“The cadets have all been accounted for,” said Captain Putnam. “I don’t think any of them are responsible for this.”
“Where did this happen, over in yonder woods?” questioned George Strong.
“Back of the woods, sir.”
“Back of the woods?”
“Yes, sir, near the falls. There is an old mill up there. We were coming along the mill road when all of a sudden the Thing, whatever it was, rushed at us. We ran and it came after us! Oh, I thought my last moment on earth had come!” gasped Sabine, shaking afresh over the recollection of what had occurred.
“This is strange, to say the least,” mused the master of the school. “How did it look to you, Paxton?”
“I can’t tell you any more than I have, sir,” was the reply. “It was ghostlike and half-man and half-beast, and it had a loud voice and that stick of fire. It came at us so—so ferociously that we had to run for fear of being killed on the spot!”
This was all either Paxton or Sabine could tell. They stuck to their tale so persistently that Captain Putnam felt compelled to believe them.
“I’ll investigate in the morning,” said he. “It is probably some trick.”
“Maybe it was played by some of the Pornell students,” suggested Bart Conners.