“No, sir,” said Peleg, emphatically. “Let us go back. I don’t believe there is any money hidden around here anyway.”
It was no part of Nat’s plan to make Peleg think differently. If he thought they were on a wild goose chase, so much the better for Nat. He would go on and prosecute the search, and if he succeeded, no one would be the wiser for it.
“If pap were here,” continued Peleg, and then he suddenly stopped.
“Does your father believe in ghosts, too?” asked Nat.
“Of course he does. He has seen them.”
“Then of course he believes in them. I must see one before I will put any faith in it.”
“But what will you do if you leave your bones up here for the vultures to pick?” urged Peleg, with a shudder. “I reckon you will believe in them then.”
“That will be my misfortune and not my fault. So, Mr. Graves believes in ghosts, does he?” said Nat, to himself. “I wish to goodness that I knew whether or not Jonas and Caleb believed in them, too. Somehow I feel more afraid of those two men than I do of anything else.” Then aloud he said: “If I believed as your father does I would not come up here for anything; but I have not seen the ghosts yet, and until I do, I am going to stick to my plan. You can carry the provisions up to Mr. Nickerson’s house, can’t you, and then you can put them down and go back if you want to.”
“And do you mean that you are really going on?” exclaimed Peleg, who was really amazed at the boy’s courage.
“Yes, sir, I am going on; and no one will care whether I succeed or not. Come on, Peleg. You must walk faster than that.”