utched the door-knob as
though it were the handle of a galvanic battery, while Mugford and Vance
seized each other by the arm and literally gasped for breath.

The stillness had been broken by a slight sound, as of something falling
inside the attic, and this was followed a moment later by a shrill,
unearthly scream.

For five seconds the three companions stood petrified with horror, not
daring to move; then followed another scream, if anything more horrible
than the last, and accompanied this time by the clanking rattle of a
chain being dragged across the floor.

That was enough. Talk about a _sauve qui peut_! the wonder is that any
one survived the stampede which followed. The youngsters turned and
flew down the stairs at break-neck speed, and hardly had they started
when the door of the "Main-top" was flung open, and its two occupants
rushed down after them. As though to ensure the retreat being nothing
less than a regular rout, Mugford, who was leading, missed his footing
on the last step, causing every one to fall over him in turn, until all
five boys were sprawling together in a mixed heap upon the floor.

Freeing themselves with some little difficulty from the general
entanglement, they rose to their feet, and after surveying each other
for a moment in silence, gave vent to a simultaneous ejaculation of
"_The ghost_!"

"What were you fellows doing up there?" asked Kennedy.

"Why, we came up to have a joke with you," answered Vance; "but just
when we got up to the landing, it--it made that noise!"

There was the sound of the key turning in the lock of Mr. Blake's door.

"_Cave_!" whispered Mugford.

"Tell him about it," added Vance; and giving Diggory a push, they all
three darted into their room just as the master emerged from his,
arrayed in dressing-gown and slippers.

"Now, then," exclaimed the latter, holding his candle above his head,
and peering down the passage, "what's the meaning of this disturbance?
I thought the whole house was falling down.--Come here, you two, and
explain yourselves!"

"Please, sir," answered Kennedy and Jacobs in one breath, "it's the
ghost!"

"The ghost! What ghost? What d'you mean?"

The two "Main-top" men began a hasty account of the cause of their
sudden fright, taking care, however, to make no mention of the three
hostile visitors who had shared in the surprise.

Mr. Blake listened to their story in silence, then all at once he burst
out laughing, and wit