“Men, thar’s bein’ some doin’s round the camp thot I know well is gettin’ under some o’ yer hides. I know that Devaux saw sumpin last night cause I saw it a few night ago, but it wasn’t no ghost. It’s jest somebody tryin’ ter scare ye away,” and he told them all about the contract which Mr. Golden had and how Big Ben Donahue was trying to prevent him from completing it.
“How you know dat no ghost, by gar?” Baptist asked from his seat near the farther end of the table.
The foreman laughed. “Did yez iver hear of inyone takin’ a picture of a ghost?” he asked, looking about the table.
Evidently no one had, and after a moment’s pause he continued:
“Well, thin, thot’s jest what these boys are a goin’ ter do. They’ve rigged up a picture machine an’ the nixt time thot ghost comes round it’ll git its picture took, an’ thot’ll prove thot it ain’t no ghost at all. Fer why? Because first thar ain’t no sech animal, an’ second because if there was he’d not show in a picture, cause he rally ain’t thar at all at all.”
As he finished it was evident that, although the men were not entirely convinced, they were at least somewhat easier in their minds.
“But we hear cry of haunt las’ nicht, by gar,” declared a little Frenchman who sat at Tom’s right. “What you tink of heem, heh?” and without waiting for an answer to the question, he went on. “I hear day cry many years ago way up north an’ een less’n week ten men die, oui, by gar, they all die, they didn’t go ver’ queek.”
“We’ll find out who’s makin’ thot noise all right,” he answered somewhat evasively; then as he saw that they did not seem to respond to his words, he added, “Jest ye lave thot to me an’ the byes here an’ if we don’t put a end to it the nixt time it starts, sure an’ ye kin all have yer time an’ welcome.”
“Begorra, an’ I had ter make it strong,” Tom told the boys as soon as they were back in the office. “An’ now it’s up ter us ter make good, but it’s meself thot dunno how it’s ter be did.”
“We’ll have to find some way, but just now I’m hoping that his ghostship will show up to night.” Bob had hardly spoken when Jack grabbed him by the arm.