CHAPTER XI--IN CAMP SURPRISE
"Isn't it dark!" voiced Belle, nestling against her sister.
"Well, we don't have many electric lights up here," chuckled the driverof the buckboard.
"How do you see the road?" asked Cora, the wagon lurching along over therocky way, though riding much easier than an ordinary vehicle would havedone, for buckboards are made for just this purpose.
"I don't try to see it," the driver said. "I let the horses pick theirway. They're like cats, I reckon--can see in the dark."
"What sort of place is this Camp Surprise?" asked Jack, giving Walter,next to whom he sat, a nudge as a signal to play second to his game ofquestioning. "We'll get some inside information about this business,"Jack said in an aside to his chum.
"Camp Surprise?" repeated the driver. "Well, it's a mighty nice place,as far as scenery goes--for them as likes scenery," he hastened to add."I don't care much for it myself. There's a waterfall, and a littlelake, though I don't reckon you could get your boat up to it," and hechuckled. "Yes, folks what come up here always like this neighborhood,and Camp Surprise is one of the best outfits around here. You boys aregoing to take the small bungalow, I hear."
"Yes," assented Jack. "If we get there alive!" he said quickly, for thewagon gave such a lurch that Jack, who was on his feet to assume a morecomfortable position, nearly slid out.
"Oh, this isn't anything," the driver said. "That stone must 'a' beenput there since I come down this afternoon," and he chuckled again."We'll get there alive all right."
"But what I meant was," went on Jack; "what sort of place is our camp?It has a queer name, you see, and they say--at least we've heard--thatqueer things go on there. What are they?"
The driver was silent a moment, and then he answered:
"Well, I don't take much stock in them stories myself. I never seeanything out of the way happen."
"Oh, don't spoil all the romance that way!" begged Cora. "Aren't thereany ghosts?"
"Ghosts! Huh!" the man fairly snorted. "I never see any."
"But about things being taken?" ventured Bess.
"And the furniture being moved?" asked Belle.
"Humph!" and the driver seemed out of patience. "Things will be takenfrom almost any camp or bungalow if you don't watch 'em. Thieves up herearen't any more virtuous than in the city."
"And didn't you hear anything about chairs and tables being movedabout?" asked Cora.
The driver fidgeted in his seat.
"G'lang there!" he called to his horses.
"Didn't you?" persisted Jack's sister.
"Oh, yes, there was some such story," the driver finally admitted,slowly. "But I reckon it was just boys skylarking. That was all. Boyswill go into any place they can get in you know, and I reckon when theyfound the bungalow of Camp Surprise without any one in it they justnaturally went in and cut up."
"If they try anything like that when we're around, there'll be trouble!"threatened Jack.
Cora sighed.
"All the poetry seems to be going out of it," she said. "I hoped wewould have at least one visitation from the spirits."
"You may yet," Walter whispered in her ear. "In my private opinion thisdriver person is concealing something from us."
"Do you think so?" asked Cora, hopefully.
"Yes. He's afraid we won't stay if he tells all the horrible details ofthe story."
"What object would it be to him to have us stay?"
"Why, he may get a percentage on our board. Or perhaps he has the onlymountain-cruising buckboard in these parts, and he doesn't want to losetrade. Have done with thy queries, Friend Jack," he went on. "We'llscare up a ghost or two for the young ladies ourselves, if this sordidand heartless driver person refuses."
Jack left off with his questions about Camp Surprise, and theconversation became general. The driver, who volunteered the informationthat his name was Jim Dobson, said there was good fishing in the pool ofwater at the foot of the cataract.
"All you have to do is to throw in your baited hook," he told the boys,"and haul out as many fish as you want for breakfast, dinner or supper."
"That sounds good!" commented Jack. "I'm glad I brought my pole."
"Same here," echoed Paul, who, when he had time, was an ardentfisherman.
Up and up, and on and on they went over the rough mountain trail, forthey had to ascend to a height of about fifteen hundred feet to reachthe reservation owned by a company which had divided it into camps andbungalows.
"My, but it is dark!" said Cora, after a period of silence.
A lantern was slung under the buckboard, and cast gleams of light on theground, but the darkness seemed only blacker by contrast. The horses,however, did not seem to find any difficulties in making their way. Theynever stumbled, though the boys and girls tried in vain to distinguishanything like a road ahead of them. The wagon was going along in a laneof trees, which in most places met in an arch overhead, thus cutting offwhat little light might have come from the stars.
Occasionally there would be a break in this leafy arch, and thenglimpses could be had of the star-studded sky above. It was abeautifully clear evening, and warm enough to be comfortable.
Now and then Jim Dobson spoke without being asked a question, but he wasnot unduly talkative. He seemed to enjoy the chatter of the young folks,chuckling now and then at some of their remarks.
As for Cora and the others they talked about everything imaginable, asyou may well imagine, from the latest dance steps to what they would donow that they were really starting their summer vacation.
"Is there any golf up here?" asked Bess, who had taken up the sport to"reduce."
"Well, not enough to hurt," the driver said. "Once in a while I hear ofa case, but it ain't nothing like as bad as hay fever, and there's noneof that here."
"Mercy!" whispered Bess to Cora. "I guess he thinks golf is a disease!"
"Well, don't say anything. He's real nice."
"I won't. But I guess I'd better ask only plain questions after this."
"I guess so," Cora agreed.
"Come on there, boys, not that way!" the driver suddenly called, as hepulled his team to the right. "They want to take the road home," heexplained. "There's a turn here."
"How you know it I can't tell," said Jack. "It's all as dark as apocket."
"Oh, I'm used to it and so are the horses. We're on a private road now,leading to Camp Surprise. Be there in half an hour."
"Are you sure this is the right road?" asked Cora. "We don't want to belost again," and she mentioned their going up the creek instead of theriver.
"Oh, sure, this is the right road," the driver assured them.
There was silence for a little while, and suddenly Belle grasped Cora'sarm, and whispered:
"What's that?"
"Where?" inquired Cora, for Belle's voice was startling.
"Over to the left--in the woods. Don't you see something white?"
Cora looked where Belle directed. At the moment the others were deep ina discussion about something of comparative unimportance.
"There!" whispered Belle, tensely, and she gripped Cora's arm hard.
"Yes--yes. I see it!"
"It--it looks like a--a ghost!"
They both saw something white that seemed to float, rather than moveamong the trees, and Cora was about to call it to the attention of theothers when it disappeared.
"Don't say anything about it," she quickly whispered to Belle. "Ofcourse it wasn't a ghost. It may have been a wisp of fog, or some onegoing through the woods. Then there's that--oh, what do they call thatlight which comes from rotting wood?"
"You mean _ignis fatuus_?" asked Belle.
"Yes; that's it. Will-o'-the-wisp some folks term it. It comes fromphosphorus. It may have been that."
They went on a little farther, and suddenly a light shone through thewoods, while a dull rumble and roar, increasing in intensity, came tothe ears of all.
"What's that?" asked Jack.
"Camp Surprise," announced the driver. "That's the waterfall you hear.Here we be!" he called in louder tones, as an approaching lanternflashed through the dark forest.