Ross Kay

“ A moment later he was equally convinced that the sound of the whistling creatures which had been heard when the four boys first visited the house was now repeated.
A moment later there came a rushing sound of many wings. For a moment Fred’s courage almost deserted him, his flesh seemed to creep. He stopped abruptly in the darkness and spoke aloud to himself, “This will never do. It is all foolishness. There isn’t any such thing as a spook anyway, so why should you be afraid of one?” ”

“ The boys were early awake, but even then the heat was oppressive.
“Whew,” said Fred when they left the dining room, “if it’s as hot as this before we start what will it be afterward?”
“That’s just like some people,” declared John. “They aren’t satisfied with the good or the bad they have, but they are always looking ahead for more. There’s one thing we don’t have to do.”
“What’s that?” inquired Fred.
“We don’t have to swelter before the sun beats down upon us. It will be plenty of time to see what we have to do if we find it so warm on the road that we don’t want to go on.” ”

“ Somehow at last Fred found himself in the long, shaded lane or driveway that led from the road up to the house of his friend. The trees were tall poplars and stood like sentinels guarding each side of the road. Even now Fred’s fears had not disappeared, although he saw the lights gleam from the windows of the old farmhouse before him. ”

“ At one time, as I told you, he was just as straight and attractive a boy as any of you.”
“I guess the trouble with him was that he wasn’t a Go Ahead boy,” suggested Fred.
“That was one trouble,” replied Mr. Sanders with a smile, “and another was that after he began to drift he couldn’t stop. You see if he hadn’t begun he never could have come to the end to which he has. That’s a strange thing to me that more people do not realize that if they don’t begin, they never will come to the end.”
“Did he explain to you,” inquired Fred, “why he shut me in the cellar of the old Meeker House?” ”

“ CHAPTER XIV—DISAPPOINTED
“I tell you,” exclaimed Fred in a low voice as soon as he had overtaken his friend, “that tramp knows more about the lost automobile than he told us.”
George turned abruptly and for a moment stared blankly at his friend and then laughed aloud. “I think you surely have got it,” he said. “A fellow who can find spooks and ghosts of automobiles ought to be able to find out a man who will steal them. That tramp to me doesn’t look as if he had ever seen the inside of a car.” ”

“ If you remember, fellows, he has always slipped out every time we went there and gone around to the kitchen door.”
“I believe he knows more about it than he has told us yet,” declared John.
“All I know,” said George solemnly, “is that some of the Go Ahead boys have reversed their name. Whenever they pluck up courage enough to go to the old house they always go there with fear and trembling. They walk as if they were traveling to their own funeral, but when they leave they make better time than I ever saw any of them make on the cinder path. ”

“ John laughed as he said, “You’re the strangest man I ever saw.”
“That’s what others have told me.”
“I don’t see why a man with the brains you have doesn’t do something worth while. What do you want to be beating around the country for without any home and staying nights in such places as the old Meeker House?”
“I have often wondered myself,” replied the tramp quietly. “I don’t know that there’s any answer to your question. Speaking of the old Meeker House, have you heard anything more about the strange noises over there?” ”

“ As he came out upon the sidewalk he was startled when he heard himself addressed by his own name. Surprised, he glanced in the direction from which the unexpected hail had come and he was amazed to behold the tramp, who had been his companion in the morning, now seated in the missing automobile. Evidently he had been driving the car but the expression on his face as John ran toward him did not indicate his purpose to explain the sight which had so startled him.
“Where did you get that car?” demanded John sharply as he stared at the driver. ”

“ Aroused by the sound his three friends instantly rushed from the room in which they were seated and a moment later discovered their friend in his predicament.
“What in the world is the matter with you?” demanded George as the three boys gazed in astonishment at Fred.
“N-n-o-t-h-in’. N-n-o-t-h-in’,” gasped Fred.
“You look as if there was nothing doing,” said Grant, repressing a smile as the plight of Fred became manifest in the light. “Actually you look as if you belonged in a lunatic asylum.”
“I guess I do,” responded Fred.
“Well, what’s the matter?” demanded John. ”

“ In spite of his afflictions, however, Uncle Sim was a warm friend of the boys. When they got into mischief Uncle Sim’s face was lifted heavenward so that he was unable to see any of the pranks they committed and therefore was unable to impart any information when he was asked as to his knowledge of their deeds. He was a great favorite of the boys and many of his stories had been familiar to them from their earliest childhood. He knew why the red squirrel and the black hated each other so intensely. ”

“ No response was given to his implied invitations to describe their feelings and as they came nearer the end of their journey the chagrin under which all three boys were suffering became still more marked.
At last when they were once more in the house, Fred, unable longer to remain silent, said abruptly, “I know there isn’t anything in the racket at the old Meeker House, but in spite of it all I confess I’m scared when I hear those strange sounds.”
“What are you afraid of?” laughed George.
“I don’t know what I’m afraid of,” said Fred, “but it scares me half out of my wits.” ”

“ For some reason the boys became silent as the car speeded forward in the dim light. The eyes of every one were turned toward the old house which had perplexed them in so many ways.
As they came near the corner John said in a low voice, “There’s not only a ghost of a man in that house, but there’s the ghost of the automobile. Do you hear that horn?” ”

“ I never knew anybody in my life that ever had a car stolen and here we lose two inside of a week.”
“You must remember,” said John soberly, “that we are the Go Ahead boys. It doesn’t make any difference what we start in we have got to leave the rest of them behind us. If it’s looking for smugglers or digging for a pirate’s chest or having our automobiles stolen, it doesn’t make a particle of difference which, we are bound to go ahead, get ahead and keep ahead.”
“I’m glad to hear you talk that way,” said George grimly. ”

“ I’m not going to be left this time,” explained John. “I want to see Morristown. I have heard so much about the place that I want to see it for myself.”
“It’s well worth seeing,” said George.
The following morning directly after breakfast, the Go Ahead boys were speeding swiftly toward the beautiful Jersey town which was to be their destination. The ride across the rolling country, with its frequent streams and hills and villages, was most attractive. Many beautiful homes, erected by the people of the great city beyond the borders of the state, added much to the beauty of the scenery. ”

“ He has been a complete failure. He has never learned to do anything well. He used to be the best baseball player we had in all this part of the country. There wasn’t a fellow that could catch him when we were in swimming in the old pond. He could make a boat and sail a boat, but he just simply drifted on. By the way, boys, did any of you ever stop to think of the fact that a boat never drifts but in one direction?”
“What’s that?” inquired John.
“Why, down the stream,” replied Mr. Sanders quietly. “This boy grew up to be a man and drifted into all kinds of bad ways. ”

“ There isn’t one of us a big enough fool to believe that there is such a thing as a ghost and yet we got into the old Meeker House,—”
“If there isn’t any ghost,” spoke up George, “then I don’t see where the trouble is. You can’t be afraid of something that isn’t, can you?”
“I don’t suppose you can,” admitted Grant, “but sometimes you can be afraid of things you think are when they are not.”
“You’re getting too deep for me,” said Fred. ”

“ You don’t catch me alone in that old house again.”
“But I thought Uncle Sim went with you,” suggested Fred.
“Uncle Sim? Uncle Sim? I would rather have an infant in arms with me. Uncle Sim was scared before we were inside the house and after that everything he saw or heard all helped to scare him still more.”
“He surely was scared last night,” laughed Fred as he recalled the plight of the aged negro.
“He was that,” said John solemnly, “but the worst of it is he scared me too. You know they say that a man doesn’t run because he’s scared, he’s scared because he runs. ”

“ Stories are current of scenes which have been witnessed and sounds heard in the vacant dwelling. Perhaps even the older people have not altogether outgrown their feeling of timidity when they are near it. How baseless all such stories are and how easily most of the unusual sights and sounds can be accounted for is of course clearly understood. In this story I have tried to interest my young readers in the attempts of four normal, go-ahead boys to solve the mysteries connected with a venerable house near the home of one of them, which was shunned by many of the simple country people. ”

“ Good scheme,” said Fred sympathetically. “Did your father say anything about suitably rewarding the tramp for his return of the car which he probably had all the while?”
“He did,” said George simply. “He told me to give him a ten dollar bill.”
“That’s all right,” said Fred eagerly. “Now I think it will be a good thing for each of us to take his turn, too,” he added. “Every one of us can take that car off and hide it over night and get ten dollars reward when he brings it back in the morning. ”

“ When I came back the car was gone. This man,” he added, pointing to the tramp as he spoke, “said he thought you had come from the garage and taken the car back with you.”
“Whew!” whistled Fred. “This is getting exciting. First you lose one car and then you lose another. I think we’ll have to go back to the old Meeker House and look for its ghost.”
“I don’t see anything funny in this,” said Grant in disgust. “Here we are at least four miles from the railroad. We know how hot and dusty the road is and we don’t want—”
“You fellows are a sympathetic crowd,” broke in George. ”

“ You boys want to be thankful that you have mothers that hold you up to some things instead of upholding you in everything you do.
“Well, this man when he was a boy was too lazy to have any share in the family life. Pleasant, good-natured, popular with the boys and girls, he never did anything for any one else. If his mother wanted a pail of water drawn from the old well behind the farmhouse—and they lived right straight across the field in that house over yonder,” explained Mr. Sanders, pointing as he spoke to a house that could be seen in the distance, “he always had some excuse. ”

“ I know a man who lost a car down there. Those men work all through the towns and cities in the northern part of the state and run down to the seashore with the stolen cars in the night when nobody is around and the next day the cars wouldn’t be recognized by the very men who were looking for them.”
“Well, I hope we shan’t find your car down there,” said Fred warmly.
“I hope we shan’t,” replied George, “though the main thing I want just now is to find the car anyway. Some of the good times I promised you fellows this summer will go begging, I’m afraid, if we have lost our automobile.” ”

“ Isn’t that George and Grant waiting over yonder in the road?”
In response to the suggestion of his friend, Fred glanced quickly at the huge spreading oak tree that grew close to the fence. It was a magnificent tree, the pride of the country around about and the delight of many visitors. Beneath it an automobile was seen and then Fred exclaimed quickly, “You’re right, String, that’s George and Grant. Let’s slow up a little. We don’t want them to think we are in too much of a hurry.” ”

“ There isn’t anything haunted because there isn’t anything like ghosts or spooks.”
“I’m glad to hear you talk so nicely, Freddie,” said John, who now had recovered from his chagrin. “If I’m not mistaken I’ve heard you talk in a different tone once or twice before when we have been here.”
“That’s all right,” said Fred glibly. “Now we have found out what the spooks are and we’ll show George that we’re not afraid of anything in the old Meeker House.” ”

“ As they came near the building, suddenly lights were seen in the windows once more and a faint sound of the automobile horn again was heard.
“Shall we go in?” inquired Fred, his voice trembling in spite of his attempt to control it.
“It’s getting late,” suggested George. There was a note of laughter in his voice, but his companions were so excited that they were scarcely aware of it. “Perhaps we had better put it off until some other time.”
“That’s the way I feel about it,” joined in John.
“All right,” said George, “and we must look after our car too. ”

“ Catherine Schuyler very carefully oiled and brushed them every night for fear that the magic number might be changed.”
“She had better brush his hair than pull it,” suggested George.
“I can remember the time,” said John, “when my mother used to brush and pull my hair at the same time.”
“So can I,” said every one of the boys together.
“Well, the main thing is,” said Fred philosophically, “that George Washington had some headquarters and that it’s a good thing for the United States of America that he did. I wish we had some men now as great as he was.”
“We have,” said John quickly. ”

“ Proudly returning to the place on the platform where his friends were awaiting his coming, he called out, “How’s this car? How’s the driver? Pretty slick, eh?”
“What we don’t know,” said George quickly, “is where the driver came from and how he got the car.”
“You’ll have to trust your Uncle John for some things,” replied the driver solemnly. “There are some things you can’t explain and some things it’s hard for certain people to understand. You see that your car’s here, don’t you?” ”

“ He doesn’t intend to steal the car, but he is not able to bring it back to its owner. If the owner telephones to the garage for a man to bring it to his home it is quite likely he may see it soon.”
“And did you let the tramp get away?”
“I not only let him get away, but I gave him money to leave. I don’t suppose he will use the money as I told him, but I am going to give him a chance. I would rather help two men who do not deserve it than to let one go who does. Besides,” Mr. Sanders added thoughtfully, “I thought of his father and mother and how good they had been to me when I was a boy. ”