Rob and I being poison proof decided to try our luck and pitch camp for a few days on the shores of this hidden treasure. As we had to send to town by the stage driver for the necessary supplies, we remained in H. H. the remainder of the day.
We at once paired off in Noah’s most approved style as Rob had outlined. Beth and Ptolemy went up shore, sticks and stones and rocks being no obstacles to their feet. Rob and I sought the society of the snakes, while Silvia and Diogenes, mosquito-netted, watched a game of croquet.
We dined without the pleasure of the society of Ptolemy and Diogenes, who had been invited to sit at the table with the 93 landlady’s children. I might state, incidentally, that the invitation was never repeated.
Beth was quite excited over her walk.
“Ptolemy and I,” she boasted, “made more of a discovery than Mr. Rossiter did. We found a haunted house, a perfectly haunted house.”
“I am not surprised,” declared Silvia. “You couldn’t expect any other kind of a house in such a region.”
“Where is it?” I asked, “and what is it haunted by?”
“Insects,” suggested Silvia.
“You go around shore about two miles, only it’s farther, as you have to make so many ups and downs over the rocks. Then you leave the shore and go through a low marshy stretch, sort of a Dismal Swamp, and then up a hill. After Ptolemy and I climbed to the top, we looked 94 down and saw, hidden in a clump of lonely looking poplars, a small, rudely built house. We went down to explore and had hard work making our way through a thick growth of––everything. We crawled under some tangled vines and came up on the steps. The house was vacant, although there were a few old pieces of furniture––a couple of cots, a cook-stove, table, and chairs.
“On our way home we met a woman who gave us a history of the house. An old miser lived there long ago. One night he was robbed and murdered, and his ghost still haunts the place. No one ventures in its vicinity, and she said most likely we were the first people who had gone there since the tragedy. She told us of a nearer way to reach it. You take the road to Windy Creek, and about two miles below here, turn into a lane and 95 then go through a grove and over a hill.”