"If he is, we two can manage him," said Nan, decidedly. "Come on."
Nan was sure that the strange boy who had helped her out of the water more than a week before, was the figure she and Bess had seen in the boathouse, and who had chased Mrs. Cupp the night of the boathouse party.
Why he was hanging about the school, and was troubling Mrs. Cupp and her sister, Miss Sadie Vane, was explained by the story Susan had told Laura Polk about the boy who had been "Miss Vane's bond-slave." Nan could imagine grim Miss Vane being very severe with boys; nor did Mrs. Cupp love them.
Nan and Bess went down the long flight of subterranean stairs, quite as long, of course, as the outside steps down the face of the bluff. They finally came to an unsuspected cellar under the unused portion of the boathouse. There was a trap in the ceiling of this cellar, and it was open. Bess held the light and Nan reached up, took hold of the edges of the hole, and drew herself up into the room. Then she stooped down and gave her hand to Bess, who quickly came up with the lantern.
"Great!" gasped the eager Bess. "If Mrs. Cupp knew we were doing this, she'd have a sure-enough 'conniption,' as Laura calls it."
"My! I hadn't thought of that," Nan said doubtfully.
"Oh, come on," cried the more reckless Bess.
"Well--we've come, so far, we might as well see it through."
Just then they heard excited voices outside.
"And that squeally one is the ghost's," Bess declared.
The two girls ran to the side door. It, likewise, was unlocked. On the step, Walter Mason held the smaller boy so that he could not get away.
"Hullo, girls!" was Walter's greeting. "Why, Nan! I'm glad to see you out again. But what are you doing down here at the boathouse? And who is this chap I just caught coming out?"
"I ain't no ghost," protested the boy in black, shivering in the cold. He wore no overcoat, his shoes were broken, and his hands uncovered.
"The ghost?" repeated Walter, puzzled. "Is he what frightened you girls around here?"
"And Mrs. Cupp! Oh, he frightened her awfully!" cried Bess.
"Well, I don't care! she was mean to me," declared the boy. "And Miss Vane tied my hands and feet to a chair and made me sit up all night in the dark. And now a feller who used to live at the poor farm and who I met when I ran away from Miss Vane told me that some money had been left me by my father's uncle. And Miss Vane and Mrs. Cupp's got it, I don't doubt!"