CHAPTER II The Story of the Haunted Lodge
Barry sat down in one of the big chairs and faced his father. Mr.Garrison had put his magazine aside and was looking thoughtfully at hisson.
"A haunted lodge, Dad? Where is it? What haunts it?"
The lawyer laughed. "One question at a time, son! I knew that you wouldwant to know about it as soon as I mentioned that it was haunted, orsupposed to be haunted. Because of course it isn't."
"Then what makes people say that it is? Tell me something about it, Dad.Where is it located on Lake Arrowtip?"
"Right about the middle of the lake, on a high bluff that commands amagnificent view up and down the big sheet of water. It is the huntinglodge that belongs to Mrs. Morganson, one of my clients. Some years agoshe had that fine big lodge built and used to go up there once in awhile herself, though she hasn't been there in late years. You know LakeArrowtip fairly well, don't you?"
"Yes, I've hiked and camped up there with Kent and the twins. I think Iknow where that lodge is. Isn't it a big log house with a porch lookingout over the lake, off in the direction of Rake Island?"
"Yes, that is the place. Ever been in it?"
"No, but we've passed it in a canoe. There was a party at the lodge atthe time. There is another cabin close by, a small log building."
"Yes, that is the Bronson cabin. It is owned by a retired lawyer friendof mine, and he never uses it any more. It is very close to the lodge."
"Well, tell me about this mystery, Dad. Do the people around there thinkthe place is haunted?"
"There aren't very many people around there to think that, but some ofour town people won't go to the place. I suppose you remember that Mrs.Morganson's nephew disappeared up there over a year ago and has neverbeen found."
Barry slung one leg over the arm of the chair. "I do remember hearingsomething about that," he replied. "Wasn't he kidnaped and carried offto Canada somewhere?"
"It seemed so," his father nodded. "There was one letter from Canada,telling his aunt not to worry, that he was being well treated. But notrace of him has ever been discovered, and some splendid detectives havebeen looking for Felix Morganson. Well, since the time that hedisappeared, things haven't been going well at Bluff Lodge."
"Is that when the haunting began?" Barry asked.
"A little later than that. You see, Felix Morganson disappeared during aThanksgiving party at the lodge. There was quite a crowd at the lodge,and they were enjoying a gathering at the time. Along about ten o'clockor so at night Mr. Morganson walked out of the place smoking acigarette. Several saw him go, but no one asked him where or why he wasgoing. As time went on they missed him, and finally some of the menwalked out on the bluff which overlooks the lake, following hisfootsteps in the light snow that had fallen. Close to the edge of thebluff they found the snow kicked and scuffed up and his cigarette onlypartially smoked. Then there were long, dragging marks in the snow thatseemed to indicate that he had been pulled along down the path to thelake. All trace of him was lost at that point, because the lake wasfrozen over and the ice was as smooth as glass."
Barry was absorbed in the story. "No one in the lodge heard anything? Nooutcry or anything?"
His father shook his head. "No. But that same night a servant, aFrenchman, disappeared. He was a man that had been hired to cook and towait on the tables, and this man was gone. No one knows whether he hadanything to do with it all or not, but he left the lodge about the sametime Felix Morganson did. No trace of him was ever found."
"How long after the disappearance of Mr. Morganson before they heardfrom him?"
"About a month later. Then a hastily scrawled letter came from a littletown in Canada, telling his aunt that he was well and not to worry. Hestated that he did not have time to write any more at the moment. Ofcourse the detectives hustled up to that town, but so far have beenunable to learn anything or to uncover a single clue."
"He has been missing well over a year now, hasn't he?" Barry mused.
"Yes, because Thanksgiving was three weeks ago, and it was at that timethat he vanished. The queer part about it all is the fact that norequest for a ransom was ever received. Mrs. Morganson is quite wealthy,and a considerable sum could be raised among the friends of Felix. Butthere has never been any demand."
"It's funny." Barry slumped lower in the chair, his mind busy with thedetails of the event. "But how about this haunting that you spoke of?That came later, didn't it?"
"About three months after Felix Morganson disappeared," Mr. Garrisonanswered. "Besides going up there herself once in a while, Mrs.Morganson also rents the place out to sportsmen who go up for the winterseason to hunt, and to those that go there in the summer to fish. Well,late in January a group of sportsmen went there, and the understandingwas that they would stay about three weeks. But at the end of one weekthey gave it up and took a smaller place down at the tip of the lake.They complained of ghostly rappings, or knocks on the door and no onethere when they opened, and they also complained that some of theirthings had been stolen."
"Sounds foolish," Barry said.
"We thought it was, at first. You see, I handle all of Mrs. Morganson'sbusiness, and I had rented the place to these men, who came fromConnecticut. We thought for a while that they were just cranky and letit go at that. But two weeks later another party went in, and it was thesame thing over again. Added to that, one of the men had an expensivefur coat stolen, and he wanted to bring suit against us. It seems thatthey heard about the experience of the former party and claimed that wehad rented the lodge to them under false pretenses. We had some troublegetting out of that."
"It must be just some ordinary thief that lives in the woods nearthere," Barry ventured.
"If so, he goes around annoying everybody that puts up in the lodge.Later in the year some fishermen took over the place, and they hadsimilar experiences, and, besides all that, they found their fishingboat scuttled one morning, three holes bored in it. Fortunately we hadtold them the reputation that the place was getting, but they had justlaughed at it. They came away mad as hornets. Well, you can see what itis all doing. No one will rent the lodge now, and it had a long list ofprospective renters once. The value of it keeps going down, and since wecannot rent or sell it at a decent price, it is standing idle."
"Does Mrs. Morganson want to sell it?"
"She does now. We have both become so tired of the place and its problemthat we would like nothing better than to get it off our hands. There isonly one buyer at present, a man named Brand Curry, but he wants it at aprice so low that we won't even discuss it. The man never comes to me,he always goes directly to Mrs. Morganson."
"But look here, Dad, did you ever have a detective on the case? Everhave any one go up there?"
"Oh, yes. I have had two private investigators spend some time on thecase. One of them didn't find anything or have any kind of anexperience. But the other man did. He was a big, chunky fellow namedRiley, and he said he could catch anything he went after. Said he wouldcome home dragging the ghost or spook, or whatever it was, by the neck.He remained there two days and then came back and resigned from thecase. The first night he was kept busy investigating thumps all over theplace, and the second night his shoes and shirt were mysteriouslywhisked away somehow and he was in a fix because he hadn't taken anybaggage with him. He had to go to Fox Point and outfit himself there,and he had to go down there without shirt or shoes. He didn't hearanything that night, and all the time he was there he didn't seeanything. He was a disgusted man when he came back here, and it was hisopinion that the National Guard should be ordered up there."
Barry and his father laughed at the plight of the private detective whohad been so sure of victory over the haunting presence at Bluff Lodge."But of course, Dad, you believe that someone is doing all this for apurpose?"
"I can't see any other explanation," his father confessed. "But I can'tfigure out any reason for it. Why should anyone want to frighten campingparties th
at way? And who is clever enough to make raps and groans andknocks and yet disappear before anyone can spot him? That lodge standspretty well out of the trees, and no one could dodge behind someconvenient tree trunk after every one of these meaningless pranks. Asfor the disappearance of Mr. Riley's shirt and shoes, that isn't so muchof a mystery, after all. The window was open in his room, and anyonecould have fished the clothing out. He is lucky that they didn't stealanything more and put him in a bad position."
"That is one thing that convinces me that the spook is a clever one,"Barry said. "An amateur or a plain fun maker would have stolen all ofhis things. This one took just enough to create an air of mystery."
The kindly face of Mrs. Garrison appeared in the doorway. "Supper isready," she smiled. Barry and his father walked out of the roomtogether.
"Dad," said Barry, "that's a real mystery. I'd like nothing better thanto go up there with some of the boys and nose around a bit. Maybe wecould find out something."
His father smiled and slapped him on the back. "Aren't you taking thattitle of 'mystery hunter' a little seriously, Barry?"
"Maybe I am, Dad, but you never can tell. I still think our bunch couldfind out something of value. Just try us and see."