their secret retreats.

"Ugh! this is certainly a fierce place for a fellow to visit, say
around midnight," K. K. was forced to admit, for he was the essence
of candor at all times.

"Wild horses couldn't drag me up here at such a time as that," said
Horatio, as he looked ahead, and shivered, either with the chill of
the air, or from some other reason, he hardly knew himself.

"Hugh, would you try it if someone dared you to?" demanded Julius
suddenly, taking the bull by the horns, so to speak.

"I don't think I would, on a dare," replied the other calmly, yet
deliberately, as he smiled at the speaker; "but if there was any good
and sufficient reason for my doing the same, I'd agree to come alone,
and spend a whole night in the deserted quarry. However, I'm not
particularly _hankering_ after the experience, so please don't try to
hatch up any wild scheme looking to that end. If you want to come,
Julius, you're welcome to the job."

Julius shuddered, and looked a bit pale at the very thought.

"Oh! I wasn't even dreaming of it, Hugh," he hastened to declare.
"I'd much prefer to being asleep in my own comfy bed at home when
midnight comes around, and the last thing on earth you'd catch me
doing would be out hunting spooks."

It was just as Julius finished saying this that they received a
sudden shock. A loud and thrilling sound, not unlike a human shriek,