s chums were pretty well scared, I can tell you. But there was an air
rifle standing in the corner, and I knew I could get it if I needed it.
So, when Fits ordered Dick Prescott to get him some supper, and Dick was
just going to do it, I stepped up, as cool as anything, and I said: 'No,
sir; Dick Prescott won't get you any supper in this camp. You'll get out
of here, mister,' says I, 'and you'll be quick about it, too.' Well,
when Fits looked into my eyes and saw that he couldn't scare me any, he
began to whine, and says: 'All right, sir; I won't insist about any
supper, but I must sleep here to-night. I'd freeze to death out in the
big snowstorm.' 'You won't sleep here, any more than you'll eat here,'
says I to Fits. 'But you can sleep out in the cook shack behind this
cabin, if you want to.' Fits, he tried to beg off, but when he found he
couldn't, he just marched out of the cabin like a man and went to the
cook shack."

"Was Fits the one who set fire to the cook shack?" asked another boy in
the crowd.

"I--er--I'm not going to tell you anything about that," retorted Hen,
trying to conceal his embarrassment under an air of mystery.

"But say, Hen," put in another boy, across the crowd, after winking at
Dick, "I really don't see how you could help being scared when you heard
those ghost noises the first time."

"Huh! Me? Scared?" responded Dutcher indignantly. "No, sir! Being scared
isn't in my line. But the other fellows were tremendously scared. I told
'em, again and again, that the noises were wholly human, and that we
hadn't any call to be afraid of any man who used his voice, instead of
his hands, against us."

"Was Dick Prescott much scared?" asked one of the auditors, with a
quick side glance at Dick.

"Was he?" repeated Hen. "Huh! But, after all, Tom Reade was the biggest
boo----"

Here Reade could control himself no longer. His deep chuckle broke on
the night air, causing Hen Dutcher to turn with a start.

"Go on, Hen!" Tom encouraged him. "Go on and tell all about it. I'll
admit that I was scared. So were all the rest of our crowd. I guess,
Hen, you really were the only brave one in the cabin when the blood
curdling noises broke loose on us and spoiled our night's sleep."

"Well, I wasn't scared, was I?" challenged Dutcher.

Hen's eye roved until it rested on Dick's face.

"I don't know whether you were, or not," Prescott replied soberly. "I
had too much of my own alarm on hand to notice just how