safety. Then, with only one lantern burning dimly, six sturdy
but wondering high school boys rolled themselves in their blankets.

Just as five of them were dozing off uneasily Dave Darrin's voice
sounded quietly:

"That thing couldn't have been a joke rigged up on us, could it?"

"A joke?" rumbled Reade. "No, sir! That face was real enough
to suit the most particular individual. No, sir; that face wasn't
a joke, nor did the face look as though the man to whom it belonged
had ever heard a joke in all his life."

"Suppose you fellows shut up until the sun is shining again,"
proposed Danny Grin, who had been fidgeting restlessly in his
blanket.

"That's right," agreed Dick blandly. "All ghost stories ought
to be told in the broad daylight."

"Just the same-----" Tom began.

"Shut up---_please_!" came a chorus of protest.

All was quiet after that. Hours must have passed. All the boys
were sleeping at least fairly well when air and earth shook with
a mighty explosion.

Instantly six bewildered high school boys leaped to their feet
in alarm.