University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XX.
MORE STRANGE THINGS HAPPEN.

"SAY, do my spots show as bad as that; and d'ye think, now, they take me for a smallpox patient at large?" demanded Hanky Panky, feeling with tender fingers of his cheeks, where some of the scratches he had received when slipping down into the deceptive hollow stump, could be seen.

"Well, all I want to say is," remarked the puzzled Josh, "that there must be a mighty hang-dog look about this crowd, that makes everybody treat us like they were in mortal terror, and want to skip by without answering a civil hail. Now, Elmer asked a polite question that ought to have been met with a decent answer; yet you all saw how that fellow just clapped the whip to his nag and went hurrying on. Have we got a Jonah along, and if so who is he?"

He glared first at Hanky Panky, and then turned his eyes on Rooster. The former was up in arms at once.

"You need not look at me that way, Josh Whitcomb!" he exclaimed. "There never was a time when anybody used my picture to scare the baby with, and make it stop cryin'. Better try closer to home first, and see how the shoe fits. If you happened to have one of them scowls of yours on at the time, I don't wonder the feller thought he ought to get out of this as fast as his nag could take him; because you resembled a pirate then more'n anybody I ever ran across. Huh! people that live in glass houses hadn't ought to throw stones."

Rooster did not attempt to make any defense; but then he was such a meek fellow ordinarily, that the accusation just fell to the ground, because no one would ever flee at sight of his face.

"Elmer, you know something about this queer happening; s'pose you tell us what you think it means?" suggested Rod, who had been observing the Southern boy's face as he drew nearer to the fire.

"Well, suh, in the first place, let me tell you that I recognized that man," the other started to remark.

"You did?" echoed Josh; "and was it Colonel Pepper, Elmer?"

"It was not," came the reply. "His name is Ambrose Frazer, and when I used to live down this

way, he was said to be one of the hardest cases around Chattanooga. I can remember that lots of people were afraid of him; and he would undoubtedly have landed in jail only fo' the political influence he seemed to have about that time."

"Ha! ha! that makes it funnier than ever!" chuckled Josh; "because, you all saw that Mr. Ambrose Frazer acted just like he was afraid of us. Now, whatever in all creation is there terrifying about five motorcycle boys, tell me? I'm all up in the air;" and he made a despairing motion with both hands, as he finished.

Elmer had been looking around. He now seemed to have made up his mind with regard to something, for he pointed to the leather leggins which several of his chums were wearing.

"I honestly believe, fellows," he observed, seriously, "that the explanation in this case lies just there, in the leggins you have on."

"Great governor! do you really mean that, Elmer? And Ambrose, he fancied from the fact that we seemed to have on some sort of uniform, we must be connected with the military?" and Josh again threw up both hands to express his surprise.

"That and nothing else," answered the other, firmly. "You understand that unless Ambrose has refo'med, which I think is out of the question, suh, he naturally can have no love for the authorities, whether soldiers, police officers, or revenue men.

He may be connected with the moonshiners, and was carrying some cases of mountain dew in his light wagon right then. How do we know? That would cause him to feel sudden alarm, and make him want to whip up his horse to get away befo' we could examine his cargo."

"You may be right there, Elmer," Rod went on to say, thoughtfully; "and it would account for his actions, too. But somehow, it seems to me as though there might be some other explanation for the queer way this Ambrose skipped out, after taking that one look at us. There seems to be some sort of tremendous secret hanging over this whole region, and his fright may be only one little cog in the wheel. Perhaps we'll run across others, sooner or later, and even get a chance to try and solve the whole mystery."

They continued to talk in this sober strain for some little time. Somehow no one seemed desirous of resuming their former hilarious bantering spirit. Even Hanky Panky looked very serious, for a fellow who was usually given up to joking, and playing pranks. There was something in the very air around them that seemed to breathe of mystery. Rooster, who had a leaning that way, although not so much as Hanky Panky, every now and then looked around carefully, as though not meaning to be taken by surprise, should any ghostly visitor enter the camp.

And so strong had the feeling of insecurity grown

that there was Hanky Panky, who as a rule took a drink of water every thirty minutes, when he could get it, actually denying that he was thirsty when Rod suggested that he take the tin pail and fill it at the spring that bubbled up just twenty paces away, so that Rod had to perform the little job himself.

But they had shaped their plans for the morning, and it now began to grow late, so that there was talk of getting some sleep, if the ghostly inhabitants of Walnut Ridge would permit such a thing.

Indeed, Rooster, who had been yawning at a terrific pace, was fixing his rough bed, with the idea of crawling in, when Josh, who was standing up stretching, declared that he could see moving lights somewhere back along the road.

"It looked like the twin lights of a car comin', boys," he added, when the others also jumped up to corroborate his discovery.

"You're right there, Josh, for a car it is, and comin' this way very fast," Hanky Panky announced. "Say, them fellers must know the road like a book, to skip the bad turns; or else they like to be jounced up and down, for the sake of their torpid livers. Will you make another try at stoppin' these parties, Elmer?"

"I might, if they give me half a chance," was the reply.

The car came on rapidly, so that soon they could hear it plainly.

"Bet you they don't pull up a bit!" declared Josh; but nobody seemed to care to dispute with him on that score; indeed, so many strange things were happening all the time that the boys schooled themselves to meet with anything singular.

And sure enough, while the car did slow up, as though to allow the two occupants a chance to look at those who were beside the fire, before Elmer could even open his mouth to address them, the driver was seen to give his engine full headway again; and before the staring eyes of the boys it rushed along the road, vanishing from their sight.

At that Josh fell over, as if quite prostrated.

"We're It, no use talkin'?" he declared, making some sort of mystical sign with his right hand, as though to fend off evil influences. "Hoodooed, blacklisted, marked off-color -- why, everybody shoots past us like we had the black plague. I'll never be real happy again till I find out what it all means. And that man at the wheel looked like he had good sense, too."

"Was that Colonel Pepper, Elmer?" asked Rod, suddenly.

"I believe on my soul it was, suh," replied the Southern boy, on whose face deep lines could be seen, that seemed to tell of his being almost as mystified by the strange actions of these people as the rest of the boys. "You know, I haven't seen him fo' some yeahs, but I'm ready to say that was the

man who lives in my old home. Of co'se he didn't recognize me; and it goes without saying, suh, that he couldn't mistake us fo' a bunch of moonshiners, or mountain outlaws, so his hurry must have come from some other cause. It may be that Colonel Pepper is engaged in some sort of business that would make him distrust the wearers of military leggins like those we carry. But no matter, to-morrow we'll be in a position to learn more; fo' we mean to try and induce the Colonel to accept us as his guests just fo' one night."

After that the boys soon quieted down. Rod and Elmer went into a committee of the whole, and talked in low tones for quite a while; but first of all Rooster, and then in turn Hanky Panky and Josh, rolled over upon the beds of leaves they had managed to get together, and were soon asleep. Trouble rests lightly on the minds of most boys, and none of these three were apt to lie awake brooding over things they could not help, and which did not materially concern them, except through a chum. They believed that it was all bound to come out right in the end; it always seemed to when Rod was at the helm.

Rooster was addicted to dreaming, and sometimes had the nightmare. More than once in the past he had aroused his chums by a sudden whoop, and a demand that they "take the dog away from

him," or else "chase the bull off before he could get his horns entangled in his, Rooster's garments."

So after all, it was not strange that some time before morning Rooster, whose mind had become more or less inflamed, because of the queer things that had happened to them, and the many hints Elmer had let drop concerning the bad name given to Walnut Ridge by the country people, should indulge in one of his wild improbable dreams.

The others were aroused by a gasping cry, and saw Rooster sitting up, pointing his hand in front of him, and chattering at a fearful rate.

"It was trying to get me by the throat, I tell you!" he stoutly asserted; "and I had to fight like Sam Hill to dodge. Looky yonder, and tell me if that ain't a real genuine ghost, wavin' its hands at me? Don't let him grab me again, fellows, please don't! I'm all of a sweat, after fightin' so hard to keep him from squeezin' my windpipe!"

Then Josh jumped to his feet.

"Show me your old ghost, Rooster!" he exclaimed; "sure, you've only been dreamin', that's all. What! that white thing over there; why, those are only my extra pajamas I hung up to air before hitting the leaves for a snooze. That ain't a goin' to bite you, Rooster; I tell you I got 'em well trained, so that they eat out of my hand. Just lie down again, little boy, and believe that we'll watch over you. And when you have the nightmare again,

don't, please don't take my poor old pajamas for the great Jabberwock that haunts Walnut Ridge."

And so Rooster, feeling that he had exhibited himself in no enviable light, after being aroused by that vivid and terrible dream, was content to let the matter drop and once more shut his eyes; but Josh had considerately first of all taken down the offending garment, the swaying of which in the uncertain light, and under the influence of the night breeze, had been the cause for the alarm.