CHAPTER XVIII
THE APPARITION AT THE DANCE
Ned Blake found himself still in a very uncertain state of mind, when he awoke at noon of the following day. After a meal which was a combination of breakfast and lunch, he set out for Dave Wilbur’s, only to be met half-way by Tommy Beals and Dick Somers with the news that Dave was sick in bed with a hard cold.
“He can’t speak above a whisper,” declared Tommy, who had been admitted to the bedside of the patient. “His mother says he’s got to stay in bed all day, and I guess that’s the proper dope, if we want him to be with us for tomorrow night’s dance.”
“What did you fellows find out there last night?” asked Dick. “I thought of you when I heard the rain pelting down. Did the shanty leak?”
“I can’t answer that,” laughed Ned. “Dave and I didn’t enjoy the comfort of the shanty—we let the other fellow have it.”
“What fellow—for the love of Mike!” cried Charlie Rogers, who had joined the group in time to hear Ned’s words.
“That’s another one I can’t answer,” replied Ned quite truthfully, and he proceeded to recount in some detail the adventures of the previous night, omitting, however, all reference to his discovery of Latrobe.
“I’d give a million dollars to know what this is all about!” exclaimed Rogers. “Of course, we want to keep on with our stuff, but I’d hate to get into a jam with a bunch of roughnecks.”
This was exactly what Ned had feared, and he determined then and there to keep to himself—for the present at least—his knowledge of the identity of one of the “roughnecks.” Red Rogers was anything but a coward, and if he showed signs of wavering, there would be slight hope of keeping fellows like Jim Tapley and Wat Sanford in line. All the rest of that day, and much of the following, Ned devoted himself to making cautious inquiries concerning Latrobe, but beyond some evidence of the man’s unsavory reputation little or nothing could be learned.
“I’ll take a chance on tonight’s dance anyhow,” soliloquized Ned. “After it’s over, I’ll tell the boys what I know and let them decide what to do.”