his," said Snap, arising and reaching
for a shotgun. "I don't believe in ghosts, so there!"

"I'll go along," put in the doctor's son.

"Please don't leave me alone!" pleaded Whopper. "I can't go and
I don't want to be left behind."

"Giant, will you stay with Whopper?" asked the leader of the club.

"Yes, but I hope you won't be gone long," answered the small youth,
in a voice he tried in vain to steady.

"If anything happens, whistle or fire a shot," added Snap, and
walked slowly to the rear of the camping place, with Shep by his side.

The two young investigators soon found themselves beside the spring,
and here both stopped for a drink, for their throats seemed to be
suddenly, parched. They looked on all sides with extreme care, but
saw nothing out of the ordinary. Once a bird flew up directly in
front of them, causing them to jump and raise their guns. But they
were not after game just then, so the bird got away.

"We certainly heard that voice, just as plain as day," said Shep.
"What do you make of this, Snap?"

"I am sure I don't know."

"Can somebody be fooling us?"

"I don't know. It's very queer proceedings, that's all I have
to say."

"Listen! I thought I heard it again!"

They came to a sudden halt and strained their ears. Sure enough,
there was the voice again, apparently coming from no place at all.

"I am dead! He is dead! Go away! Go away!" repeated the voice a
dozen times or more, and then it grew fainter and fainter and
presently died out altogether.

It would be hard to tell whether the boys were frightened or not.
They were much disturbed, but they had a strong curiosity to know
what the mysterious voice really was. Had it been night they might
have experienced more fear, but it was still daylight, although the
sun was well over in the west.

Holding their guns ready to shoot anything on sight, they advanced
slowly through the forest, making a circle first to one side and
then to the other. As they advanced they stirred up several birds
and also two squirrels but did not fire at them. Thus an hour
passed, and at last they came back to the spring utterly baffled.

"I can't understand it at all," declared Snap. "There must be some
reason for this."

"It's a trick, that's what it is, and some day somebody will get to
the bottom of it," added the doctor's son.

They returned to where they had left Whopper and Giant. As it grew
darker they built a good campfire and