down in his heart, hoped
that the other would back out before the hour set, both resolved not to
show the white feather, and as the alarm-clock pealed forth its summons
in the silence of the night, two sleepy lads crept stealthily out of
bed, drew on their clothes, and without exchanging a word, started for
the haunted house at the other end of town.

Never, it seemed to the quaking boys, had the desert night seemed so
black. The stars were shining, to be sure, but the very heavens seemed
further away, and the silence was appalling. Nervous, excited,
dreading the ordeal, each boy waited for the other to propose that they
give up their wild-goose chase; but neither was willing to acknowledge
his cowardice first, so they stumbled fearfully on, clutching each
other's hands to keep from falling, they told themselves, but really to
feel the nearness of another human being.

At length, however, they reached the old, abandoned shack, where they
were to keep their ghostly vigil, and with bated breath they opened the
sagging door and crept trembling over the threshold into the black
shadows of the interior. Fear held them tongue-tied, and they crouched
upon the dusty floor as close to the door as they could get. The
silence was intense, terrifying.

Then the stillness was sharply broken by a hoarse whisper, "What was
that, Bill?"

Billiard, thinking Toady had spoken to him, was about to reply when a
second voice answered, "Only the wind, I reckon. Shut up."

"But it sounded like someone opened the door."

"You're as bad as an old woman with the fidgets," said the second voice
crossly. "Go to sleep, can't you? At least, let me sleep. I tell you
we're safe enough. The fools will never think of looking for us here.
This is a _haunted_ house and no one ever comes here. When they get
tired of scouring the desert and give up hunting for us, we'll light
out, but until then we've _got_ to lie low; and we might as well spend
our time snoozing as to be worrying all the while."

"The bank robbers!" thought each boy to himself. What should they do?
It would be impossible for two small boys to capture such desperadoes
in the dead of night, especially as neither lad was armed, they argued.
Their only course was to steal noiselessly away, rouse the sheriff,
bring back a posse and surprise the men in hiding.

With one impulse, the terrified boys clasped hands, slipped cautiously
out of the house, hardly daring to breathe for