Sawed-Off when he was
comin' to stop--to see Ella Anne."

"He played lots o' mean tricks on us, you bet," put in Davy, for his
own safety.

"He didn't scare, though, worth a cent," complained the orphan, "an' he
saw us hidin' behind it, an' put after us"--in spite of his
perturbation the boy grinned at the remembrance of the exciting
chase--"an' we lost the ghost somewheres 'way back here, an' when we
got home, Dave's maw an' old Arabella Winters an' Elsie Cameron was all
over to your place, chewin' away like wildcats, 'cause it was
Arabella's weddin' dress we'd took for a ghost. Dave's maw'd been
makin' it. An' Elsie Cameron said we'd gotter find it, or when
Arabella's fella'd come he'd bust up somethin'!"

The doctor uttered a sharp exclamation.

"When is he coming?"

"I dunno," answered Tim wonderingly. "She never told us. Elsie
Cameron needn't 'a' got so mad, either," put in Davy aggrievedly. "It
was her put us up to it in the first place, 'cause Sawed-Off----"

"Shut up!" hissed his accomplice in his ear. "Don't you go an' blab it
all, now."

The culprits were anticipating at least a vigorous shaking for their
misdemeanor, and were filled with amazed relief when the doctor grasped
the lantern. "You two will end on the gallows yet," was all the
censure he vouchsafed. "Come along! We must find it! Now tell me
exactly where you started on this idiotic business."

The boys led the way with grateful alacrity. Fortune had indeed taken
a wonderful turn.

"My! Elsie Cameron was mad!" complained Davy, encouraged by the
doctor's cordial assistance. "An' she needn't 'a' been. It was all
her own fault. An' she up an' told maw that me an' Tim knew all about
old Arabella goin' to get married, an' that's a whoppin' lie,
'cause----"

"Hold your tongue!" cried the doctor, so fiercely that Davy collapsed
in scared silence, and gave his undivided attention to the trail of the
lost ghost.

They led the way through the tangle to the stump where the specter had
been enthroned. Some matches and a half-burned candle, dropped hastily
upon the moss, testified to the correctness of their discovery. Then,
taking the lantern, Tim led on through the dense underbrush, past black
pools of water, over fallen logs, and back to the road again, whither
they had fled from Sawed-Off's swift vengeance.

But the ghost had apparently vanished in true ghost fashion. Gilbert
took the lantern and carefully went over the gr