enough to be able to speak for them, too," Elmer ventured; "and the chances are when they hear what we're aiming to do they'll be as wild as Chatz here to investigate."

"We've got a big job cut out for us, I'm thinking, boys," faltered George.

"Rats! who's afraid? Gimme two cents' worth of peanuts, please!" exclaimed Toby, who seemed to be in an unusually good humor, perhaps because of that successful parachute drop, looked forward to with an admixture of hope and fear for a considerable time.

They passed through every part of the house that seemed worth while, even visiting the attic, where the rain had beaten in so many times, that some of the woodwork seemed very mouldy. They frightened an army of bats up there, and there was a lively ducking of heads, with numerous attempts at knocking the flying creatures down with whatever the boys could lay hands on.

Underneath lay the cellars, and determined to see it all the boys trooped down the rotten stairs, saving George, who declared he had had quite enough of the exploration, and that after all he didn't believe in ghosts, and therefore an old ruin with a tragic story back of it failed to impress him as worth much time.

When the others came out a little later, talking about what queer dungeons lay underground, some of which possibly had been constructed by the rich judge to serve as wine cellars, they found George sitting at his ease, and watching the shadow on the stone face of an old and unreliable sun dial.

"I guess long ago that pretty young wife used to sit right where you are, George, and watch the shadow creep around to the hour mark," said Elmer, who must have had a pretty good touch of the romantic in his make-up, to speak in this way.

"Mebbe," George retorted, as though falling back on his old principles, and not willing to believe anything unless shown.

"That finishes our visit to the Cartaret place, for this time, Chatz," Elmer continued, turning to the Southern boy; "I hope you think it paid you for the trouble."

"A dozen times over, suh, I assuah you; and I'll not soon forget your kindness that made this interesting visit possible. Yes, and that promise to come up here again next week, when we're out for our little vacation camping. I shall look forward to the same with the greatest pleasure, believe me, suh."

"Then we might as well get the horse up, and load our cargo?" Elmer suggested.

"Oh! did you see that?" shouted Toby, just then.

"What was it, and where did you see anything?" demanded George, always suspecting that the others were playing practical jokes.

"Up at one of the windows there!" Toby went on, pointing, while his face filled with excitement and a little touch of awe.

"What was it like?" asked Chatz, his interest aroused to fever heat.

"I only had a peek at it, because it disappeared, just like it might be smoke," Toby went on to explain; "but it was a white face, and if there ever was such a thing on this here earth as a ghost, I saw one then, sure I did, fellows!"

Elmer had his eyes glued on the face of the scout when he was making this astonishing assertion; and he knew that Toby, though a practical joker at times, was not trying to deceive them now; he had seen something up there at that window, or believed he had, which amounted to the same thing; and yet they had just explored every bit of that portion of the ruins without meeting a single soul!

CHAPTER VII

HARVEST TIME

No one said a single word for the better part of a minute, after Toby had made this astonishing statement. They continued to exchange uneasy looks, and then cast furtive glances up toward the particular window at which Toby had been pointing his trembling finger.

It was however excitement, not fear, that made Toby shiver; for after all he was the first to break the sombre silence, and then it was to make a proposition.

"Let's go back up there, and take a turn around," he said, eagerly; "mebbe we did miss some room, and after all there's somebody ahidin' in the blooming haunted house. What d'ye say, fellows?"

"I'm on!" replied one of them before Toby had really finished speaking; and of course it was Chatz who agreed so readily.

Elmer immediately made a move that announced his readiness to do what the first discoverer of the ghost proposed; Ted and Toby followed suit; and finally George, shrugging his shoulders as though he considered it all folly, came tagging along at their heels grunting to himself.

In this fashion they entered the house, and immediately passed up to the second floor, looking curiously about them again. Nothing was in sight, not even a trespassing bat, for the little creatures had all been alarmed when the boys made their first entry, and flown through various openings into the outer air.

"Now be sure you pick out the right window, Toby," warned Chatz.

"I counted 'em from the outside," replied the other, with a business-like air, "and it was exactly the seventh from the end; and here she is. Everybody count and see for yourselves."

"That's all right," remarked George, triumphantly; "but suppose you show us your old ghost, Toby."

"Never said it was one," protested the other, as he looked about in a puzzled manner; "what I did remark, and I stand back of it still, was that if ever there was such a thing as a spook in this world that must have been one."

George sniffed contemptuously.

"Go on and poke him out, then; I want to be shown, if I ain't from Missouri!" he told Toby, who turned his back on him.

"Well, there doesn't seem to be anything here, Toby, for a fact," said Elmer, as he looked carefully around, up and down, on the floor, and along the hall.

"It's disappeared, as sure as shooting, Elmer," admitted the pilot of the ghost-hunting expedition; "but I give you my affidavy that I did see a face, a white one at that, though it flipped out of sight before I could grab a second look."

"Beats the Dutch what an imagination some fellows have got," grumbled George.

"I tell you I did see something, George!" repeated Toby, firmly.

"Sure, you might have done that," agreed the other, cheerfully; "but it's my honest opinion that it might have been just a little flash of sunlight on a window pane. I've known such a thing to startle me more'n once. And when you shifted your head, why, you got out of focus, and the thing disappeared as you say, like a wreath of smoke. Now, I'm one of the kind that likes to look deep into things; and I never let a mystery grip me. Make up your mind, Toby, that it was something like I'm telling you, and let it go at that."

Toby did not answer. Truth to tell he did not know what to say, for while he still firmly believed he had seen a human face at the window there was nothing around by means of which he could prove it.

He went to the window and looked out.

"Anyhow," he remarked, disconsolately, "even if I was fooled by something, it sure wasn't the sun, because it never strikes this side of the house after noontime; and look at the heavy trees shading it, will you? I give the thing up, and yet I'd like to take a look over this floor."

"Suppose we start in and do it, then?" remarked Elmer, quietly.

Even George accompanied them, though he continued to look superior, and allowed a skeptical expression to appear on his face. Possibly, in spite of his avowed disbelief in ghosts, George did not really care to be left alone in that house; his valor might all be on the surface.

Nothing was found, and Toby finally admitted that it seemed useless wasting any more time prowling around.

"But I'll always believe I did see something," he avowed, as they started out of the building again; "and if we come up here to camp during the Thanksgiving holidays we ought to look into this business closer. P'raps something might show up in the night time that'd be worth seeing."

"Do you really think so, Toby?" exclaimed Chatz, with rapture, as though even the mention of it gave him secret delight.

"Rats!" sneered the unconvinced George.

They had gone only a little way from the house when Elmer called a halt.

"Just wait for me a few minutes, boys," he said; "or, if you feel like it, fetch the wagon around to load up our sacks of nuts."

With these words he turned and went straight back into the house. The others exchanged looks, but did not say anything, though they must have thought this queer on the part of the scout master. But then Elmer was a privileged character, and often did things that mystified his chums, explaining later on, to their complete satisfaction. Perhaps he may have dropped something up there on that second floor, or else conceived a sudden idea which caused him to return for another look around.

"Might as well get loaded up, as hang around here any longer?" suggested Toby.

"I think the same," added George, "for there's no telling who'll be seeing all sorts of queer things next. Must be in the air. Once that sort of thing begins to get around, and it takes a solid mind to ward it off. Never bothers me, though."

"I'll bring the horse up," suggested Toby, with a grin; for in spite of finding himself the target for these shafts of ridicule on the part of the scoffer, Toby dearly loved to hear George offering objections.

"Guess you'd better, because Nancy knows you more'n she does any of the rest of us; and a hoss is a rantankerous creature," said Chatz.

"Particularly a mare," added Toby, as he hurried away; but they noticed that he cast many side glances at the surrounding dense foliage as he went in the direction of the spot where they had left Nancy and the wagon when approaching the grove of nut trees, as though he did not wholly fancy finding himself alone amidst such weird surroundings.

Once the wagon was brought up it did not take the scouts long to get all the sacks of nuts loaded. When they saw what a splendid showing the collection made it caused a fresh outbreak of congratulations all around.

"There never was such a grand lot of nuts brought into town from the day the first cabin was built away back!" declared George, who could not see any reason to throw cold water on this positive fact, with the evidence plainly before him.

"That's what comes of having an idea," remarked Toby, proudly; "if I hadn't engineered this plan we might have spent a hard day in the woods, and only brought home a single bag to show for it. Just look at that wholesale lot, will you?"

"Yeth, and we're all ready to thay you did it with your little hatchet, Toby; it taketh you to hatch up plans, thure it doeth," admitted Ted.

"Wonder what's keeping Elmer?" Chatz observed, as he turned to look toward the house, glimpses of which they could catch through small openings in the dense growth of trees; to immediately add: "there he comes right now."

"Hope he found what he was looking for," George ventured, and nothing further was said in regard to the matter.

Elmer quickly joined them. Chatz looked keenly at his face, and fancied that he could detect something like a faint smile there; but even if the scout master had made any sort of discovery on his last visit to the haunted house, he did not seem ready to take his chums into his confidence.

"Well, that looks like something, boys," he remarked, as he surveyed the great load of filled bags that occupied nearly every bit of space in the wagon bed.

"Oh! we believe in doing a wholesale business when we get started," laughed Toby; "the only thing that's bothering me is where Chatz, Ted and George can find room to sit. Guess they'll have to fix it so as to stretch out on top of our load."

"Ted can crowd in with the two of us on the front seat, if he wants," explained Elmer; "and if somebody gives me a hand we'll soon arrange a place for the other seat back here on top of these four partly filled sacks."

"Consolation prizes, you mean!" muttered George, who did not exactly like the idea of their going to all the trouble of carrying the extra sacks home just to drop them in the yards of the members of the Mallon crowd; George was inclined to be proud, and it seemed to smack too much of pulling "chestnuts out of the fire" for others.

"Well, after all, suh, they worked hard enough to knock those nuts down to be entitled to a share," Chatz remarked, that fine Southern sense of justice cropping up again, despite his dislike for Connie Mallon and all those who trained in his camp.

"Not to speak of the bruises and black eyes some of them must have picked up when they conducted that masterly retreat," Elmer added; "I'll never forget that panic; for I don't believe I ever saw fellows more frightened than they were."

"Well, do you blame them?" asked Ted; "if I got it in my head that bunch of ghosth had it in for me on account of my breaking in on their haunt I'd run like a whitehead too, and thatth right."

"I'd like to see Connie's face when he discovers that sack of nuts in his yard to-morrow a. m.," George continued, actually pursing up his lips in a smile, something he was seldom guilty of.

"Reckon he'll think it rained down in the night," chuckled Chatz.

"More'n likely he'll begin to believe he's only been dreaming that these things happened, and that he did fetch the nuts home with him, after all," Toby volunteered.

"But when the other counties are heard from, and they all compare notes, won't they get on to the game then?" George asked.

"How about that, Elmer?" Toby inquired, turning to the scout master.

"I don't see how they can help but figure it out as it stands," came the reply.

"That is, they'll guess we fetched back their bags for 'em, and not wanting to turn the same over empty, just chucked a lot of nuts in to make 'em stand up," and George as he said this looked as consequential as though he had solved some great problem.

"All I'm afraid of," resumed Toby, "is they'll get the idea in their dense heads that we're only doing this because of fear; that is, we're offering a bribe, hoping they'll forgive us for frightening them, and won't hold us to a reckoning. I don't like knuckling down that way. I wish we thought to put a note in each sack telling them we only turned these nuts over because we had more than we could use ourselves, and thought they'd worked hard enough to earn some."

Elmer, however, shook his head.

"That wouldn't be worth while trying!" he declared. "I think it'd only make them more bitter against us. The best way to do is just to leave the bags in their yards, and say nothing. If they ever ask us why we did it, let's say we thought it only fair they should have some of the proceeds of the raid on the Cartaret grove, because they worked hard enough for it. If they want to make trouble after that why we'll have to accommodate them, that's all."

That settled the matter. When Elmer clinched an argument he seldom left any ground for the others to stand on; and in this case all of the boys seemed to be satisfied to let him do as he proposed, though several privately disliked the idea of carrying that additional weight back home, just to turn over to that turbulent, trouble-making crowd.

"There's nothing more to keep us here, seems like," suggested George; "so what do you say to going home?"

"It's time," admitted Chatz, "and if Nancy is able to draw such a heavy load, we ought to get there before dark, which comes along about five, these November days."

"It's mostly down-grade," Toby went on to say, as he climbed to his seat, and took up the lines; "besides, I told you the animal needed a good haul to take some of that extra spirit out of her. All aboard, fellows; those who can't get a board find a rail. Homeward bound, and with the greatest load of bouncing big nuts ever harvested along Hickory Ridge."

They were a merry lot as they found places on the wagon.

"Hope Nancy behaves herself going home," George remarked, as he tried to fix himself firmly in his seat; "if she took a notion to cut up all of a sudden where d'ye think we'd land back here, with the wagon so full?"

"Plenty of room on the road, George; and believe me you wouldn't have to question where you'd dropped, because it'd be a convincing argument," Elmer told him.