hoes of the dark woods. Now and then a
gleam of spectral light through the trees showed where lay the waters
of the Drowned Lands. The young man tramped moodily along the pathway,
following the strip of pale sky between the black lines of trees. He
was thinking of Martin's last letter, in answer to the money he had
sent. It contained only the humblest thanks, with never a hint of past
suffering. He could see before him his old friend's honest, generous
face, with no reproach in it, and beside it another face, with its
golden-brown eyes full of sorrowful accusation.

He was aroused from his painful reflections by the appearance of a
point of light far down the dim roadway. It was not so much the light
itself that attracted his attention, as its strange movements. It
darted hither and thither, crossing and recrossing the road; now it
disappeared among the trees, now reappeared, and swung wildly to and
fro. Gilbert was reminded of the ghostly tales of the
will-o'-the-wisp, and the banshee, and other terrifying creatures,
which, village gossip said, inhabited the Drowned Lands. But he had a
more practical explanation of the strange phenomenon.

"If it isn't some other infernal agency," he said to himself grimly,
"I'm willing to take my oath that it's Jake Sawyer's eldest orphan
that's performing those queer dodges."

As he drew nearer, the light stood still, and he could discern two
forms, Tim, of course, and equally of course, his companion in
mischief, Davy Munn. They stood in the ring of light and gazed
apprehensively toward the approaching figure. "Hello!" called the
young man. "What are you two scamps doing down here at this hour of
the night?"

The boys' expression of fear changed to relief, and then to sheepish
apprehension. "Jist walkin' 'round," replied Davy vaguely, making a
poor attempt at his usual leisurely indifference.

"You've got a mighty queer method of taking exercise," said the doctor,
coming to a standstill in front of them. "Come, you might as well tell
me right out what you're up to."

"We--we lost somethin'," stammered the eldest orphan.

"What is it? Yourselves?"

The boys glanced at each other interrogatively. Should they make a
clean breast of their plight and enlist the doctor's help, or would it
be quite safe? Davy nodded acquiescence, and Tim burst forth:

"Aw, say! It ain't no joke. Somethin' fearful's happened. Me an'
Dave we rigged up a ghost down here to scare