“Ah, me, the joys of camping in the open!” Carol said to the world at large.

Rain had been steadily pouring down on the file of riders since early morning. Clad in shining slickers they were riding on through the downpour. It was decidedly uncomfortable and to make it worse, they had had to have a cold lunch because everything was soaked and neither Tom nor Jim could make a fire. Such conditions had led to Carol’s declaration.

The others smiled but Janet was the only one who grumbled in reply.

“When do we get to this cabin, Jim?” she called over the heads of Gale, Valerie and Virginia.

Jim knew of a cabin where he promised them they could spend the night in comparative dryness and warmth. It was an old miner’s shack, long since deserted by its owner, but no matter how ramshackle and tumbledown, it beckoned as a heavenly haven to the wet, weary riders because it promised shelter from the rain.

“In ’bout an hour, I reckon,” Jim replied. “Mebbe less.”

“I hope it’s less,” Gale murmured to Virginia.

Her cousin smiled at her. “Feeling disgusted with camping in the open? I wouldn’t blame you. This isn’t a nice experience for newcomers to our state.”

“It isn’t me,” Gale said with a surprised glance, as though the mere thought of her own comfort had never entered her head. “It’s Val. She’s looking rather--peaked.”

“She’s bearing up marvelously well,” Virginia replied with equal concern. “I hope today isn’t too much for her. I don’t want to spend more than one night in this cabin Jim is taking us to.”

“Why not?” Gale asked.

“Well,” Virginia shifted uncomfortably, “I--just don’t that’s all.”

“Come on, out with it,” Gale said gayly. “Don’t go keeping secrets from me. Is the place haunted?” she asked hopefully.

“It’s known as Ghost Cabin,” Virginia said reluctantly.

“How interesting!” Gale declared. “Tell me more! How did it come by that name?” “It is near the entrance to an old silver mine,” Virginia explained. “Years ago this region was thought to hold valuable silver deposits. Some miners came and camped here. The owner of the cabin worked his mine for a year or so. Some people said he made a lot of money out of it. I don’t know. Anyway, the miner was found murdered in his cabin, supposedly killed by thieves.”

“Where does the ghost come in?” Gale wanted to know.

“The miner is supposed to come back to his cabin at night to wait for the thieves who murdered him,” Virginia told her.

“Cheerful thought,” Gale grimaced wryly. “Do you suppose he’ll come tonight?”

“I don’t know,” Virginia said doubtfully, albeit a bit hopefully. “It would be fun, wouldn’t it, to meet a ghost?”

“A lot of fun,” Gale agreed dryly. “I’m not particularly fond of the things myself. I’ll have to pass this tale on to the others.”

While they rode, Gale, with Virginia’s help, told the rest of the Adventure Girls the story about the cabin to which they were going. They were a little dubious about the night and its outcome, but all agreed it would be highly exciting. Tom and Jim promptly declared the tale a myth, that there were no such things as ghosts.

“You’re just trying to spoil our prospect of an exciting evening,” declared Janet loftily to Tom. “I shall look for ghosts just the same.”

“Go ahead,” he grinned, “and may you find a lot of them.”

“Oh, not a lot,” she said hastily. “One healthy one is about all that I could handle.”

“We’ll all be there to help you--handle him,” Carol assured her friend. “Don’t tell me we have finally reached our goal!” This last as the party rounded a clump of trees and through the rain saw a low, ramshackle cabin ahead of them. A little distance from the cabin was a shed and Carol demanded to know what it was.

“Entrance to his mine,” Tom replied, “Don’t go near it or you will probably fall down a shaft or something.”

Carol frowned on him. “I will not fall down anything,” she declared with dignity.

“See that you don’t,” he laughed. “Come along, Ambitious,” he urged one of the pack horses who was lolling behind.

Jim was the first to approach the cabin and when they crowded behind him there were mingled exclamations of disgust and disappointment. A layer of dust lay over everything and there were dirt and filth in abundance. But the sight of a fireplace and plenty of dry wood ready to flame up at the spurt of a match heartened them somewhat.

“First of all,” Jim said, “I’ll sweep the place. There’s a makeshift broom over there in the corner. You all wait outside.”

So there was nothing for the others to do but go back out into the rain until Jim and Tom could restore the place to some semblance of cleanliness.

“We’ll tie the horses back of the cabin,” Virginia proposed, to keep them busy.

“Feeling tired?” Gale asked anxiously of Valerie as the two walked side by side, leading their mounts.

Valerie nodded, forcing a smile. “No worse than you, I expect.”

Again Gale felt a thrill of admiration for her friend who was so cheerfully determined to fight her way back to strong, ruddy health.

“The minute the cabin is respectable, you shall sit down and not stir again tonight,” she declared.

“I’ll help get supper,” Valerie corrected. “No you won’t,” Gale said.

“But I want to,” Valerie insisted. “I don’t want the girls to wait on me. I didn’t intend to be a burden when I came on this trip and I won’t be one!”

“Darling, you could never be that!” Gale said tenderly. She continued humorously: “Here we want to give you service and you won’t have it. I wish somebody----”

“All clear,” Tom called, and there was a sudden rush of wet figures for the poor sanctuary of the tumbledown shack.

A fire crackled cheerily in the fireplace and the tired riders were gathered around it gratefully, yielding to the comfort of its warmth and to the laziness a good supper had instilled in them.

“And still no ghosts,” Madge sighed, leaning her head cozily against Janet’s shoulder.

“No, and I can’t say that I miss them,” that individual added, stifling a yawn.

“It has stopped raining,” Jim volunteered from his post at the door. “Tom and I will put up a tent outside for the night.”

“You girls can roll in your blankets on the floor here in front of the fire,” Tom continued. “We----” All of them came to attention. From somewhere, they were not certain of the exact position, came three slow, measured knocks.

“Ah, the ghost has arrived!” murmured Carol.

“Where was he?” demanded Virginia. “It sounded as though he were beneath the floor, but the place has no cellar.”

“It came from the ceiling,” contradicted Phyllis.

“Do you really think it is a ghost?” whispered Janet.

The others motioned for silence as the knocks were resumed. Three more were followed by a low, gurgling scream that rose and wavered on the night air, dying slowly away. The girls exchanged glances, their faces white and troubled. Tom was frowning fiercely. Jim’s eyes were darting about the room to find the source of the ghostly knocks and scream.

“This isn’t funny any more,” Janet said fearfully.

“Do you think we can stay here all night?” Valerie added.

“It will take more than knocks and a scream to scare us away,” Virginia declared staunchly.

“But suppose it is the old miner come back to wait for the thieves?” Carol began. “What are----”

Her voice died away as the distinct rattling of chains filled the air.

“All the desired sound effects,” Tom growled.

“It seemed to come from right under our feet,” Gale declared.

“Rattling chains indeed!” sniffed Phyllis. “We can be sure it isn’t a real ghost now. He has too much to be true. Somebody is trying to scare us.”

“You’re right,” Jim agreed.

“But where is he? Why can’t we see him?” demanded Virginia.

“He can’t be on the roof,” Tom said thoughtfully, “there is no cellar----”

“He certainly isn’t here with us,” Carol declared. “There goes that scream again!” She shivered. “It gives me the creeps. Do you suppose he could be on the outside?”

“No, he isn’t anywhere in sight,” Jim said firmly, returning from a quick circle of the cabin.

“We haven’t heard him for some minutes now,” Virginia said encouragingly. “Maybe he has gone.”

“Just a slight intermission,” murmured Janet calmly. They waited, but nothing happened. Tom and Jim set a tent up before the cabin. The girls spread their blankets before the fire, all but Valerie. The girls had insisted that she take possession of the low bunk the cabin afforded. It would be slightly more comfortable than the floor.

She was tired, but rolled in her blanket in the silent cabin, Gale found she could not sleep. All desire for sleep had left her and her mind was active. The other girls were sleeping, she supposed Tom and Jim were too, out in their tent. But her ears magnified a thousandfold each crackling of a log and each creak of the floor sent expectant shivers along her spine. She realized then she was waiting for the ghost of the cabin to return. She was sure he would. No self-respecting ghost would stop after such a mild attempt to frighten them away if he was really anxious to be rid of them. But who was it that was playing ghost? The bank bandit? Hardly. Whoever it was, why did he want people to stay away from the cabin? From where she lay, she looked around at the room. She could see nothing that anyone might wish to keep from prying eyes.

Quietly she threw back her blanket and stood up. Tiptoeing, she went to the door and stepped outside. Stentorian snores were coming from the little tent. Tom and Jim were in dreamland. Smiling, she leaned against the door and stared up at the stars overhead. The storm had cleared and there was not a cloud in the sky. The stars hung low like brightly lighted lanterns. The moon cast its silver light on the earth, causing huge black shadows under trees and behind the cabin and the shanty set apart.

Standing in the darkness, the wind ruffling her hair, gray eyes alight with a hint of the brightness of the stars in their depth, Gale sighed with sheer enjoyment of the scene. She had never before realized that a spot such as this, away from the noise and the people of the world, could be so lovely. It was almost like standing on the edge of the world. Behind her towered high and mighty mountains, before her lay a sea of moon-swept valley. Born and brought up in the little town of Marchton, Gale had known some outdoor life, but never the breathless beauty and limitless quiet of a night in Arizona. Quiet had she thought? Far away a coyote howled and yet another. She shivered. The sound was so--uncivilized. The cry of that animal was like a call straight from the wild untamed world of which she knew nothing.

Gale was staring at the dark little shanty that Tom had said was doubtless the entrance to the old miner’s mine. She wondered if the man had ever realized his dream of great wealth, the dream he doubtless had when he settled here and began to dig. A shadow, a moving shadow, had detached itself from the spot of darkness which was the shanty and was going toward a thick clump of trees. Instantly Gale stiffened to attention. Who was it? Certainly it was no ghost, for no ghost was ever so solid. Was it the one who had tried to frighten them from the cabin? Certainly he had not tried very hard. Perhaps he was coming back later for a second attempt. Were there more mysterious men in the shaft to the mine? Gale had a sudden impulse to call Tom or Jim to investigate that shadow. No, she would investigate it herself, she decided. The man was out of sight now, lost in the blackness of the trees and she moved forward.

It was not far from the shadow of the cabin to the protecting darkness of the shanty and Gale covered it quickly. She did not want to be seen by that other sleuthing person. She preferred to do her detecting unseen and unknown. Her exploring fingers found the latch, consisting of a nail and a piece of string, and in a minute the shanty door swung to behind her. It was dark and silent in here. From her jacket pocket she took a small flashlight. Ever since she and Phyllis had been lost in the cave she had carried her light with her, rather than leaving it rolled in her slicker. Now she was glad she had it. The little circle of light revealed a pair of worn wooden steps leading downward. Gale listened intently and when she heard nothing that indicated another’s presence, descended into the passage. It was nothing like the big coal mines she had read and seen pictures of. It was merely a tunnel that had been hewed out of the ground with pick and shovel. If the ground had once held a fortune of silver, it gave no evidence of it now. She had to stoop, so low was the ceiling, as she picked her way along over rocks and dÉbris.

Suddenly the thin ray of light from her lamp wavered and she noticed that it had grown dim. The battery was growing weak and would not last much longer. She switched it off. She must save it so she would have at least enough light to find her way back to the entrance. That was where she made her mistake. Creeping along in darkness, she did not see the black hole ahead and when her foot touched empty air, fell head foremost down--down--several feet.

For a moment she lay stunned with the unexpectedness of her fall. Too, the jar of landing had knocked all collected thought from her head. Slowly she sat up and felt for an injury. Nothing but bruises, thank goodness. She had dropped her flashlight and had to feel out with her hands along the damp earth until she found it. She hoped fervently that the drop had not put it entirely out of commission. No, when she pressed the little button, a feeble ray of light shot out. The light was bright enough to see that she had fallen into a pit of some sort that stretched away out behind her into darkness which the lamp would not penetrate.

She got to her feet and endeavored to shake some of the dirt from her clothes. It was a risk to go forward without a light, but a glance at the wall of dirt and rock had shown her that she could never hope to climb up to where she had been before her fall. There was no course but to explore this passage here and to hope that that mysterious shadow did not decide to come back into the mine immediately. But perhaps he had friends in here, friends that would not welcome her intrusion. The very thought that any minute she might stumble upon some mysterious, fearful unknown made her nervous and she proceeded with greater caution.

Gale endeavored to readjust her sense of direction, which had been somewhat confused with her fall, to find in what direction this passage led. If she was correct, and she believed she was, it should lead across to directly beneath the cabin where her friends were sleeping. In that case, the man she had seen might have been the “ghost” who with his mysterious knocks and screams had frightened them. But, remembering the fall which she had had, how did he get down to this lower passage, and once down here, how did he get up again? She had not been able to find any means of gaining the higher level. She halted and switched her flashlight on again. The light was failing rapidly and she dared to keep it on only a moment. But in that moment she had switched it overhead and seen the row of four or five boards which she was sure were part of the floor of the cabin. She sought a rock and hurled it up against the boards, ducking as it rebounded back at her. She followed it with another and then another.

“The ghost is back again,” said a nervous voice which she recognized as Janet’s.

Certainly it was the floor of the cabin and she had discovered how the ghost had done his mysterious knocking. His voice from here would have been clearly audible to them, too, just as she could hear the girls now.

“Gale’s gone!” she heard Valerie cry in alarm.

“Gone!” the others echoed.

She was just about to call out to reassure them when a sound in the passageway behind her made her hold her breath in suspense. Someone was coming along the tunnel. That must mean that the mysterious ghost had returned to do some more of his haunting. With quick and as quiet steps as possible, she retreated back the way she had come, and directly toward that unknown. Standing flattened against the earth wall, her heart thumping so she was sure he would hear it, Gale waited for the ghost to pass her. He did so, actually brushing against her in the darkness. He carried no flashlight and it was this fact alone that had saved her from discovery. Evidently he knew his way about in the darkness. Aided now by fear, she sped along the narrow, low tunnel to where she had had her fall. The man certainly had not been in here when she fell, hence there must be some way he had entered since. She had to find that entrance to gain her freedom. Now that the others had discovered her absence, they would be alarmed and a search would be begun. She must get back and reassure them. She must also send Tom and Jim to find this mysterious stranger.

Flashing on the last faint rays of her flashlight, she saw the wall down which she had fallen and against it hung a crude rope ladder. So this was how he entered and left this lower tunnel! With one foot on the ladder, she slipped her flashlight into her jacket pocket. It had failed entirely now and she would have to depend on her memory to lead her to the entrance. It took but a few moments to climb the ladder and once at the top she pulled it up behind her. That would keep the ghost in the lower passage until Tom and Jim could come along and investigate him. There must be some reason why he “haunted” the cabin with his mysterious knocks.

Swiftly as possible she went along the tunnel and after several minutes stumbled against the steps leading up to the door.