ar amiss when he declared there
might be something in that ghost business, after all; and that poor
K. K. had found it out to his cost; though, beyond this broad
statement, Owen declined to commit himself, because he, of course,
could not imagine what a genuine ghost would look like, in the
daytime at that; or what such an apparition would be likely to do to
a boy who had had the ill-luck to fall into its clutches.

A dozen additional ideas were advanced, some of them bordering on the
absurd and others really plausible. The unlimited resources of a
boy's fertile mind in conjuring up remarkable explanations in a
mysterious case like the one now engaging their attention had not yet
been reached at the time Hugh suddenly announced they were close to
the place where the abandoned quarry road started in from the
thoroughfare they were then following.

"We just passed the twin oaks I remember stood alongside the road on
the left," he explained, at the same time slowing up considerably;
"and they are close to the turning-in place. I noticed them in
particular, you see, because I didn't want to lose even three seconds
when on the run, in searching for some sign of the spot; though, of
course, I could have looked for the marks of our tires left there at
the time we came back from our nutting excursion, and went through to
the other road. Yes, here we are right now, and I'm going to turn
in, boys."

He negotiated the turn without accident, though the branches of the
trees did scrape against the sides of the car in a way that made some
of the occupants shudder; for already they were beginning to feel a
trace of the uneasiness that their gruesome surroundings were apt to
arouse within their boyish hearts.

CHAPTER XIV

THE SEARCHING PARTY

"Hugh, it looks like we mightn't need those lanterns after all,"
remarked Horatio, after they had gotten well started along the dimly
seen quarry road.

Indeed, the brilliant headlights of the big car illuminated a radius
of considerable size ahead of them and around. Every tiny twig was
thrown out into bold relief, as though a powerful sun had found a way
of forcing ingress through the canopy of leafless branches overhead.

"Not just at present, perhaps," replied the driver at the wheel; "but
they may come in handy yet. We'll wait and see."

Owen sat beside Hugh, the other three occupying the tonneau of the
car. There was abundance of room for all, and some to spare. Owe