All they could say did not induce the man to change his mind. He was plainly afraid of the cabin and the “ghost.”
But the travelers were determined not to let a little thing like that interfere with a chance to sleep under shelter. Accordingly they covered the auto with the tarpaulin provided for that purpose, and moved their blankets into the deserted cabin, which was fairly clean and in good condition. One of the big oil lamps gave sufficient light.
The cabin contained only two rooms, one on the ground floor, and the other above it, reached by a movable ladder.
“I think we had better sleep upstairs,” said Jerry. “The door doesn’t fasten very securely, and besides I think it will be drier there.”
So they mounted the ladder, spread their blankets out on the floor, and were all soon fast asleep. None of them expected to be disturbed, for they laid the story of the ghost to an overwrought imagination of the colored man.
So it was with a sudden feeling of terror that Jerry was awakened in the middle of the night by hearing a deep groan, seeming to come from the room below.
He sat up, rubbing his eyes to further awaken himself, and then he became aware that Bob was also sitting up. He could see because of the moonlight streaming in through a window.
“Did you hear anything?” asked Jerry.
“I thought so,” answered Bob.
“I thought I did,” put in Ned, who, it seems had been awakened at the same time the others were.