"

"Gee, I wouldn't go into that house for four thousand barrels of
hoarhound candy. Say, are you a prisoner?"

"I am, and if you don't come in and let me out I can't take you with me
to Moon Valley."

"That's so. But I'm scared of the ghost."

"Oh, so you're afraid, are you?"

At this the boy flushed and fiddled with his toes in the grass.

"No kid that's afraid could live in Moon Valley. He'd be scared to death
in a week."

"Are there ghosts there?"

"There are no such things as ghosts. Bet you never saw one yourself."

"No, I never did. But all the folks around here say there is ghosts in
that house."

"Well, say there are, they wouldn't come out in the daytime, would
they?"

"I reckon not. Gee, I'll come in."

The boy disappeared like a flash, and in a few moments Ted heard the
front door open, then a scream.

"I'll bet he's found the dead man," said Ted, aloud, in a tone of
annoyance. "That's just my luck."

The door slammed, and all was silent. The boy evidently had run away,
and Ted was left alone in the house with the dead man.

Once more darkness descended upon the earth, and Ted took up another
hole in his belt, and tried to believe that he was not hungry.

About nine o'clock Ted, who was lying on the couch looking at the
ceiling, saw a faint flicker of light pass across it, and sprang to his
feet. It was the light cast by a lantern somewhere outside.

He sprang to the window and looked out.

Behind the brick wall he could see the reflection of a bobbing lantern,
and hear the shuffle of many feet.

"Ho, there!" he cried.

The shuffle stopped, and a voice that was trembling with fear answered
him.

"Come in here, and let me out," called Ted.

"We'll be thar in a minute," was the answer, and presently the front
door was thrown open, followed by exclamations, as whoever had come in
viewed the body in the next room.

Then the voices were outside his door.

"You open it an' go in," said a voice. "You're the constable."

"Well, supposin' he's got a gun?" asked the constable tremulously.

"Don't be afraid," said Ted. "I have no gun. They took everything away
from me."

"There! Ain't that enough? Open the door."

Ted heard the bar being taken down, then the key grate in the lock, and
the door was thrown open with a bang. He found himself looking into the
barrels of a shotgun.

"If yer makes a motion, I'll blow yer head plumb off, blame yer,"
shouted the man with the gun.

"Hon