CHAPTER V
A STARTLING SURPRISE
"Hello! Is it safe to come out; and is the coast clear of ghosts?"
That was Billy addressing Hugh on the following morning, the scoutmaster, as well as Alec Sands and Arthur Cameron, being up and around.They looked at Billy poking his head out from amidst the folds ofhis capacious red-and-black striped blanket, and laughed, for somehowhe reminded them of a cautious old tortoise trying to spy out theland before entrusting his flippers beyond the confines of his shell.
"Nothing doing in the ghost line, Billy," Hugh told him, "so you canstretch yourself as much as you please. Hurry up a little! Alec herewas just suggesting that as the morning looks so fine we might as wellgo outside and build a cooking fire under the trees for a change"
Billy thereupon threw the blanket aside and hopped to his feet.
"When you say anything about _eating_," he observed as he started tofinish his dressing with feverish haste, "seems like my whole systemresponds. Alec, I want to tell you the idea isn't half bad either.Dining in this musty old room seems too much as if we were still athome, you know. Nothing like being under the trees when you're takingan outing. I haven't got any gypsy blood in me that I know of, but Ido like the big outdoors a heap, better than anything elsegoing---that is, except eating."
Monkey Stallings was by this time also awake and fixing himself to defythe chilly morning atmosphere.
They abandoned the castle, taking their belongings with them. At thetime it was looked upon only as a little incident, and no one dreamedthat afterwards they would find themselves very thankful for havingdone this very thing.
Back of the building the trees grew thickly, and it did not take thescouts long to discover a very good location for a temporary camp,where they could build a fire and cook breakfast.
"Another thing," said Alec, "if the weather holds good I'm going tosuggest that we hunt a place back there, half a mile, perhaps, awayfrom the castle, to spend the night in. Like Billy here, I don'tfancy sleeping under a roof when I can have a chance to camp out underthe stars and hear the whispering of the trees."
The others were quick to seize upon the idea.
"It's our only chance to sleep out," said the Stallings boy, "becausewe've got to make tracks to-morrow afternoon, you remember."
"I should say that Alec ought to be able to take all the pictures heneeds of this old rookery this morning," remarked Arthur. "As for me,I've seen all I want of the place. It makes me feel sad, because Ican't help thinking of what happened up here so long ago. It was acrazy man's scheme to start with, and then there was the terribletragedy that happened later on. Ugh! let's climb out right now."
So they built a nice cooking fire, and started to get breakfast. Itwas while they discussed the morning meal with the eagerness thatboys' healthy appetites alone can display, that Billy asked a leadingquestion.
"I forgot to ask if anybody heard a ghost laugh in the night?" hedemanded. "Once I happened to wake up, and imagined I could hearsomebody laughing away off in the distance; but say, I only pulledmy head further under my blanket, and went to sleep again just likean innocent little babe. How about that, Hugh, Alec, and the rest?Was there anything doing?"
This was the time for Alec to tell about the little adventure Hughhad met with. Billy's eyes grew round with wonder and awe as thestory proceeded, and seeing this, Alec did his best to keep up theinterest at fever heat to the point where Hugh burst into the hauntedturret chamber, and made the discovery that it was tenanted by a familyof owls, and some bats.
"Gee whiz!" ejaculated Billy, heaving a great sigh of relief, "Ihonestly began to believe you meant to tell us that turret-tower roomwas the place where the tragedy happened, and that Hugh had watchedit all being repeated over again. Owls, hey? Well, they're an innocentlot when you get acquainted with 'em. All the same, let me tell youI'm glad we expect to sleep outdoors to-night."
"When we get through breakfast, boys," suggested Arthur, greatlyinterested in what he had just heard, "let's all go up and beintroduced to Hugh's pets, if they haven't vamoosed the ranch. Ialways did like to watch owls stare at you with their big yellow eyes;but you want to keep away, for they've got wicked beaks, and can takea piece of skin off your hand as easy as anything."
Accordingly this programme was carried out. The visit to the turretchamber was not as productive of results as some of the boys mighthave wished, for most of the owls and bats went scurrying forth throughthe slits in the wall as soon as the door was opened, despite thegarish light of day which they were supposed to dislike. Still, enoughwere seen to satisfy Billy the story had been no "fake."
Alec said he was disappointed because he could not take a picture ofthe whole outfit; though not necessarily for the benefit of his richaunt.
"But the sun seems just about right for the several exposures I wantto make of the southeastern side of the castle," he told them, "solet's climb down out of this and get busy."
"I'll tell you what I think," ventured Billy as they were making foroutdoors once more. "Like as not that same family of owls has beenresponsible for a lot of that silly talk about this place being haunted.People imagine all sorts of things, you know, when they don't understandqueer sounds."
"Yes," retorted Alec, with a chuckle, "that's so, they do, Billy; andI've known them to pull their heads under blankets. It's all verywell for you to talk so bravely when the sun's shining overhead; buteverybody knows how different things look and seem at midnight. We'llforgive you this time, Billy, because the rest of us, all but Hughperhaps, were in something of the same boat, I'm afraid."
The photographic work went on apace, and as Alec had in times pastproven his abilities in this line, he was apparently justified inbelieving that success was going to crown his present efforts.
"I tell you Aunt Susan will be tickled half to death when she getsprints of these pictures," he remarked again and again as he worked,never missing a single object that he considered would lend additionalenchantment to the views. "I ought to consider myself mighty luckyto be presented with such a dandy camera as this. I've made sureto fetch my daylight developing tank along with me, because if anyof the exposures turn out to be poor ones I'll have another chanceto duplicate the same tomorrow morning, even if it is Sunday."
"So far," observed Monkey Stallings, with a chuckle of satisfaction,"there isn't any sign of those two hoboes turning up here again---whichpleases me a heap, let me tell you."
"Oh! no danger of them coming back again," Billy assured him. "Theygot the scare of their lives when you tooted that goose-call. Longbefore now that brace of tramps has struck the railroad ties, and aremaking tracks for other regions where they don't have old castleshaunted by spooks."
The last picture was finally taken. Alec seemed satisfied with what hehad done.
"I've got two rolls of film left," he explained, "which I'm going tohold for an emergency. You never know what may happen when you'retaking pictures. Something is apt to come along that you would give aheap to get, and if you're out of films you feel like kicking yourself."
"You've got a long head on your shoulders, Alec," commented Arthur."I guess you must believe in the old saying that 'an ounce of preventionis better than a pound of cure.'"
"Also," added Billy drily, "that in times of plenty it's wise to layin a stock against the dry spell that's coming. I've been there myself,and ought to know what it means to go hungry just because you've beencareless. That's one reason I always try to put in a spoonful ofcoffee for every fellow, and then add one for the pot."
That was always the way with Billy; he seemed to view almost everysubject as inevitably connected with the one absorbing idea of supplyand demand. By this time these good chums of his knew his weaknessso well that they generally let such allusions pass unnoticed.
"How would it do for us to root around a bit while we have the time?"ventured Monkey Stallings, who liked to investigate better than anythingelse, except in an old mansion where
the dust of years had settled, andthere were uncanny things to be run across.
"If you mean," Hugh told him, "we might move around some, and look forthat place where we want to make our camp for the rest of our stay uphere, I'd say it was a good idea."
"Of course," supplemented Arthur, "we could move back to the castlelate this afternoon if the weather turned out bad, and a stormthreatened, which, according to all the known signs, isn't going to bethe case."
"Glad to hear you say that, old weather bureau prophet," laughed Alec;for the scout who had just made that bold assertion had long beenlooked up to as an authority on the subject of changes of the weather,and could reel off a dozen reasons for the prediction he was making,all founded on a good sensible basis.
Accordingly they all started forth, having deposited most of theirbelongings in a good hiding-place where they would be perfectly safe.Since there had been no attempt to clean up the grounds surroundingthe wonderful "castle" after its abandonment, Some ten years or sobefore, of necessity they had gone back to their original, wild condition.Nature always seeks to hide the cruel gashes made by the hands ofman, covering the wound with all manner of growth from trailing vinesto young saplings, brush and weeds.
Passing through a dense wilderness of this newer growth, the scoutspushed on into the heavier woods. Here they found things much more totheir way of looking at it. Indeed, with the stately forest treesrising up all around them, and shutting out that queer building on thepoint of land overlooking the broad valley beyond, it seemed an idealspot for making a camp.
They were not long in deciding on where they would stay, and two ofthe fellows, Alec and Monkey Stallings, were dispatched back to carrytheir personal belongings to the new site. Alec was anxious to getto work developing some of the rolls of films he had taken, in theexpectation of making good any failures.
By ten o'clock everything had been gathered in the new camp, which wassituated not much more than a quarter of a mile away from the desertedmansion. The boys believed they could already call their mission asuccess; and after Alec had been heard from in connection with hisphotographic work, this would be set down as a certainty.
"Listen!" called out Monkey Stallings about this time, for he happenedto have remarkable hearing. "Seemed to me that was some one talkingover yonder."
"Mebbe the tramps have come back after all," exclaimed Billy lookingstartled. "You know they always say a bad penny is sure to turn upagain."
"Better look for some good handy clubs, I say," observed Alec, pouncingon just such a stout stick as he had in his mind's eye when speaking.
"Whoever it is coming," remarked Hugh, uneasily, "we'll soon know theworst, for I can see them through the bushes there. They know we'rehere in the bargain, because they're making straight for this place."
The scout master had hardly finished saying this when two men dressedin gray uniforms and carrying guns suddenly stepped out of the bushes,one calling aloud:
"Hold up your hands there, every one of you, and don't try to run, orit will be the worse for you. We've tracked you up here, and you'reunder arrest. Steady now!"