must be badly hurt---perhaps worse."

As a matter of fact, Ripley and his party had not gone into the
cottage, but had continued directly towards their homes.

That grisly thought gave all the boys a shudder as they plodded
up the slope, between the bushes and thence stepped into the clearing.

"Talk about dreaming!" muttered Dick, halting abruptly and staring
hard at the ground around the cottage.

In the first place, the cottage door was closed. There was no
smoke now coming out of the chimney, and all looked peaceful and
deserted, save for the presence of the Grammar School intruders.
There was no injured man lying on the ground.

"Crackey!" gasped Greg. "Yet we didn't all dream together, did
we?"

"Certainly not," muttered Dick, again starting forward. The others
followed him.

"This is where we saw the man fall, isn't it?" asked Dick.

"Yes," nodded Greg.

"But there was blood on the ground then," urged Dave. "I don't
see any now."

"It must have been goblin blood, then," laughed Tom rather unsteadily,