"Are there any houses near the lake?" questioned Giant.
"Not a house within two or three miles. It is the wildest place you ever visited," answered Jed Sanborn. "Hunters don't go there much on account of the rough rocks in the stream flowing into Narsac. If you take a boat you may have to tote it a good bit—-an' it ain't much use to go up there less you've got a boat, because you can't travel much along the shore—-too many thorn bushes."
After that the old hunter told them all he knew about Lake Narsac. He said the lake and its surroundings were owned by the estate of a New England millionaire who had died four years before. In settling the estate the heirs had gone to law, and the rightful possession of the sheet of water with the mountains around it was still in dispute.
"One thing is sartin," said the old hunter. "If ye go up thar, ye won't have no Andrew Felps chasin' ye away—-as was the case up to Lake Cameron."
"No, but we may have the ghost chasing us," answered Giant.
"Say, maybe we had better go somewhere else," suggested Whopper, hesitatingly.
"Whopper, are you afraid of ghosts?" demanded Snap.
"N—-no, but I—-er—-I'd like to go somewhere where we wouldn't be bothered by anything."
"I am going to Lake Narsac, ghosts or no ghosts!" cried the doctor's son.
"So am I," added Snap, promptly. "If Whopper wants to stay behind—-"