The Mercer Boys in the Ghost Patrol
14 Disobedience Loses the Game
The cadets instinctively crouched down where they stood. It seemed to bethe proper thing to do, although the ghostly figure had not looked intheir direction.
The moment was one of indecision. While the ghost kept in plain sight onthe top of the Ridge they were content to watch it, waiting for a cuethat would send them into action. To attempt to rush up the hill andgrapple with the shape would be the wrong thing to do, for the noise oftheir approach would startle the thing into a run. To trail it asquietly as possible was their only thought.
There was a stir on the part of one of the cadets, the one nearest Don.He reached into his inside pocket and then brought his hand out into theopen. It was Dick Rowen who had moved and Don shifted his eyes towardhim.
What he saw startled him. Against all orders to the contrary the sulkycadet had brought a revolver with him. He was even now raising it andpointing toward the white shape.
Don’s arm described a sort of arc, his hand coming down with a thump onthe wrist of the unpopular cadet. But Rowen had a good grip on the stockof his revolver.
“Put that away, Rowen,” Don whispered, sternly.
“Leave me alone, Mercer,” hissed the other. “I’m just going to scare thething.”
Don’s grasp tightened and he jerked the wrist toward him. Rowen promptlytwisted his arm, pointing the revolver upward. The grasp of his fingerson the trigger was too strong and the revolver went off with ashattering report.
There was a moment of utter silence from the boys themselves. The figurein white leaped into the air and then began a swift run along the top ofthe Ridge. Don had dropped Rowen’s wrist in dismay and the other cadetwas shaken by the unexpected happening.
“Oh, you stupid guy!” cried Don, as the ghost could be heard runningalong the rise.
They were all on their feet now and Jordan pushed up to them. He graspedthe cadet by the arm.
“Rowen, what in the world did you do that for?” he ground out.
“I didn’t do it,” defended the other. “Mercer grabbed my arm.”
“Never mind the excuses, we all saw what you did. It was against thecolonel’s orders to carry any kind of a gun. Why did——”
Don cut in. “Some of you fellows get after the ghost on the double!” hecried, and Terry, Jim, and the others ran off, leaving him alone withJordan and the angry one.
“Well, I thought the colonel was foolish about not carrying arms,” saidRowen, as the others breasted the rise. “Anyway, what right had he tosend us out to face some kind of a desperate man, maybe a criminal,without any way to protect ourselves? I wasn’t going to shoot the man, Iwas going to scare him.”
“You succeeded in doing that without carrying out your original plan,”Jordan returned, grimly. “Now, Rowen, I want you to march yourself backto camp and put yourself on report. You are under arrest.”
“Oh, sure, I could expect that from you!” retorted Rowen, bitterly.
“Yes, you could, you or anyone else who had pulled a stunt like that,”nodded Jordan. “It was direct and defiant disobedience, and if we loseour chance to nab the ghost it will be entirely your fault. Return tocamp at once, Rowen.”
“OK,” grumbled Rowen. He walked sullenly away.
“Now, if we are going to catch up with the boys we’ll have to put all wehave into it,” announced Jordan.
“Right!” said Don, as they started up the slope. “Feel equal to a goodstiff run?”
“Sure,” smiled Jordan. “Let’s hit a steady pace.”
Gaining the top of the rise they fell into a steady run along the top,away from the camp and toward the town on the far side of the Ridge.They were following a general direction, which was not entirely blind,for far ahead of them they heard a faint cracking sound that seemed tobe made by someone running recklessly. Their route did not keep themlong on the top of the hill, for the ghost had taken to the deepershelter of the trees lower down and they plunged down the slope,threading their way in between the trees.
They almost fell over a figure that was before them in the woods. It wasCadet Owens, and he was sitting on a rock, hugging his foot. His shoewas off and he was breathing hard.
“Hurt yourself?” Jordan called.
“Not much,” gasped Owens. “Got my shoe caught in a piece of rock andtwisted my ankle. But I’ll be able to walk. Keep on going straightahead. We didn’t lose sight of him.”
The other two plunged on, following a straight line. They did not expectto overtake the others, for Terry and Jim in particular were fastrunners and they had had a good start. All they could hope to do was tobe in at the finish if there was a finish, and with this in mind theyran on.
“Rough going!” gasped Don, as they began to ascend a second rollinghill.
“Nothing else but!” returned Jordan, running steadily.
On the top of the hill they found themselves in familiar country. Farahead of them was the tiny cabin of Peter Vancouver and above them wasthe big, barnlike house that they had observed at the time they firsttook the hike to the old man’s place. Now they were somewhat at a loss,and slowed up a bit in their running.
“We’ll have to be careful not to lose them now,” Don said.
“There they are, right ahead of us,” announced Jordan, “They must havelost him, because they are just standing there.”
“They are right in front of that old house,” observed Don, as they ranforward.
The others turned in glad surprise when the two ran up.
“Did you lose him?” Jordan called, as they joined them.
“He just bolted into that house,” Terry answered. “Think we ought to goin after him?”
“Absolutely,” was the reply from the senior captain. “All you fellowshave your flashlights, haven’t you?”
They all had. Jordan led the way inside the gate and they walked withgreat care toward the house.
“He was way ahead of us,” said Motley, “and just as soon as he got tothis old house he bolted right inside. He may be armed, so we had betterbe careful.”
“Yes,” replied Jordan. “But if he is in the house we are bound to gethim. Be ready to put your light out if he tries any shooting. And becareful of holes or anything in the house.”
They snapped on their flashlights as they went up the tottering oldporch of what had once been a fine old mansion. There were no windows inthe place which could boast of glass, and the front door had droppedfrom its hinges and now lay sprawled out on the porch. Jordan swung hislight down on this prostrate door, and they could see that it wascovered with dirt and mud. Newer marks on the door showed that someonehad recently entered the place.
“This is where he went, all right,” said Don. “On your toes, everybody.”
Before entering the place they flashed brilliant beams of light in everycorner of the nearest room. This was a large hall, with bare walls fromwhich the plaster had fallen, and a large staircase running up to asecond floor. Realizing that the ghost might leave the place by somerear door while they prowled around the front rooms, the cadets pushedthe search with all possible speed, their eyes and ears alert for anysign of someone lurking. But a rapid search of a wide parlor, a squaredining room, and an enormous kitchen showed them that at least no onewas concealed downstairs.
“I guess our next move will be the upstairs,” Motley suggested, and theytook the wide steps toward the top of the house.
Here there were a number of smaller rooms and it took them some littletime to look through all of them. Nothing was to be found on the secondfloor, and with more confidence they went to the third floor. This was abig barnlike attic, and was obviously quite empty.
“Well, if he is in the place at all, it is the cellar,” decided Jordan,when they had satisfied themselves that there was no one in the upperpart of the house. “I don’t think he came upstairs at all, because Idon’t see any prints.”
There were some footprints in the lower hall
but they were lost on thecomparatively bare stretches of floor. The cellar, which extended only ashort distance under the house, was tenanted by spiders only, and no onehad been in there, judging by the huge webs that stretched across thebottom of the stairway. It would have been impossible for anyone to havegone that way without breaking the webs, and they were all intact.
“Many thanks to the spiders,” acknowledged Terry, lifting his hat. “Theymake it possible for us to keep from going any deeper into this damphole. The smell of it is enough for me.”
“Just to make doubly sure,” said Jordan, “suppose we go around to theback and see if there is an outside cellar door? The ghost may have runout the back door of the house and down a back stairs to the cellar. I’mnot going to give up the search until I have seen every corner of thehouse.”
“While a couple of us are doing that I suggest that two or three of uslook in the closets on the first floor,” Don advanced. “We missed themon our first round. I guess a couple of us can hold the ghost in atussle until the others get on the spot.”
“All right,” said Jordan. “Jim and Motley, come with me. The rest of youscatter. But I’m pretty sure that the ghost ran right on through thehouse and escaped into the woods.”
The others thought the same thing, but they scattered to search. Terryand Cadet Ross began to look into the closets on the first floor. Donwandered back into the parlor and came to the front porch. From there helooked off over the hills, seeing below him the lights in Vancouver’scabin.
“I wonder if old Mr. Vancouver is all right?” Don mused. “Maybe he heardthe noise we made and is alarmed. It isn’t far to his house, and I thinkI’ll run down and see if he is all right. Won’t take a second, and I’llbe right back.”