n the ghost is having an effect?"

"Definitely. At this time of year the grounds are usually one of the
most popular places around. Families come for cook-outs, and the kids
swim in the creek. Clubs hold their outings almost every night,
sometimes two or three groups at once. But since the ghost came people
are staying away, except for the affairs that would be difficult or
awkward to cancel or change."

That was what Barby had meant, Rick thought. He asked, "Is this a public
park of some kind?"

"No indeed," Dr. Miller answered. "We own part of it, and a family named
Hilleboe owns part. But it's not used for anything and we've never
objected to the public using it. The local Boy Scout troops have taken
on the job of keeping it clean as a regular project, and most people are
careful. It's no trouble for us."

Rick glanced at his watch. It was getting dark rapidly now, and the
apparition was due in fifteen minutes. The bridge was just ahead. They
were in plenty of time.

"Strange," he thought. "The ghost of Captain Seth Costin, late of the
Union Army, probably the Army of the Potomac, will perform for all
comers promptly at nine. 'We regret there can only be one performance
each evening.' Or was that true? Had anyone stayed to see? Maybe the
obliging phantom performed every hour on the hour during darkness."

He shook his head as though to clear it of cobwebs. This didn't check
with any ghost story he had ever heard. No holding hands around a table,
no incantations or strange phrases in forgotten languages, no incense,
no nothing. It was bum theater.

The group crossed the bridge and entered the trees, still following the
dirt road. Rick saw that the road forked, one branch going to town, the
other to the picnic area. The trees around them were huge oaks, and
almost certainly most of them had been healthy and along in years when
Seth Costin fought among them.

Rick enjoyed the feeling of history, of a definite past. He resolved to
do a little reading on the area.

Barby and Jan, who had been walking boldly in the van, dropped back now
and the group seemed to huddle more closely together. There were voices
among the trees, and here and there the glow of a fire. Then the edge of
the tree belt was reached and the group stopped.

There was a clearing beyond the tree belt, and in the clearing were
rough-hewn tables and benches. Beyond the clearing a grassy hill rose
gently to an upland meadow, except for a section