may have to tote it a good bit---an'
it ain't much use to go up there less you've got a boat, because
you can't travel much along the shore---too many thorn bushes."

After that the old hunter told them all he knew about Lake Narsac.
He said the lake and its surroundings were owned by the estate
of a New England millionaire who had died four years before.
In settling the estate the heirs had gone to law, and the rightful
possession of the sheet of water with the mountains around it was
still in dispute.

"One thing is sartin," said the old hunter. "If ye go up thar,
ye won't have no Andrew Felps chasin' ye away---as was the case
up to Lake Cameron."

"No, but we may have the ghost chasing us," answered Giant.

"Say, maybe we had better go somewhere else," suggested Whopper,
hesitatingly.

"Whopper, are you afraid of ghosts?" demanded Snap.

"N---no, but I---er---I'd like to go somewhere where we wouldn't
be bothered by anything."

"I am going to Lake Narsac, ghosts or no ghosts!" cried the doctor's
son.

"So am I," added Snap, promptly. "If Whopper wants to stay behind---"

"Who said anything about staying behind?" demanded Whopper. "If you
go so will I, even if there are a million ghosts up there."

"I don't believe in ghosts," came from little Giant. "It's some
humbug, that's what it is."

"Maybe, maybe," answered Jed Sanborn. "But if you hear that voice
and see that yellow thing---well, I reckon your hair will stick up
on end, jest as mine did!"

CHAPTER V

A FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION

On the following Monday Snap and Shep were walking down the main
street of Fairview when they heard a cry and saw Giant beckoning to
them from the post-office steps.

"What's up?" asked Snap, as he came up to the small youth.

"Ham Spink and Carl Dudder just went in to mail some letters,"
said Giant.

"What of that?"

"Whopper went in after them. Whopper and I are now sure it was
Ham and Carl who tried to steal our clothing the day we went swimming."

"How do you know that?" asked the doctor's son.

"By the way they are dressed. They have the same yellow-brown suits
on they wore that day."

Giant had scarcely spoken when Whopper came out. His face showed
that he was angry.

"I told you they did it," he said to Giant. Then, seeing the
others, he explained:

"I accused them of it and they admitted taking the clothes---
they said it was nothing but a little joke and they laughed at
me.