The Camp Fire Girls at Onoway House; Or, The Magic Garden

by Hildegard G. Frey

“The Deacon’s gas well!” they all exclaimed in chorus. It was true, then.

“And there was a well digger’s ghost, even if it didn’t turn out to be the one we expected!” said Migwan.

That day was never to be forgotten, although the next cleared up the mystery and brought still another surprise. Dave Beeman, the constable, was once more brought out and this time furnished with information that nearly caused his eyes to start from his head. Abner Smalley, the (as everyone supposed) respectable citizen of Centerville Road, breaking into his neighbor’s house and deliberately trying to dig a hole in the stone wall. It was the sensation of his career. “Well, I’ll be jiggered!” he gasped.

But his surprise was nothing compared to Abner Smalley’s when he was confronted with the accusation without warning. He turned so pale and trembled so much that it was useless to deny his guilt.

“You are guilty, Abney Smalley,” said the constable, in such a solemn tone that the girls could hardly keep straight faces. “You’d better make a clean breast of it and tell what you were doing in that house or it might go hard with you.”

Abner Smalley, although he was a bully by nature, was a coward when the odds were against him, and he had always had a wholesome fear of the law, so at Dave Beeman’s suggestion he decided to “make a clean breast of it.” We will not weary the reader with all the conversation that took place, but will simply tell the facts of the story.

Some time ago, while the old caretaker lived on the place yet, the story of the Deacon’s gas well had come to Abner Smalley’s ears. He heard a fact connected with it, however, that was not generally known, namely, that the Deacon had made a record of the place where the gas was found. Believing that the Deacon had left it hidden somewhere in the house, he had devised a means of breaking in and searching for it. His first plan had been to frighten the dwellers in the house and make them believe there was a ghost in the attic so they would give the place a wide berth at night and leave him free to ransack the Deacon’s old furniture. He frightened the Mitchells so that they moved. But no sooner had the Mitchells departed than the new caretakers had come; and they were a much bigger houseful than the others.

He had tried the same plan with them as he had with the others, namely, mysterious noises around the place at night. But what had frightened Mrs. Mitchell into moving had no effect on these new farmers. They shot off a gun when he was doing his best ghost stunt, namely, blowing into a bottle, which had produced that weird moaning sound. He it was who had dressed up as a ghost and appeared to Nyoda in the tepee; throwing the red pepper into her face when she made as if to attack him with a pole. It was he whom they had seen coming out of the barn that night, and later it was he again whom Migwan had seen during the hail storm. He had disappeared so utterly by jumping down the cistern. That was the first time he had been down, and on this occasion he had discovered the passage leading to the sub-cellar. It was he the girls had heard in the attic on numerous occasions. He had entered and gone out after dark by means of the Balm of Gilead tree. One time he broke the window. He had been down cellar that night when Sahwah nearly caught him. He was looking for the other entrance to the sub-cellar, which he never found. He knocked over the basket of potatoes which had mystified them so. He had been on the point of entering the house that day when Sahwah suddenly returned from town after he thought the whole family was gone for the day. When he saw her go off along the river he went in anyway and was nearly caught in the attic by the girls. He had escaped detection by hiding in a large chest.

The day they had gone for the picnic he saw them go and spent all day looking through the desks in the house. Finally the dog barked so he gave him the poisoned meat he had brought along to use if necessary. Then the family had returned and he had had a narrow escape into the cistern. He had stayed there until night, when he had set fire to the tepee, not knowing that anyone was sleeping in it. After starting the blaze he had again sought refuge in the cistern and when the crowd had gathered, came out in their midst so that his absence from such an exciting event in the neighborhood would cause no comment among the farmers. The cistern was in the shadow and everyone was watching the fire so intently that he was able to emerge unseen.

He had sprayed the tomatoes with lime and written the note which they found on the door. He had left the chisel in the automobile on one occasion when he had been hunting through the things in the barn; forgetting to take it with him when he went out.