aused the scouts to exchange significant looks.

"Anyhow," Billy was heard to whisper to himself, "whoever made those
footprints was a live human being, and no spook, that's sure."

The thought evidently did much to relieve his mind, Hugh realized. Alec
meanwhile was shaking his head as though not only puzzled but annoyed.

"What do you make of it, Hugh?" he asked, like most of the fellows
turning to the scout master when there was a difficult problem to be
solved.

"Oh! there might be several explanations," replied the other with a
reassuring smile. "First of all, these fellows may be a couple of
curious countrymen wanting to take a look around while the sun is
still up, being afraid to come here after night sets in."

"Yes, go on, Hugh; what next?"

"Then it might be they are men who have heard about the deserted castle,
and wonder if they could pick up anything worth carrying off if they
forced an entrance. But there's still another answer to your question,
Alec."

"I can guess what you mean, Hugh. My aunt, it may be, isn't the only
person with money to burn who's taken a notion to buy Randall's Folly.
Is that what you've got on the tip of your tongue, Hugh?"

"Just what I meant to say," he was told. "But no matter, if we find
there's a rival in the field, perhaps we might scare him off in some
way. That wouldn't be such a hard thing to do, when you've got a
haunted house to work with."

"Oh! with my trick of throwing my voice, Hugh," spoke up Monkey
Stallings, "I bet you I could play the ghost racket to beat the band.
Just give me a try-out and see what I can do, Hugh."

"Well, first of all," remarked the scout master, "we had better climb
over the break in the wall here, and find the trail of these two unknown
men. After all it may turn out they are simple country jakes wanting
to take a peep at the mansion they've heard so many queer stories
about."

Accordingly the five scouts hastened to clamber across the gap, a feat
requiring little dexterity; though clumsy Billy had to catch his toe
among the stones, and come near pitching headlong down, were it not
for Hugh quickly throwing out his ready arm.

It required little effort to find the tracks beyond the mass of fallen
stones; a mere tyro of a scout could have succeeded in following such
a plain trail, and at that hardly half test his ability along that line.

Bending partly over, the boys kept diligently at work pursuing the
zigzag line of f