“That is strictly on the level,” assured Kenneth,
“Vale, den I done dot. Let dot ghost come, und I vill gif him der greadest path vot I efer got.”
In the meantime, Frank Merriwell had taken Ephraim aside, and was saying:
“Gallup, you must scare the wits out of that Dutchman to-night. You are the tallest one in the party, and so you must wrap yourself in a sheet and play ghost on him. St. Ives is going to fix it so we can all hide behind a curtain in one corner of the room and see the fan. Will you do the trick?”
“Course I will,” nodded Ephraim. “I’ll skeer the Dutchman aout of his senses, b’gosh! Won’t it be heaps of fun!”
“Sure it will,” nodded Frank. “You must strip yourself of all your clothes, so you will look as gaunt as possible, then wrap the sheet around you and stalk in on Hans. He’ll have a fit.”
“Haw! haw! haw!” laughed the Vermonter. “I know I’ll die of larfin’ to see him! Haw! haw! haw!”
So it was arranged, and Frank hastened to tell the other boys.
“This is where Ephraim gets taken in,” smiled Merry. “Kenneth St. Ives has arranged for him to turn the hose on the spook, if one appears. If Hans is not too frightened to do anything, he’ll give Ephraim the surprise of his life. With nothing but a sheet over him, the water from the hose will go through to Gallup’s skin the first squirt, and we’ll be where we can see the fun.”
With no small difficulty Hans was induced to sleep alone in a room of the summerhouse. At one end of the room was an alcove that served as a wardrobe. In front of this alcove was a curtain.