章节正文
The plan was talked over, and watching their chance the two
transferred the skeleton and the skulls to the apartment occupied
by Wilberforce Chaster. Then they rubbed phosphorus on the
bones, and hung them upon long strings, running over a doorway
into the next room.
That evening Wilberforce Chaster remained in the hotel parlor
until ten o 'clock. Then he marched off to his room in his usual
ill humor. The gas was lit and he went to bed without delay.
As soon as the light went out and they heard the man retire, Joe
and the bell boy began to groan in an ominous manner. As they
did so, they worked the strings to which the skulls and the
skeleton were attached, causing them to dance up and down in the
center of the old man's room.
Hearing the groans, Wilberforce Chaster sat up in bed and
listened. Then he peered around in the darkness.
"Ha! what is that?" he gasped, as he caught sight of the skulls.
"Am I dreaming--or is that--Oh!"
He started and began to shake from head to foot, for directly in
front of him was the skeleton, moving up and down in a jerky
fashion and glowing with a dull fire. His hair seemed to stand
on end. He dove under the coverings of the bed.
"The room is haunted!" he moaned. "Was ever such a thing seen
before! This is wretched! Whatever shall I do?"
The groans continued, and presently he gave another look from
under the bed clothes. The skeleton appeared to be coming nearer.
He gave a loud yell of anguish.
"Go away! Go away! Oh, I am haunted by a ghost! This is awful! I
cannot stand it!"
He fairly tumbled out of bed and caught up his clothing in a
heap. Then, wrapped in some comfortables, he burst out of the
room and ran down the hallway like a person possessed of the evil
spirits.
"Come be quick, or we'll get caught!" whispered Joe, and ran into
the room, followed by the bell boy. In a trice they pulled loose
the strings that held the skulls and the skeleton, and restored
the things to the doctor's room from which they had been taken.
Then they went below by a back stairs.
The whole hotel was in an alarm, and soon Mr. Mallison came upon
the scene.
"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded, severely, of
Wilberforce Chaster.
"The meaning is, sir, that your hotel is haunted," was the
answer, which startled all who heard it.
CHAPTER XII.
THE PARTICULARS OF A SWINDLE.
"This hotel haunted?" gasped the proprietor. "Sir, you are
mistaken. Such a thing is impossible."
"It is true," insisted Mr. Wilberforce Chaster. "I shall not
stay here another night."
"What makes you think it is haunted?"
"There is a ghost in my room."
"Oh!" shrieked a maid who had come on the scene. "A ghost! I
shall not stay either!"
"What kind of a ghost?" demanded Andrew Mallison.
"A--er--a skeleton--and some skulls! I saw them with my own
eyes," went on the victim. "Come and see them for yourself."
"This is nonsense," said the hotel proprietor. "I will go and
convince you that you are mistaken."
He led the way and half a dozen followed, including Wilberforce
Chaster, who kept well to the rear. Just as the party reached
the door of the apartment Joe and the bell boy came up.
Without hesitation Andrew Mallison threw open the door of the
room and looked inside. Of course he saw nothing out of the
ordinary.
"Where is your ghost?" he demanded. "I see nothing of it."
"Don't--don't you see--er--a skeleton?" demanded the man who had
been victimized.
"I do not."
Trembling in every limb Wilberforce Chaster came forward and
peered into the room.
"Well?" demanded the hotel proprietor, after a pause.
"I--I certainly saw them."
"Then where are they now?"
"I--I don't know."
By this time others were crowding into the apartment. All gazed
around, and into the clothes closet, but found nothing unusual.
"You must be the victim of some hallucination, sir," said the
hotel proprietor, severely.
He hated to have anything occur which might give his
establishment a bad reputation.
"No, sir, I saw the things with my own eyes."
The matter was talked over for several minutes longer and then
the hired help was ordered away.
"I shall not stay in this room," insisted Wilberforce Chaster.
"You need not remain in the hotel," answered Andrew Mallison,
quickly. "You can leave at once. You have alarmed the whole
establishment needlessly."
Some warm words followed, and the upshot of the matter was that
the fussy old boarder had to pack his things and seek another
hotel that very night.
"I am glad to get rid of him," said the hotel proprietor, after
Wilberforce Chaster had departed. "He was making trouble all the
time."
"We fixed him, didn't we?" said the bell boy to Joe.
"I hope it teaches him a lesson to be more considerate in the
future," answered our hero.
Several days passed and Joe had quite a few parties to take out
on the lake. The season was now drawing to a close, and our hero
began to wonder what he had best do when boating was over.
"I wonder if I couldn't strike something pretty good in
Philadelphia?" he asked himself. The idea of going to one of the
big cities appealed to him strongly.
One afternoon, on coming in from a trip across the lake, Joe
found Andrew Mallison in conversation with Mr. Maurice Vane, who
had arrived at the hotel scarcely an hour before. The city man
was evidently both excited and disappointed.
"Here is the boy now," said the hotel proprietor, and called Joe
up.
"Well, young man, I guess you have hit the truth," were Maurice
Vane's first words.
"About those other fellows?" asked our hero, quickly.
"That's it."
"Did they swindle you?"
"They did."
"By selling you some worthlessmining stocks?"
"Yes. If you will, I'd like you to tell me all you can about
those two men."
"I will," answered Joe, and told of the strange meeting at the
old lodge and of what had followed. Maurice Vane drew a long
breath and shook his head sadly.
"I was certainly a green one, to be taken in so slyly," said he.
"How did they happen to hear of you?" questioned Joe, curiously.
"I answered an advertisement in the daily paper," said Maurice
Vane. "Then this man, Caven, or whatever his right name may be,
came to me and said he had a certain plan for making a good deal
of money. All I had to do was to invest a certain amount and
inside of a few days I could clear fifteen or twenty thousand
dollars."
"That was surely a nice proposition," said Joe, with a smile.
"I agreed to go into the scheme if it was all plain sailing and
then this Caven gave me some of the details. He said there was a
demand for a certain kind of mining shares. He knew an old miner
who was sick and who was willing to sell the shares he possessed
for a reasonable sum of money. The plan was to buy the shares
and then sell them to another party--a broker--at a big advance
in price."
"That was simple enough," put in Andrew Mallison.
"Caven took me to see a man who called himself a broker. He had
an elegant office and looked prosperous. He told us he would be
glad to buy certain mining shares at a certain figure if he could
get them in the near future. He said a client was red-hot after
the shares. I questioned him closely and he appeared to be a
truthful man. He said some folks wanted to buy out the mine and
consolidate it with another mine close by."
"And then you came here and bought the stock of Malone?" queried
Joe.
"Yes. Caven made me promise to give him half the profits and I
agreed. I came here, and as you know, Malone, or Ball, or
whatever his name is, pretended to be very sick and in need of
money. He set his price, and I came back with the cash and took
the mining stock. I was to meet Caven, alias Anderson, the
next day and go to the broker with him, but Caven did not appear.
Then I grew suspicious and went to see the broker alone. The man
was gone and the office locked up. After that I asked some other
brokers about the stock, and they told me it was not worth five
cents on the dollar."
"Isn't there any such mine at all?" asked Joe.
"Oh, yes, there is such a mine, but it was abandoned two years
ago, after ten thousand dollars had been sunk in it. They said
it paid so little that it was not worth considering."
"That is certainly too bad for you," said Joe. "And you can't
find any trace of Caven or Malone?"
"No, both of the rascals have disappeared completely. I tried to
trace Caven and his broker friend in Philadelphia but it was of
no use. More than likely they have gone to some place thousands
of miles away."
"Yes, and probably this Ball, or Malone, has joined them," put in
Andrew Mallison. "Mr. Vane, I am exceedingly sorry for you."
"I am sorry for myself, but I deserve my loss, for being such a
fool," went on the victim.
"Have you notified the police?" asked Joe.
"Oh, yes, and I have hired a private detective to do what he can,
too. But I am afraid my money is gone for good."
"You might go and reopen the mine, Mr. Vane."
"Thank you, but I have lost enough already, without throwing good
money after bad, as the saying is."
"It may be that that detective will find the swindlers, sooner or
later."
"Such a thing is, of course, possible, but I am not over
sanguine."
"I am afraid your money is gone for good," broke in Andrew
Mallison. "I wish I could help you, but I don't see how I can."
The matter was talked over for a good hour, and all three visited
the room Malone had occupied, which had been vacant ever since.
But a hunt around revealed nothing of value, and they returned to
the office.
"I can do nothing more for you, Mr. Vane," said Andrew Mallison.
"I wish I could do something," said Joe. Something about Maurice
Vane was very attractive to him.
"If you ever hear of these rascals let me know," continued the
hotel proprietor.
"I will do so," was the reply.
With that the conversation on the subject closed. Maurice Vane
remained at the hotel overnight and left by the early train on
the following morning.
CHAPTER XIII.
OFF FOR THE CITY.
"Joe, our season ends next Saturday."
"I know it, Mr. Mallison."
"We are going to close the house on Tuesday. It won't pay to keep
open after our summer boarders leave."
transferred the skeleton and the skulls to the apartment occupied
by Wilberforce Chaster. Then they rubbed phosphorus on the
bones, and hung them upon long strings, running over a doorway
into the next room.
That evening Wilberforce Chaster remained in the hotel parlor
until ten o 'clock. Then he marched off to his room in his usual
ill humor. The gas was lit and he went to bed without delay.
As soon as the light went out and they heard the man retire, Joe
and the bell boy began to groan in an ominous manner. As they
did so, they worked the strings to which the skulls and the
skeleton were attached, causing them to dance up and down in the
center of the old man's room.
Hearing the groans, Wilberforce Chaster sat up in bed and
listened. Then he peered around in the darkness.
"Ha! what is that?" he gasped, as he caught sight of the skulls.
"Am I dreaming--or is that--Oh!"
He started and began to shake from head to foot, for directly in
front of him was the skeleton, moving up and down in a jerky
fashion and glowing with a dull fire. His hair seemed to stand
on end. He dove under the coverings of the bed.
"The room is haunted!" he moaned. "Was ever such a thing seen
before! This is wretched! Whatever shall I do?"
The groans continued, and presently he gave another look from
under the bed clothes. The skeleton appeared to be coming nearer.
He gave a loud yell of anguish.
"Go away! Go away! Oh, I am haunted by a ghost! This is awful! I
cannot stand it!"
He fairly tumbled out of bed and caught up his clothing in a
heap. Then, wrapped in some comfortables, he burst out of the
room and ran down the hallway like a person possessed of the evil
spirits.
"Come be quick, or we'll get caught!" whispered Joe, and ran into
the room, followed by the bell boy. In a trice they pulled loose
the strings that held the skulls and the skeleton, and restored
the things to the doctor's room from which they had been taken.
Then they went below by a back stairs.
The whole hotel was in an alarm, and soon Mr. Mallison came upon
the scene.
"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded, severely, of
Wilberforce Chaster.
"The meaning is, sir, that your hotel is haunted," was the
answer, which startled all who heard it.
CHAPTER XII.
THE PARTICULARS OF A SWINDLE.
"This hotel haunted?" gasped the proprietor. "Sir, you are
mistaken. Such a thing is impossible."
"It is true," insisted Mr. Wilberforce Chaster. "I shall not
stay here another night."
"What makes you think it is haunted?"
"There is a ghost in my room."
"Oh!" shrieked a maid who had come on the scene. "A ghost! I
shall not stay either!"
"What kind of a ghost?" demanded Andrew Mallison.
"A--er--a skeleton--and some skulls! I saw them with my own
eyes," went on the victim. "Come and see them for yourself."
"This is nonsense," said the hotel proprietor. "I will go and
convince you that you are mistaken."
He led the way and half a dozen followed, including Wilberforce
Chaster, who kept well to the rear. Just as the party reached
the door of the apartment Joe and the bell boy came up.
Without hesitation Andrew Mallison threw open the door of the
room and looked inside. Of course he saw nothing out of the
ordinary.
"Where is your ghost?" he demanded. "I see nothing of it."
"Don't--don't you see--er--a skeleton?" demanded the man who had
been victimized.
"I do not."
Trembling in every limb Wilberforce Chaster came forward and
peered into the room.
"Well?" demanded the hotel proprietor, after a pause.
"I--I certainly saw them."
"Then where are they now?"
"I--I don't know."
By this time others were crowding into the apartment. All gazed
around, and into the clothes closet, but found nothing unusual.
"You must be the victim of some hallucination, sir," said the
hotel proprietor, severely.
He hated to have anything occur which might give his
establishment a bad reputation.
"No, sir, I saw the things with my own eyes."
The matter was talked over for several minutes longer and then
the hired help was ordered away.
"I shall not stay in this room," insisted Wilberforce Chaster.
"You need not remain in the hotel," answered Andrew Mallison,
quickly. "You can leave at once. You have alarmed the whole
establishment needlessly."
Some warm words followed, and the upshot of the matter was that
the fussy old boarder had to pack his things and seek another
hotel that very night.
"I am glad to get rid of him," said the hotel proprietor, after
Wilberforce Chaster had departed. "He was making trouble all the
time."
"We fixed him, didn't we?" said the bell boy to Joe.
"I hope it teaches him a lesson to be more considerate in the
future," answered our hero.
Several days passed and Joe had quite a few parties to take out
on the lake. The season was now drawing to a close, and our hero
began to wonder what he had best do when boating was over.
"I wonder if I couldn't strike something pretty good in
Philadelphia?" he asked himself. The idea of going to one of the
big cities appealed to him strongly.
One afternoon, on coming in from a trip across the lake, Joe
found Andrew Mallison in conversation with Mr. Maurice Vane, who
had arrived at the hotel scarcely an hour before. The city man
was evidently both excited and disappointed.
"Here is the boy now," said the hotel proprietor, and called Joe
up.
"Well, young man, I guess you have hit the truth," were Maurice
Vane's first words.
"About those other fellows?" asked our hero, quickly.
"That's it."
"Did they swindle you?"
"They did."
"By selling you some worthlessmining stocks?"
"Yes. If you will, I'd like you to tell me all you can about
those two men."
"I will," answered Joe, and told of the strange meeting at the
old lodge and of what had followed. Maurice Vane drew a long
breath and shook his head sadly.
"I was certainly a green one, to be taken in so slyly," said he.
"How did they happen to hear of you?" questioned Joe, curiously.
"I answered an advertisement in the daily paper," said Maurice
Vane. "Then this man, Caven, or whatever his right name may be,
came to me and said he had a certain plan for making a good deal
of money. All I had to do was to invest a certain amount and
inside of a few days I could clear fifteen or twenty thousand
dollars."
"That was surely a nice proposition," said Joe, with a smile.
"I agreed to go into the scheme if it was all plain sailing and
then this Caven gave me some of the details. He said there was a
demand for a certain kind of mining shares. He knew an old miner
who was sick and who was willing to sell the shares he possessed
for a reasonable sum of money. The plan was to buy the shares
and then sell them to another party--a broker--at a big advance
in price."
"That was simple enough," put in Andrew Mallison.
"Caven took me to see a man who called himself a broker. He had
an elegant office and looked prosperous. He told us he would be
glad to buy certain mining shares at a certain figure if he could
get them in the near future. He said a client was red-hot after
the shares. I questioned him closely and he appeared to be a
truthful man. He said some folks wanted to buy out the mine and
consolidate it with another mine close by."
"And then you came here and bought the stock of Malone?" queried
Joe.
"Yes. Caven made me promise to give him half the profits and I
agreed. I came here, and as you know, Malone, or Ball, or
whatever his name is, pretended to be very sick and in need of
money. He set his price, and I came back with the cash and took
the mining stock. I was to meet Caven, alias Anderson, the
next day and go to the broker with him, but Caven did not appear.
Then I grew suspicious and went to see the broker alone. The man
was gone and the office locked up. After that I asked some other
brokers about the stock, and they told me it was not worth five
cents on the dollar."
"Isn't there any such mine at all?" asked Joe.
"Oh, yes, there is such a mine, but it was abandoned two years
ago, after ten thousand dollars had been sunk in it. They said
it paid so little that it was not worth considering."
"That is certainly too bad for you," said Joe. "And you can't
find any trace of Caven or Malone?"
"No, both of the rascals have disappeared completely. I tried to
trace Caven and his broker friend in Philadelphia but it was of
no use. More than likely they have gone to some place thousands
of miles away."
"Yes, and probably this Ball, or Malone, has joined them," put in
Andrew Mallison. "Mr. Vane, I am exceedingly sorry for you."
"I am sorry for myself, but I deserve my loss, for being such a
fool," went on the victim.
"Have you notified the police?" asked Joe.
"Oh, yes, and I have hired a private detective to do what he can,
too. But I am afraid my money is gone for good."
"You might go and reopen the mine, Mr. Vane."
"Thank you, but I have lost enough already, without throwing good
money after bad, as the saying is."
"It may be that that detective will find the swindlers, sooner or
later."
"Such a thing is, of course, possible, but I am not over
sanguine."
"I am afraid your money is gone for good," broke in Andrew
Mallison. "I wish I could help you, but I don't see how I can."
The matter was talked over for a good hour, and all three visited
the room Malone had occupied, which had been vacant ever since.
But a hunt around revealed nothing of value, and they returned to
the office.
"I can do nothing more for you, Mr. Vane," said Andrew Mallison.
"I wish I could do something," said Joe. Something about Maurice
Vane was very attractive to him.
"If you ever hear of these rascals let me know," continued the
hotel proprietor.
"I will do so," was the reply.
With that the conversation on the subject closed. Maurice Vane
remained at the hotel overnight and left by the early train on
the following morning.
CHAPTER XIII.
OFF FOR THE CITY.
"Joe, our season ends next Saturday."
"I know it, Mr. Mallison."
"We are going to close the house on Tuesday. It won't pay to keep
open after our summer boarders leave."
- apartment [ə´pɑ:tmənt]
n.一套房间 (初中英语单词) - running [´rʌniŋ] a.奔跑的；流动的 (初中英语单词)
- retire [ri´taiə] v.撤退；退职；退休 (初中英语单词)
- whatever [wɔt´evə] pron.&a.无论什么 (初中英语单词)
- presently [´prezəntli] ad.不久；目前 (初中英语单词)
- haunted [´hɔ:tid] a.常出现鬼的，闹鬼的 (初中英语单词)
- victim [´viktim] n.牺牲者；受害者 (初中英语单词)
- closet [´klɔzit] n.橱；私室；盥洗室 (初中英语单词)
- evidently [´evidəntli] ad.明显地 (初中英语单词)
- invest [in´vest] v.投资；授予 (初中英语单词)
- amount [ə´maunt] n.总数；数量 v.合计 (初中英语单词)
- scheme [ski:m] n.计划；阴谋，诡计 (初中英语单词)
- willing [´wiliŋ] a.情愿的，乐意的 (初中英语单词)
- reasonable [´rizənəbəl] a.合理的；有理智的 (初中英语单词)
- prosperous [´prɔspərəs] a.繁荣的；顺利的 (初中英语单词)
- deserve [di´zə:v] v.应受；值得 (初中英语单词)
- detective [di´tektiv] n.侦探 a.侦探的 (初中英语单词)
- vacant [´veikənt] a.空虚的，无表情的 (初中英语单词)
- attractive [ə´træktiv] a.有吸引力；诱人的 (初中英语单词)
- skeleton [´skelitən] n.骨骼；骷髅 (高中英语单词)
- severely [si´viəli] ad.剧烈地；严格地 (高中英语单词)
- proprietor [prə´praiətə] n.所有人；业主；经营者 (高中英语单词)
- hesitation [,hezi´teiʃən] n.犹豫，踌躇 (高中英语单词)
- worthless [´wə:θləs] a.无价值的 (高中英语单词)
- mining [´mainiŋ] n.采矿；矿业 (高中英语单词)
- advertisement [əd´və:tismənt] n.(做)广告；宣传 (高中英语单词)
- elegant [´eligənt] a.文雅的；优美的 (高中英语单词)
- client [´klaiənt] n.委托人；顾客 (高中英语单词)
- suspicious [sə´spiʃəs] a.可疑的，多疑的 (高中英语单词)
- exceedingly [ik´si:diŋli] ad.非常地，极度地 (高中英语单词)
- saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
- ominous [´ɔminəs] a.不祥的；预示的 (英语四级单词)
- boarder [´bɔ:də] n.搭伙者；寄宿者 (英语四级单词)
- drawing [´drɔ:iŋ] n.画图；制图；图样 (英语四级单词)
- broker [´brəukə] n.经纪人，掮客 (英语四级单词)
- overnight [,əuvə´nait] ad.通宵 a.昨晚的 (英语四级单词)
- hallway [´hɔ:lwei] n.(美)门厅，过道 (英语六级单词)
- departed [di´pɑ:tid] a.已往的；已故的 (英语六级单词)
- considerate [kən´sidərit] a.考虑周到的；体谅的 (英语六级单词)
- abandoned [ə´bændənd] a.被抛弃的；无约束的 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:名著
章节正文
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