“Do you usually make calls after midnight?” demanded the master of the school, with fine sarcasm.
“I—er—I didn’t know it was so late, sir. But we would have been back long ago if it wasn’t for that—er—ghost, or worse!” continued Paxton.
“What did you see? Now no fooling, Paxton, or it will go hard with you,” and Captain Putnam’s voice grew extra stern.
“We saw a ghost, or demon, or something, sir. It was horrible!”
“The most frightful thing one could possibly imagine,” broke in Sabine, and his voice commenced to tremble again. “Oh, Captain Putnam, you may not believe it, but it was awful, sir, awful!”
“But what was it?” persisted the master of the school, seeing how much in earnest both cadets were.
“It was like a half-man and a half-beast,” answered Paxton. “It was very large and had a terrible voice. It chased us with a stick that was full of flashes of fire, and both of us thought we were going to be killed.”
“Maybe a trick of some of the cadets,” suggested George Strong.
At this suggestion Paxton and Sabine looked up quickly.
“Oh, could it have been some of the cadets?” questioned Sabine. “But no, it couldn’t be—it was too awful!” And he shook his head positively. Evidently he had been almost frightened out of his senses.