Then forward again! Creeping, panther-footed.
Danny reached the pines at last—and sure enough, old Death Head rose all too plainly before him. He saw, or thought he saw, a tall white something on its summit.
In thinking it over afterward, Danny was never quite sure just what happened between the pines and the haunted tree. He had a vague recollection of imagining that step behind again, and he recalled at one point the almost welcome pain of a stubbed toe. But for the rest, he was too frightened to take it all in.
By the time the tenderfoot reached the summit of old Death Head and stood within fifty feet of the haunted tree, he was too frightened to move, and he almost expected to see the thing which he most feared. The sky was overcast again, but a dim white something towered before him—the haunted tree—and—and——!
But just at that moment the clouds broke, and the full moon, now all unveiled, flooded the scene with light.
Naked, stark, ghostly, the blasted pine-tree rose before him. With a sudden spasm at his heart Danny looked for the swinging dead man. But if anything unearthly hung from those bare white branches, his mortal eyes were spared the vision. And presently his awakening reason began to urge: "There are no such things as 'ghosts.'"
The next moment the young scout came fully to himself, and withdrew quickly from the all-revealing flood of moonlight to the friendly shadow of a low shrub. He began to peer sharply about. The growth around was ragged, with great spaces between. If there was anything here that a scout ought to note, the opportunity was ideal.
He must perform the duty for which he was here! His leader had told him to know the spot before he showed up in camp again.
Danny began skirting about in the shadows, getting every angle he could on the scene, and exploring adjacent wood lanes. It is true that he kept well away from the haunted tree, but he came back to its vicinity every now and then. And each time as he came he managed to force himself to approach it closer.
Nearer and nearer he got to it, and then, suddenly, he heard issue from somewhere in its branches a low, sighing moan. Danny thought he would drop in his tracks, but he did not. Instead, he stood as still as death and listened.