But they observed that Smart was not as lively and jocular as usual.
“This spook seems to be a collector of relics,” said Dick. “He has collected something wherever he has appeared. First he got away with Smart’s comb and brush, then Gorman’s watch; Savage lost a knife, and Wilson is also out a watch.”
“Well, what do you think of it?” was the point-blank question put to Dick.
“It’s very remarkable,” confessed Merriwell.
“Oh, there’s nothing in the ghost-story, of course!” said a bullet-headed boy.
“Perhaps there is,” said Dick.
“What?” cried several, in surprise.
“You don’t believe it?” said one. “You don’t take stock in spooks?”
“I might not take stock in this one,” admitted Dick, “if it were not that he has taken stock wherever he had visited. In other words, the fact that he has carried off some valuable articles leads me to believe in him.”
“But how——”