Edward P. Hendrick

“ For the next twenty miles the Frost King tore along at a speed that almost forced the breath from the bodies of her crew. The wind was increasing in strength, and in some of the sharper gusts it would lift the windward shoe clear off the ice, dropping it again with a jolt that caused the mast to sway and buckle dangerously.
“It’s up to you to stop that, Fatty,” shouted Ned and, obedient to orders, Tommy Beals crept out along the cross-plank till his ample weight reposed at the extreme outer end, where he held tightly to the wire shrouds. ”

“ At these words, Slade straightened in his chair with an involuntary start of surprise and the furtive look that flashed into his black eyes proved a sudden inspiration to Ned, who was watching him keenly.
“You remember, Slade,” Ned continued in a tone of assurance. “You remember how the slabs fell down and Latrobe and Miller jumped out of the truck? You were in the shanty, signaling with a flashlight.” ”

“ Ned Blake, running like an antelope, overtook and brought it down with a hard diving tackle. A furious struggle ensued, for the “ghost” proved to be a decidedly tough customer in a rough and tumble fight. Over and over rolled the combatants, Ned striving desperately to retain his leg hold, while Dick, who had been but a leap behind his leader’s dash, used every ounce of his own supple strength in a frantic effort to pinion the threshing arms. ”

“ I had planned to lie out there tonight and see if anything happens. Does anybody want to join me?”
“‘A watched pot never boils,’” drawled Dave, “all the same, I guess maybe it’s up to me to do some of the watching. What’s the plan, Ned?”
“My scheme is to walk out there before dark and find a good hiding-place where we can watch both the road and the old shanty,” explained Ned.
“O.K. with me,” agreed Dave. “All except the walking. What’s the matter with taking the car and hiding it in the brush this side of the old road?” ”

“ Tapley and Rogers mounted to their shoulders and Dick, climbing nimbly to the top of this human pyramid, grasped the window ledge above and drew himself upon it. In a moment he was inside, and pausing only long enough to accustom his eyes to the gloom of the interior, he picked his way down the unfinished stairs and unhooked a shutter that opened upon the front porch. ”

“ Probably Coleson is down there now with his pick and shovel. He fills a dump car with ore, hauls it to the bottom of the shaft and hoists it with this rigging,” and Ned indicated a rusty windlass which stood at the edge of the pit.
“Some job turning that crank,” murmured Dave Wilbur, as he eyed the dilapidated mechanism.
“Yeah, it would be a lot wors’n turning a grindstone,” chuckled Tommy Beals. “By the way, Weary, when are you going to finish that job on Ned’s axe?”
“D’j’ever hear about the man who ‘always had an axe to grind’?” drawled Wilbur. ”

“ A chorus of boos and jeers changed to cheers as the umpire motioned Ned home; a penalty which Slade had earned for his team by interfering with a base-runner.
“Oh, boy! What a stunt!” shrieked Jim Tapley. “Slade met his match that time!”
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The wild yells and jeers seemed to rattle the Bedford team for the moment. Slade, purple with rage, let an easy grounder roll between his legs, and before the inning was over, two more Truesdell runs came across, making the score three to nothing. ”

“ Slowly the ends of the poker yielded to his power until the bar had assumed the general shape of a crude letter W, much elongated. With a grunt of disgust, Slade flung it upon the ground.
“It’s crookeder than ever,” grinned Tommy Beals with an audible chuckle.
14
Slade made no reply, but his hard breathing was as much the result of rage as of physical effort. Ned Blake picked up the bar and balanced it lightly in his hand.
“Bending a bar is much like mischief,” he remarked. “It’s easier to do than to undo.” ”

“ A special train brought a wild crowd of Bedford supporters down to Truesdell for the big game. Rooters for the local team jammed the bleachers and watched the preliminary practice with critical eyes.
“I can’t see Fatty Beals as catcher,” grumbled Bony Jones. “He might do all right for a backstop, but he can’t throw down to second to save his life! I could do better myself.” ”

“ Grimly the boys stuck to their watching, and at last the gleam of a headlight brought them to their feet with a warming thrill of excitement.
“They’ve had to use their headlights to find the road!” croaked Dave in a voice gone suddenly hoarse.
“Only the dimmers,” replied Ned. “They won’t show any more light than necessary. Look!” he continued. “That fellow in the shack is on the job!” and Ned pointed to the flash of the torch which signaled the approaching truck. ”

“ An hour dragged its tedious length away and then Ned Blake roused himself from his place on the stairs.
“Fellows,” he began, “we’re caught, as Red says, like rats in a trap. I’m bound to admit that it is the result of my stupidity in giving Slade his freedom and allowing him to turn the tables on us this way.”
“Forget it!” growled Charlie Rogers. “You’re no more to blame than the rest of us. We all agreed to let him go. ”

“ Ned shook his head. “I’m afraid we won’t be able to get that idea across, Fatty. There’s something going on out there that we don’t understand; something that somebody is afraid we’ll get wise to. That letter to Sam and the ‘ghost’ he saw at his window were attempts to scare him away from the place. This paper nailed to the door is the next step and is meant for us. They succeeded in frightening Sam away; now the question is, are we going to quit?”
“Not on your life!” yelped Dick Somers, whose wrath had been steadily rising during this discussion. ”

“ Holding close enough to the shore so that its dim outline served as a guide, Ned kept his bearings; and although slowed somewhat by the fast gathering snow, the ice-boat made fair speed. Constant wind pressure had closed the shoreward end of the big crack and a cautious crossing was made without difficulty. Through a six-inch depth of snow, the Frost King plowed to a stop beside the dock at Truesdell, where the crews of other boats were busily engaged in removing the canvas from their craft. ”

“ What business is it of ours? Where’s the proof of any connection between them and our affair at Coleson’s?” demanded Dave Wilbur. “I’m going to take a snooze in the car till you ghost-getters find something more exciting than a rusty stove, a tumbledown bunk and a flock of black ants!” ”

“ A group of excited boys gathered in Dave Wilbur’s garage that afternoon and listened to the astonishing story which Ned Blake and his fellow sleuths had to tell.
“So there is somebody else besides us who is interested in the Coleson house!” exclaimed Charlie Rogers.
“There seems to be no question about that,” agreed Ned, “and what is more, they evidently want the whole place to themselves.”
“But I can’t see why anybody should want to drive us out,” complained Tommy Beals in an injured tone. “We won’t horn in on their business—whatever that may be—if they’ll just lay off us!” ”

“ And with this discovery there had come to Ned Blake the realization that behind the mysterious happenings out at the Coleson house there was something sinister; something fraught with real danger to whosoever might stand in its way. Ghosts! Latrobe was more to be feared than a whole houseful of ghosts! With the possible exception of Wat Sanford, none of the fellows took any stock in ghosts, but every one of them knew Latrobe by reputation. ”

“ Dick Somers also rose to his feet and joined the two as they shouldered their way out of the group and strode down the street.
“Bony Jones is an awful knocker,” remarked Tommy, when they were out of hearing.
“He’s that all right,” agreed Ned, “and yet for the good of the team right now, I’d rather they’d hear Bony’s knocking than Red’s boasting. Over-confidence at the start of the season is a mighty bad thing, and as captain of the team, it’s up to me to kill it if I can.”
“What’s the real dope on this fellow Slade?” asked Dick. ”

“ Oh well! Oh WELL! Truesdell! Truesdell! TRUESDELL.” To which the Bedford rooters responded with their snappy “B-E-D-F-O-R-D!”
The visiting team was first at bat and three men went out in quick succession, not a man reaching first.
“What did I tell you!” chortled Wat Sanford. “You should worry about the heavy hitters, Bony!”
Truesdell’s efforts at bat were, however, little better than Bedford’s. The first man up drew a base on balls but perished on an attempt to steal second; the next fouled out and Ned’s long fly was captured by Bedford’s left-fielder. ”

“ Promptly at seven o’clock Dave Wilbur’s car slowed down in front of the Blake house and Ned hopped nimbly into the seat beside the driver.
“It’s going to be a black night,” remarked Dave, as the car regained speed. “Look at those clouds piling up. Here’s hoping it doesn’t rain on us,” and he pointed to a low-lying bank that had appeared in the western sky.
“There’s a lot of wind in those clouds, judging by their ragged edges,” replied Ned, “but as for being a black night, all we want is light enough to find the entrance to the old road and locate the shack and the pile of slabs. ”

“ Nobody is ever seen coming or going, yet we know such coming and going is actually taking place. Just what connection—if any—this has with the phony ghost stuff we can’t be sure of.”
“You can’t make Sam believe it’s phony,” murmured Tommy Beals.
“No, nor Wat Sanford either,” added Dave Wilbur. “He’s naturally more or less of an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ anyhow, and ever since Red and Fatty sprung that bedtime story about the hunchback, Wat has had the jim-jams regular.”
“Well, I guess we’re all pretty brave—in the daytime,” remarked Dick. “The question is what are we going to do about it all?” ”

“ As they turned the corner of the building, Ned, who was in the lead, stopped in his tracks and stared in astonishment at a pair of deeply rutted marks which crossed the strip of sand between the house and the woods. Everywhere the surface had been deep-trampled by hurrying feet and the swinging stone slab that the boys had so carefully closed was now wide open.
“Zowie!” gasped Dick. “They’ve got away!” ”

“ Everybody is talking about our ghost dances, and there will be a big crowd out there next time,” volunteered Jim Tapley.
“We may have a fight on our hands,” began Ned Blake, “but I’d rather fight than run, any time! As I see it, we’ve got to find out who it is that we are up against; what their game is; and why they think we are interfering with it.”
“Rather a large order, as a starter,” remarked Dick. “However, it sounds interesting. What’s your plan, Ned?” ”

“ Dick Somers quickly demonstrated a remarkable throwing arm, both for distance and accuracy, while his quickness of foot promised to make him a valuable fielder and base-runner. The development of hitting ability was Captain Blake’s most difficult problem, and upon this first day and for many days thereafter he kept the weak hitters swinging at pitched balls till their shoulders ached.
“D’j’ever hear about ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’?” grumbled Dave Wilbur as he left the pitcher’s box after a particularly long session of batting practice. “Ned’s an awful glutton for work. ”

“ At the first cry of alarm, Ned Blake had rushed out upon the porch closely followed by Dick Somers, and as the weird figure raised its pick for a second swing, both boys sprang from the porch and dashed directly toward the ghostly visitant. ”

“ Dick Somers, by reason of his natural aptitude for making friends, had quickly found a place in high school activities. A certain proficiency with the tenor-banjo had won him membership in a jazzy school orchestra, in which organization were some of his closest friends, including Ned Blake, Jim Tapley, Wat Sanford, Dave Wilbur and, jazziest of all, Charlie Rogers, who, in the words of Tommy Beals, “sure did wail a mean saxophone.” ”

“ After assuring himself that the car was loaded in such a manner as to distribute the weight equally on all four wheels and lessen the chance of it jumping the track, Ned gave his final directions to Tommy Beals, who was to handle the brake on the cable-drum.
“Let her run about as you did before, Fatty, until you feel her hit the water,” Ned explained. “The instant you see by the lessening of the drag on the cable that she’s gone under, why take your foot off the brake and let her run as fast as she will. Don’t look so solemn, you fellows. ”

“ Pushing its bulk through the bush-lined roadway, the truck had arrived at a point opposite to where the boys crouched, when a sudden violent gust of wind lifted the slabs of which the lean-to had been constructed and flung them with a crash into the road directly in front of the oncoming vehicle. With a squeal of brakes the truck skidded to a stop and as its lights flashed into full power two men sprang to the ground and rushed forward, intent upon discovering what had happened. ”