Chapter XVII: Mumps Sees a Ghost

As luck would have it, Pepper and Andy went on guard from ten o'clock to midnight, while Mumps had his time set from midnight to two in the morning.

As soon as they came in from guard duty, Pepper and Andy told a few of their chums of what was in the air, and they all stole from their tents to a spot overlooking the ground that Mumps would have to cover during the next two hours.

The sneak was already on duty, pacing up and down slowly, with his gun on his shoulder. He had to march from one tree in the grove to another, a distance of two hundred feet.

As the sneak passed the tree where the white figure was concealed, Pepper, who was close at hand, uttered a low and unearthly groan.

At once Mumps came to a halt.

"Wh--what's that?" he faltered.

For reply Pepper uttered another groan, and Andy followed with a sound like that of a dying calf.

"I say, what's that?" repeated the sneak. All was so dark and strange around him that he felt anything but comfortable.

"Murdered!" moaned Pepper. "Murdered!"

"Murdered!" put in Andy, in a solemn tone. "Oh, to be avenged!"

Then when Mumps' back was turned Pepper allowed the white figure to drop to within a foot of the ground. As it was light in weight, the breeze made it sway slowly from side to side.

"Ha! ha! ha!" came from Andy and Pepper together.

At this blood-curdling laugh the sneak of the school turned around once again. When he saw the swaying figure in white his teeth began to chatter.

"Oh! Ple--please go--go a--away!" he groaned. "G--go away!"

"Ha! ha! ha!" went on Pepper and Andy. "Down on thy knees, if thou wouldst live!"

"Don't!" screamed Mumps, and fell on his knees. "Oh, please, don't kill me! I--I didn't have anything to do with killing that other fellow, indeed I didn't!"

"Thou art doomed!" went on the Imp and his chum.

"Doomed! doomed! doomed!" came from half a dozen. All of the cadets could scarcely keep from laughing.

"Oh, save me!" yelled Mumps, and sprang to his feet. "Save me! Save me from the ghost!" And throwing down his gun he started for the center of the camp, with all the speed at his command.

The other cadets set up a laugh, but the sneak was too paralyzed with fear to pay attention to it. Still yelling for help he ran down the main street of the camp, and plunged into the tent occupied by Captain Putnam.

"Hullo, what's the trouble?" came from Captain Putnam.

"Oh, the ghost! Please save me from the ghost, Captain Putnam!" howled Mumps, and clutched the master of the Hall by the arm. "Save me! The ghost is going to kill me!"

"Why, Master Fenwick, what is the trouble? Have you a nightmare?"

"No, sir. It's the ghost of the murdered cadet! I--I saw it. It came after me! Oh, save me!"

"Nonsense! You have seen no ghost. Be reasonable."

"I did see it, sir. It was all white, and it was going to kill me!" And the sneak clung tighter than ever.

"This is some trick." The captain slipped into his clothes, and turned up a lantern hanging on a tent post. "I'll investigate. Come along."

"Oh, I--I'm afraid!" whined Mumps.

"You need not be, Fenwick. I'll protect you. Come along. There are no such things as ghosts."

It was fully five minutes before Captain Putnam could get the sneak to accompany him to the spot where the latter had been doing guard duty. In the meantime the whole camp had been aroused, and Pepper and Andy had folded up the sheet and put it away, along with the cap and the cord.

"You can see for yourself that there is nothing here, Fenwick," said the captain, gazing around.

"But I saw it, Captain Putnam. A tall white figure, right there."

"You must have been dreaming."

"No, sir, I saw it, I am certain."

"Well, where is it now?"

"I don't know, sir."

An investigation was made, but, of course, nothing out of the ordinary was brought to light.

"You had better go back to your duty, Fenwick," said the master of the Hall at last.

"Oh, sir--supposing that ghost comes again?"

"Run up and catch hold of it. You'll likely find it some joke the other cadets have played on you," and Captain Putnam smiled broadly.

"A joke!" Mumps looked interested. "Do you think it was a joke?"

"More than likely."

"Oh, but it looked so real!"

"A ghost can't look real. You have been deceived. Go back to your duty," and the master of Putnam Hall returned to his tent, and Mumps resumed his guard duty, with a heart that trembled every time he took a step.

"Gosh! but that was rich!" laughed Andy, when the affair was over.

"Talk about being scared," returned Pepper. "I was afraid he would have a regular fit!"

There was more fun that night. Poor Hogan was tossed in a blanket, and Dan Baxter had three frogs placed between the blankets of his cot. Our friends did not escape, for in the morning Pepper found a sharp burr in one shoe, and Andy found the sleeves of his coat tied into hard knots. Jack was minus his shoes, which were finally located dangling from the limb of a tree back of his tent.

"Hullo, Major Ruddy has planted a shoe tree!" cried one of the cadets. "Wouldn't mind having some seed, major. I'd like to grow a pair of slippers."

"Why not try some lady-slipper seed," suggested Pepper.

"I'll slipper the chap that put my shoes up there, if I can find him," grumbled Jack.

At breakfast there was more fun. Dan Baxter's crowd was preparing a pot of coffee when Pepper, watching his chance, dropped a piece of soap into the pot.

"Phew! but this is rank coffee!" came from Paxton, spitting out a mouthful.

"Vilest I ever tasted," came from Coulter. "Say, Dan, did you make that out of stale glue, or old boots?"

"It's good enough coffee for anybody," grumbled the bully. "If you don't like it, make it yourself after this."

Then he took a deep gulp, just to show them he was not afraid to drink it. A wry face followed.

"Fine, eh?" came from Paxton, sarcastically.

"Regular Waldorf-Astoria brand," put in Coulter.

"Something's got in the pot," cried the bully, and poured the coffee into a big pan that was handy. "What's this? A cake of soap, I declare! Who put that there?"

"Excuse me from drinking soap coffee," grunted Paxton.

"Hullo, Dan Baxter's crowd is drinking soap coffee!" shouted one of the cadets.

"How do you like the flavor, Dan?" asked another.

"Better than Java, eh?" came from a third cadet.

"I have heard of all sorts of tastes in coffee, but I never heard of soap being used before," was Pepper's comment.

"Baxter's afther wantin' a good wash on th' insoide!" came from Hogan.

"Ah, you fellows shut up!" growled the bully, and taking the chunk of semi-soft soap, he hurled it at Pepper. But the Imp dodged, and the soap landed in Mumps' left eye.

"Oh! oh!" howled the sneak. "Oh! you have put out my eye! Oh!" And he began to dance around wildly.

"Didn't mean to hit you, Mumps," said Baxter. "I say," he called out; "who put that soap in the coffee?"

"Here's a riddle," came from Andy. "A lima bean to the one who solves it last."

"Coffee in the soap is good for warts," said Dale, with a grin, for Baxter's hands were covered with warts.

"Just wait--I'll get square!" growled the bully; and there the talk had to come to an end.

Breakfast over, there was a long drill, and then the cadets were allowed to do as they pleased for several hours. Some wandered through the woods, while others went to a nearby brook to fish. Half a dozen of Baxter's crowd went off through the woods by themselves.

"Where are they going?" asked Pepper.

"I don't know--and don't much care," answered Jack.

Baxter's crowd walked through the woods to where there was a farmhouse, and there stopped to get some apples and some milk. While stopping at the place they got into conversation with the farmer's daughter, a pleasant-looking damsel of eighteen.

"She's a beauty," said Coulter.

Baxter followed the farmer's daughter to the dairy, and began to talk to her in a pleasant way. Then he tried to put his arm around her waist.

"Stop that!" she said sharply.

"I'm not going to hurt you," said he. "Won't you give me just one kiss?"

"I'll give you--this!" she answered quickly, and, taking up a can of sour milk, she threw it directly into his face. Then she ran into the house, shrieking with laughter.

"Dan got it that time!" said Paxton, with a snicker.

"It was real sweet, too!" added Coulter.

Wild with rage, Baxter wiped the sour milk from his face and hair.

"I'll fix you for that!" he roared, and started to go into the house, but the girl appeared with a broom.

"You keep away!" she cried, shrilly. "If you don't, I'll set our dog on you!"

"Oh, come on away!" put in Mumps, in alarm. "Come on!" And he hurried towards the road.

"I guess we had better go," whispered Coulter. "If the farmer should report us to Captain Putnam, there would be the Old Nick to pay," and he too walked off, with Paxton and the sneak beside him. Seeing there was no help for it, Baxter withdrew, the girl laughing merrily at him as he did so.