st the tracks in a rank
growth of weeds. Probably the ghosts had trampled the weeds last night,
but they had sprung up again and left no trace of the passage.

Scotty took the lead. "I'll show you where the car was parked."

They traveled through alternate weeds and hay to where the hilltop
dropped away rapidly to a valley about three hundred feet below. This
marked the end of the igneous outcropping in which the lead mine was
located, Rick guessed. The hill was steep, and overgrown with blackberry
bushes.

"I got caught a thousand times in as many feet last night," Scotty
commented. "It's easy by day, but don't try it by night." He led the way
through clear spaces between the thorny patches, always going downhill.

It wasn't long before Rick saw the road, if it could be called that. It
was two ruts with grass growing between them.

"Doesn't look like U.S. Highway Number 66," he remarked.

"There's a man who thinks it is," Scotty replied.

Rick looked to where his pal pointed. The Frostola man was approaching
on his scooter. The sound of the little motor was just audible, and
Rick's first impulse was to duck, but Scotty said, "Too late. He saw us
just as we saw him. Let's walk down to the road and make it casual."

They did so, and the peddler approached, bumping over the uneven
surface.

"Howdy," he greeted them. "Where does this road go?"

"We don't know," Scotty replied.

Rick added, "We're strangers in the area."

"I'm pretty new myself," the man said cheerfully. "Saw this road and
thought there might be a settlement where I could find some new
customers."

"We don't know of any," Rick said.

"Looks like I might as well go back to town, then. Want a lift? You can
hang onto the step behind me."

"No, thanks," Scotty replied. "We're staying just over the hill."

The Frostola man turned his scooter wagon, gave them a wave, and went on
his way back toward town. The boys watched until he drove out of sight.

"There's an optimist," Scotty said. "Follows a pair of ruts, hoping to
find civilization at the other end."

Rick grinned. "He certainly likes this part of Virginia. There's one
thing about peddling Frostola here--"

"What's that?"

"No customers to bother you. It's easy to commune with Nature."

"Aye-aye. Does he look like a nature lover to you?"

"Now that you mention it, I've seen people who fitted the part better.
We scared him away, that's for sure. But what was he doing here?"

Scot