e others did.

"All the same I had the longest pole that knocked down the persimmons,"
he asserted. "I gave that bunch the biggest scare of their lives.
The way is clear for us now, and, thank goodness, we won't have to
sleep under the same roof with that greasy pair of rascals, and, after
all; that was the end in view."

"Monkey," said Arthur, "you've put us all under heavy obligations by
what you did, and for one I'm not going to forget it, or twit you about
the funny noises you manage to coax out of that bone goose-call you
made. The end justifies the means, is what I say every time. Now,
what's next on the programme, Hugh?"

"Well, since we've met the enemy and won the fight," laughed the other,
"I should say our best move would be to occupy the abandoned works.
Monkey can lead us to where he managed to get into the castle."

"As easy as falling off a log," asserted the other, proudly, as became
the principal actor in the late little "unpleasantness."

"Besides," added Alec, impatiently, "we want to take a few pictures
inside and out of the old shebang while the sun still hangs high."

"What's the hurry?" asked Billy, who liked to put off things to a
more convenient season whenever he could find half of an excuse; "plenty
of time to do all that to-morrow, I should think."

"'Strike while the iron is hot,' has always been my motto," asserted
Alec, when, in truth, it was mostly his impatience that hastened his
actions. "How do we know what sort of a day to-morrow may turn out to
be? Suppose a storm came along, how could I get a good picture of the
castle to send my aunt so as to pay for the elegant camera she gave me?"

"Guess you're right there, Alec," admitted Billy, always ready to own
up when he felt that the argument was going against him. "Besides,
it needs plenty of light to get views inside the house, when the windows
are as small and measly as they seem to be here."

"Oh! as for that," declared the other, airily, "leave it to me. I've
been smart enough to fetch along an entire outfit for taking flashlight
pictures; so you see we can get all we want after night comes."

"You've certainly got a level head on your shoulders, Alec," ventured
Arthur, giving the other a slap on the back that was intended for
commendation, though it made the recipient jump, for he had not been
expecting anything of the sort, and possibly there was that about
the air of that haunted mansion which caused all of them t