“Let’s have it,” Mr. Burmaster commanded.
Penny handed over the stone though she would have preferred to have examined it herself. Mr. Burmaster cut the string which kept the paper in place. He held it beneath one of the lanterns.
Large capital letters cut from newspaper headlines had been pasted in an uneven row across the page. The words spelled a message which read:
“KICK IN HANDSOMELY ON THE HUNTLEY DAM FUND. IF YOU OBLIGE, THE GALLOPING GHOST WILL BOTHER YOU NO MORE.”
Mr. Burmaster read the message aloud and crumpling the paper, stuffed it into the pocket of his robe.
“There, you see!” he cried angrily. “It’s all a plot to force me to put up money for the Huntley Dam!”
“Who do you think the prankster is?” Penny asked.
“How should I know!” Mr. Burmaster stormed. “The townspeople of Delta may be behind the scheme. Or those hill rats like Silas Malcom! Then it could be Old Lady Lear.”
“Can she ride a horse?” Louise interposed.
“Can that old witch ride?” Mr. Burmaster snorted. “She was born in a saddle. Has one of the best horses in the valley too. A jumper.”