"Nothing doing, I guess?" remarked a voice close by, and turning his head the scout leader saw Chatz himself standing there, observing him with a quizzical expression on his dark face.
"Well, if you mean an explanation of the little affair of last night, Chatz, I admit that so far I'm up against it good and hard. You see, I hoped to find some marks here that would give me a clue, but it's all off. The boys ran after wood and back again so many times, that if there was a trail it's been squashed."
"Oh! I don't think that mattered any," remarked the other, with conviction in his tones. "You can't very well discover what there isn't, can you? And I've always believed that spooks never leave a sign behind them when they come and go. Why, a spook is only a vapor, you know, Elmer. They can slip through a keyhole if necessary. And as to a trail, why, you might as well expect to see that cloud up yonder leave a track behind it."
There could at least be no doubt about Chatz being in dead earnest in his queer belief, and as Elmer turned away he was more than ever determined to find the true solution of that strange happening, if only to drive another nail in the coffin of the Southern boy's superstition.
As neither of the sentries felt at liberty to mention the occurrence until the assistant scout master gave permission, the balance of the scouts ate their breakfast, and joked each other, in blissful ignorance of the fact that the camp had again been visited by a hobgoblin, and that this time not only the superstitious Chatz but another had actually seen the misty intruder!
MR. GARRABRANT was full of business on this fine morning.
He set about a host of things immediately after breakfast, saying that they ought to take advantage of the opportunity to get in a good morning's work.
Several boys were sent out on the lake to try to duplicate the good luck attending the fishermen of the preceding afternoon. Mark Cummings was encouraged to get numerous views of the camp, and whatever was going on--such as would afford the Hickory Ridge scouts the most pleasure in later days, when this series of camp fires was but a hallowed memory.
With the balance of the troop the scout master proceeded to try out various interesting tests, to discover just how the boys stood in the matter of efficiency. As Elmer was such an old and experienced hand in most of these matters, he was of course debarred from entering the competitions. It would be taking too great an advantage over the tenderfeet scouts, who had everything to learn as yet.