Just as Chatz had predicted the moon arose close on ten o'clock. It was no longer as round as a shield, but had an end lopped off; still the flood of mellow light that came from the lantern in the sky was very acceptable to the scouts, and served to render their intended mission less objectionable.
Finally Elmer arose, and there was a start on the part of those who had been selected to accompany the leader and Chatz on their singular errand.
"I hope you'll let me carry the gun, Elmer?" Lil Artha remarked, coaxingly.
"Why should you?" replied the other, instantly; "if it is a real ghost a bullet wouldn't hurt a bit; and if it should turn out to be some one playing a mad prank I don't think you'd feel easy in your mind if you were tempted to shoot him."
"But it might be some tramp or hard case, and we'd want to subdue him; how about that, Elmer?" questioned Toby.
"Well, we can carry clubs if we like," said Elmer; "and I mean to have a piece of stout rope, so we can tie him up if we overpower him. Six scouts can put up a pretty hefty sort of fight, it strikes me, if things get to that point. No, leave the gun for the defenders of the camp and the grub."
When presently the six boys stalked forth on their singular errand they did not seem to be in very merry spirits. True, Elmer was smiling as though he could give half a guess as to what they were about to run up against; and there was Chatz, a satisfied grin on his dark countenance; but the remainder of the investigating party could hardly have looked more solemn and melancholy if they had been about to attend the funeral of a dear departed friend.
"Good luck!" called out Ted, after them; while Landy waved his hand mockingly, and grinned happily as he remarked:
"We'll expect to see you fetch back at least one full-fledged ghost, boys; and take care he don't bite you. They're apt to do something along that order, I'm told, by people who've interviewed some of the species.
But you c'n tame 'em so they'll even eat out of your hand."
"Just you wait, that's all," was the sum total of what the departing scouts deigned to reply, as they vanished amidst the mixture of silvery moonbeams and darkening shadows.
Soon they glimpsed the house through the dense vegetation. It stood out boldly in the moonlight, grim and silent. There was not the half expected gleam of any inside illumination, only the dilapidated windows, the walls covered in many places by a rank growth of Virginia Creeper vine, the broken chimneys rearing themselves up above the ridge, and that square tower overtopping it all.
As they approached the walls of the house it might have been noticed that those of the scouts who had been lingering a little back of the rest somehow seemed to think they ought to close the gap, for they hurried their footsteps, and were soon in a cluster, with no laggards.
"I've thought to fetch my little handy electric torch along, Elmer,"
said Lil Artha about this time.
"It may come in useful," was the reply Elmer made; "but with all that moonlight going to waste I hardly think we'll need it. Still, you never can tell, and it's a mighty clever affair. You were wise to think of fetching it, Lil Artha."
"Are we going to separate, Elmer; and if we do, will you let me place the rest of the boys, suh?" Chatz asked before they reached the yawning doorway of the deserted building.
"How about that, fellows?" the leader asked them; "do you think we had better split up into several small parties or stand together?"
Toby, Lil Artha, Ty Collins and George heard this announcement with a new sense of consternation. In imagination they could easily picture how dreary and unpleasant it was going to be if each one had to take a post isolated from the rest, there to stand and listen, and perhaps _shiver_ as the time crept on, until he must become so nervous that he could give a yell.
"For my part, Elmer," Lil Artha said, hastily, "I think we had ought to stick in a bunch. One couldn't do much against a--er--ghost, you see; while the lot of us might be able to down anything going."
"That's what I think too, Elmer," piped up George, "though of course, if you say so, I'm willing to do anything to carry on the game."
"United we stand, divided we fall!" spouted Ty Collins, who, while a big blustering good-hearted fellow himself, did not exactly like the thought of being alone in that weather-beaten and half wrecked house, as the hour drew on toward midnight.
"I think we ought to stick together, Elmer," Toby declared, which confession appeared to tickle Chatz, judging from the low snicker he gave utterance to; for, just as he had suspected, while none of these fellows would admit that they placed the least faith in things bordering on the supernatural, still they did not fancy finding themselves left alone in a house that had been given a bad name.
Elmer had been talking matters over with Chatz, so that they were agreed as to where the watchers should take up their positions. All talking except in whispers was frowned down upon from that time forward; and there is always something exciting about a situation when everybody is speaking in low tones.
They entered the house, and led by Chatz passed up the rickety stairs.
This was evidence enough that their vigil was about to be undertaken in the upper story. George seemed to think that if he could manifest a disposition to joke a little it would be pretty good evidence that he at least was not afraid; and while as a rule he left this weakness to Toby and Lil Artha he could not resist the temptation to lean over and whisper to Ty, so that Chatz also might hear, something to the effect that it was just as well they were mounting those shaky stairs because people who believed in silly ghosts must be weak in the upper story.
No one laughed, so George did not attempt any more witticisms. Truth to tell, he was not feeling as perfectly indifferent as he tried to make out; and when one of the others slipped a little, George it was who exclaimed hastily:
"Oh! what in thunder was that?"
When the six scouts had gained the second floor they passed along the wide hall to the place that had been chosen for the vigil. While in the gloom themselves it was easily possible for them to look along the moonlit hall, diversified with shadows, and see any moving thing that might attempt to pass that way. At the same time by turning their heads they could see out of the nearest window, and have a fair view of the open space between the wall of the house and the dense bushes close by.
Beyond arose the thickly interlaced trees, a wild scramble along the line of the survival of the fittest.
Elmer stationed them all as he thought would be best. They were told that they could sit down cross-legged, Turkish fashion, if they chose; but under no circumstances was any one to allow himself to be overpowered by sleep. If a scout had reason to believe the one next to him were nodding suspiciously he must whisper words of warning in his ear; and should that fail to effect a radical cure he was empowered to try other tactics, if by chance he possessed a pin.
Having been fully awake at the time of their arrival, something like half an hour went by with all the scouts apparently on the watch. Then George had to be admonished by Lil Artha several times, until finally a low gasp, and muttering, as well as quick rubbing of his thigh on the part of George announced that the radical means had been employed in order to keep him awake.
There is nothing more reliable as a sleep preventative than the jab of a pin; it seems to send an electric shock through the whole system, and eyes that were just about to close fly wide-open again.
Twenty minutes later another low gurgling cry arose; this time it came from the elongated scout, and George was heard to whisper savagely:
"Tit for tat, Lil Artha; you gave me a stab, and now we're even."
"'Sh! I thought I heard something moving down there in the bushes!" the scout master told them, cautiously.
Of course every one was immediately quivering with intense anxiety and eagerness. It was very close on the mystic hour of midnight, too, which added to the interest of the matter. Could it be that they were about to witness some strange manifestation such as Chatz professed to believe was possible? No wonder that the boys wriggled erect, stiff in their joints after sitting there tailor-fashion so long, and pressing toward the open window stared down toward the bushes to which Elmer had referred when he spoke.
So bright was the moon, now fairly high in the sky, that even small objects could readily be distinguished. There was nothing in sight that they could notice where the rank grass grew, and the trees and bushes were absent; but looking further they could actually see something white moving along through the brush.
No one said a single word, but there might have been heard several quick gasps; and a hand that fell on the sleeve of Elmer's khaki coat trembled fiercely. If ever some of those boys were willing to confess to the truth they would admit that their hearts began to beat furiously about that time, as with staring eyes they watched that mysterious white object pushing through the matted bushes that grew just beyond the open space near the walls of the haunted house.
CHAPTER XIII
A STRANGE FIGURE IN WHITE
"OH!"
After all it was George, boasting George, who gasped this one word in Elmer's ear; and the scout master knew then whose trembling hand had clutched his sleeve.
But if several of the others refrained from giving vent to their agitated feelings about that time, it was only because they had lost their breath completely.
All of them were staring as hard as they could at the strange white object that kept creeping, creeping along through the brush. Not the slightest sound did it appear to make, and that added to the weirdness of it all. They must just then have had flash into their brains all they had ever read or heard about the wonderful manner in which ghosts and hobgoblins are able to advance or retreat, without betraying their presence by even the least rustling.
Then all at once there broke out the sharp, furious barking of a dog.
Every scout reeled back as though struck a blow. At the same moment they saw the white object whirl around, and rush away through the brush; and now they could plainly detect the rapid patter of canine feet.
"It was only a stray farmer's dog after all!" exclaimed Lil Artha, with a sigh of absolute relief.
"Yes," added Toby, "and when he barked up at us he was scared at the sound he made himself, so that he lit out as though he had a tin pan tied to his tail. But I own up I was shivering to beat the band, for I sure thought it must be that Cartaret _thing_ they say hangs out here.
Whew!"
George, as usual, having recovered from his own fright wanted to make it appear that he considered any one foolish who would actually allow himself to be alarmed by such a silly thing as a white object.