The Scranton High Chums on the Cinder Path / Or, The Mystery of the Haunted Quarry

Produced by Jim Ludwig
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This file has many errors—it is suggested that readers ignore this version and open PG ebook #13251 which is a much cleaner version of this title.
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THE SCRANTON HIGH CHUMS ON THE CINDER PATH or The Mystery of the Haunted Quarry
by Donald Ferguson
CHAPTERS I. The Five Nut Foragers II. On the old Quarry Road III. Talking of Ghosts IV. In Training for the Great Tournament V. Treachery in the Air VI. The Prowler VII. Caught in the Act VIII. Leon Promises to Reform IX. Scranton in Gala Attire X. When Muscles Counted XI. The Crisis in Claude's Life XII. Startling News from the Juggins Boy XIII. To the Rescue of K.K. XIV. The Searching Party XV. Prowling Around the Quarry XVI. A Friendly Ghost XVII. Scranton's Open-House Day XVIII. The Great Marathon Race XIX. On the Final Mile of the Course XX. The Boy Who Won—-Conclusion
The bright October sun was half-way down the western sky one Saturday afternoon. Two-thirds of the Fall month had already gone, and the air was becoming fairly crisp in the early mornings.
All around the forest trees were painted various shades of bright scarlet, burnt umber brown and vivid gold by the practiced fingers of that master artist, the Frost-King. Flocks of robins and blackbirds were gathering rather late this year, preparatory to taking their annual pilgrimage to the warm Southland. They flew overhead at times in vast numbers, making a tremendous chatter.
A noisy bunch of crows cawed unceasingly amidst the treetops as a large, lumbering old automobile passed along the country road, the same filled with lively boys, and also a number of sacks stuffed to their utmost capacity with what appeared to be black walnuts, shell-bark hickories, butternuts, and even splendid large chestnuts. Apparently, the strange and deadly blight that was attacking the chestnut groves all through the East had not yet appeared in the highly favored region around the town of Scranton, in which place the boys in question lived, and attended the famous high school where Dr. Carmack, also supervisor of the entire county schools, held forth.