"Tell me about that, will you? The ghost walked, and while we were away visiting, too! Was there ever such beastly luck?" groaned the latter, in dejection.
"But what's this about Bluff? You say he fell over. Was he struck with anything? And where's Jed?" asked Frank, eager to reach a conclusion.
"I'm here, all right," said a voice, and the bound boy came crawling out of a dense thicket close by. He was shivering, and his face looked white and drawn, as with fear.
"Bluff fell right over there by the bear, Frank. See! There he is now, getting up again. Thank goodness! He isn't dead, anyway!" cried Will.
Frank sprang to the side of Bluff.
"What ails you, old fellow? Are you badly hurt?" he asked.
"I don't just know. Seemed as if the sky fell on me; but I reckon I must have banged my head against this tree here in my excitement. I never noticed the pesky tree, I declare. All I could see was that terrible thing standing there and waving its awful bony hand. Gee! I was scared! I admit it, boys. Never got such a shock in my whole life," said Bluff, rubbing his forehead, where quite a large lump told of contact with some hard substance.
"Do you really mean to say that the ghost appeared to both of you while we were away?" asked Frank, hardly able to believe his ears, and looking to see if the others could be putting up some joke on Jerry and himself; but that lump was genuine, all right, and the look of pain on Bluff's face meant sincerity.
"Sure he was here. He kept waving us away all the time," declared Will.
"Evidently, then, from what you say, he does not like campers on his preserves, and would warn us to go home. H'm! That is something to be considered when trying to understand this riddle. Did the ghost speak at all?"