CHAPTER XI.
A FRUITLESS CHASE.
The more Joe thought over the matter the more he became convinced thathe was right. He remembered a good deal of the talk he had overheardduring the storm, although such talk had, for the time being, beendriven from his mind by the tragic death of old Hiram Bodley.
"If they are working some game what can this Maurice Vane have to dowith it?" he asked himself.
He thought it best to get back to the hotel at once, and tell Mr.Mallison of his suspicions. But, as luck would have it, scarcely had hestarted to row his boat again when an oarlock broke, and so it took himthe best part of an hour to make the trip.
"Where is Mr. Mallison?" he asked of the clerk of the hotel.
"Out in the stable, I believe," was the answer.
Without waiting, our hero ran down to the stable and found the hotelproprietor inspecting some hay that had just been unloaded.
"I'd like to speak to you a moment, Mr. Mallison," he said. "It'simportant," and he motioned for the man to follow him.
"What is it, Joe?"
"It's about those men who called to see that sick man, and about thesick man, too."
"He has gone--all of them have gone."
"What!" ejaculated our hero. "The sick man, too?"
"Exactly. But he didn't go with the others. While they were here he wasin bed, but right after they left he arose, dressed himself, and droveaway."
"Where did he go to?"
"I don't know."
"Do you know what became of the other two men?"
"I do not. But what's up? Is there anything wrong?" questioned the hotelproprietor, with a look of concern on his face.
"I am afraid there is," answered Joe, and told his tale from beginningto end.
"That's an odd sort of a yarn, Joe. It's queer you didn't recognize themen before.
"It is queer, sir, but I can't help that. It flashed over me just as Ilooked into the window of the old lodge."
"You haven't made any mistake?"
"No, sir."
"Humph!" Andrew Mallison mused for a moment. "I don't really see what Ican do in the matter. We can't prove that those men are wrongdoers, canwe?"
"Not unless they tried some game on this Mr. Maurice Vane."
"They may have sold him some worthless mining shares. That sort of atrick is rather old."
"I think we ought to make a search for this David Ball, or Malone, orwhatever his name is."
"I'm willing to do that."
After questioning half a dozen people they learned that the pretendedsick man had driven off in the direction of a village called Hopedale.
"What made him go there, do you think?" questioned Joe.
"I don't know, excepting that he thought of getting a train on the otherline."
A horse and buggy were procured, and in this Mr. Mallison and our herodrove over to Hopedale. They were still on the outskirts of the villagewhen they heard a locomotive whistle.
"There's the afternoon train now!" cried Joe. "Perhaps it's the one hewants to catch."
The horse was touched up and the buggy drove up to the railroad platformat breakneck speed. But the train was gone and all they could see of itwas the last car as it swung around one of the mountain bends.
"Too late, Mr. Mallison!" sang out the station master. "If I had knownye was comin' I might have held her up a bit."
"I didn't want the train, Jackson. Who got on board?"
"Two ladies, a man and a boy--Dick Fadder."
"Did you know the man?"
"No."
"What did he have with him?"
"A dress suit case."
"Was he dressed in a dark blue suit and wear a slouch hat?" asked Joe.
"Yes, and had a light overcoat with him."
"That was our man."
"Anything wrong with him?" asked the station master.
"Perhaps," answered the hotel proprietor. "Anyway, we wanted to see him.Did he buy a ticket?"
"Yes, to Snagtown."
"What can he want in Snagtown?" asked Joe.
"Oh, that might have been a blind, Joe. He could easily go through toPhiladelphia or some other place, if he wanted to."
At first they thought of telegraphing ahead to stop the man, but soongave that plan up. They had no evidence, and did not wish to maketrouble unless they knew exactly what they were doing.
"I hope it turns out all right," observed Andrew Mallison, when theywere driving back to Riverside. "If there was a swindle it would give myhotel a black eye."
"That's one reason why I wanted that man held," answered Joe.
The next day and that following passed quietly, and our hero began tothink that he had made a mistake and misjudged the men. He was kept verybusy and so almost forgot the incident.
Among the new boarders was a fussy old man named Chaster, who wasspeedily nicknamed by the bell boys Chestnuts. He was a particularindividual, and made everybody as uncomfortable as he possibly could.
One day Wilberforce Chaster--to use his full name,--asked Joe to takehim out on the lake for a day's fishing. Our hero readily complied,and was in hot water from the time they went out until they returned.Nothing suited the old man, and as he caught hardly any fish he wasexceedingly put out when he came back to the hotel.
"Your boatman is of no account," he said to Andrew Mallison. "I havespent a miserable day," and he stamped off to his room in high anger.
"It was not my fault, Mr. Mallison," said Joe, with burning cheeks. "Idid my level best by him."
"That man has been making trouble for us ever since he come," answeredthe hotel proprietor. "I am going to ask him to go elsewhere when hisweek is up."
The insults that Joe had received that day from Wilberforce Chasterrankled in his mind, and he determined to square accounts with theboarder if he possibly could.
Towards evening he met a bell boy named Harry Ross who had also hadtrouble with Chaster, and the two talked the matter over.
"We ought to get square," said Harry Ross. "I wish I could souse himwith a pitcher of ice water."
"I've got a plan," said Joe.
Stopping at the hotel was a traveling doctor, who came to Riversidetwice a year, for a stay of two weeks each time. He sold some patentmedicines, and had in his room several skulls and also a skeleton strungon wires.
"That doctor is away," said our hero. "I wonder if we can't smuggle theskulls and the skeleton into Mr. Chaster's room?"
"Just the cheese!" cried the bell boy, enthusiastically. "And let us rubthe bones with some of those matches that glow in the dark!"
The plan was talked over, and watching their chance the two transferredthe skeleton and the skulls to the apartment occupied by WilberforceChaster. Then they rubbed phosphorus on the bones, and hung them uponlong strings, running over a doorway into the next room.
That evening Wilberforce Chaster remained in the hotel parlor until teno 'clock. Then he marched off to his room in his usual ill humor. Thegas was lit and he went to bed without delay.
As soon as the light went out and they heard the man retire, Joe andthe bell boy began to groan in an ominous manner. As they did so, theyworked the strings to which the skulls and the skeleton were attached,causing them to dance up and down in the center of the old man's room.
Hearing the groans, Wilberforce Chaster sat up in bed and listened. Thenhe peered around in the darkness.
"Ha! what is that?" he gasped, as he caught sight of the skulls. "Am Idreaming--or is that--Oh!"
He started and began to shake from head to foot, for directly in frontof him was the skeleton, moving up and down in a jerky fashion andglowing with a dull fire. His hair seemed to stand on end. He dove underthe coverings of the bed.
"The room is haunted!" he moaned. "Was ever such a thing seen before!This is wretched! Whatever shall I do?"
The groans continued, and presently he gave another look from under thebed clothes. The skeleton appeared to be coming nearer. He gave a loudyell of anguish.
br /> "Go away! Go away! Oh, I am haunted by a ghost! This is awful! I cannotstand it!"
He fairly tumbled out of bed and caught up his clothing in a heap. Then,wrapped in some comfortables, he burst out of the room and ran down thehallway like a person possessed of the evil spirits.
"Come be quick, or we'll get caught!" whispered Joe, and ran into theroom, followed by the bell boy. In a trice they pulled loose the stringsthat held the skulls and the skeleton, and restored the things to thedoctor's room from which they had been taken. Then they went below by aback stairs.
The whole hotel was in an alarm, and soon Mr. Mallison came upon thescene.
"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded, severely, of WilberforceChaster.
"The meaning is, sir, that your hotel is haunted," was the answer, whichstartled all who heard it.