“Huh! Guess you run, didn't you, Jed?” asked Bill Slatterly.
“Course we did. You'd a run too, if you seen a ghost comm' at you, an' firin' a gun.”
“Ghosts can't fire guns!” declared Bill. “I guess you dreamed it, Jed.”
“Ghosts can't fire guns, eh? That's all you know about it. This one did, and to prove I didn't dream it, there was a bullet hole in my hat next mornin'. I could prove it, too, only I ain't got that hat any more. But that was Phantom Mountain, strangers, an' my advice to you is to keep away from it. I was on it but I didn't exactly see it, 'cause it was dark at the time.”
“Was it near a peak that looked like a stone head?” asked Tom.
“It were, stranger, but I didn't take much notice of it. Me and my partner got out of them diggin's next day, and I never went back. I ain't never said much about this place, but it's called Phantom Mountain all right, and I ain't the only one that's seen a ghost there. Other grub-stakers has had the same experience.”
“Why ain't I never heard about it?” demanded Bill, suspiciously.
“'Cause as why you're allers so busy talkin' that you don't never listen to nothin' I reckon,” was Jed's answer, amid laughter.
“Can you tell us what trail to take to get there?” asked Tom, of the miner.
“Yes, it's called the old silver trail, and you strike it by goin' to a place called Black Gulch, about forty mile from here. Then it's twenty mile farther on. But take my advice and don't go.”