"Oh! gosh!" was all the staggered Landy could say, but it expressed the state of his feelings exactly.
"Don't believe too much of what Chatz says till you hear what Elmer's got to tell us all," warned Toby. "You see, he went and crept up close to that awful figure, and then George here, just like he wanted to try things out, and see if it really was a ghost, had to give a whopper of a sneeze; and when we looked again the thing had disappeared like smoke. But Elmer knows something, and he promised to tell us the real stuff when we got sitting around our bully fire here. So pull up, fellows, and let him know we're all ready to listen."
"Take my word for it," Lil Artha told them, "I'm wild to hear what Elmer knows."
"What he believes, say, Lil Artha," corrected the scout master, pleasantly; "for I haven't been able to prove it to my satisfaction yet, though I hope to do that before we leave up here."
"That's all right, Elmer," said Toby, quickly; "your word's as good as your bond, and when you think a thing it's pretty sure to be it!"
This remarkable confidence which his chums had in him always spurred Elmer on to doing his level best. He felt that he could not afford to lose a shred of such sublime faith; and no doubt on many occasions this had enabled him to gain his end when otherwise he might have considered the case hopeless, and abandoned all design of succeeding.
Accordingly the whole eight of them found places around the fire, which had of course been built up again until it was a cheery sight. Around midnight at the extreme end of November the air is apt to be pretty chilly during the small hours of the night, so that the boys could hardly keep up too hot a blaze to satisfy their wants.
Naturally all of them had made sure that from where they sat they could see the face of Elmer. As he was the center of attraction it was bound to add more to their pleasure if they could watch him as he explained, and told his story of achievement.
The scout master looked around at that circle of eager boyish faces, and smiled. He was very fond of every one there; after his own fashion each scout had his good points, and Elmer knew them all, for had he not seen them tested many a time?
"First of all, fellows," he remarked, "I'm going back to the other time we were up here, and Toby declared he saw a white face at one of the windows, which news gave us all such a queer feeling, because we couldn't tell whether it was so or not. You remember after we left the house I went back again?"