en of
foliage.

They had applied insect repellent liberally, but the insects swarmed
around them anyway, although bites were few. They lay quietly and
watched car after car arrive, but without seeing a familiar face.

During a lull in the traffic Rick asked, "Do you suppose we got here too
late? He may have come earlier."

"I doubt it. Besides, where would he have parked his scooter? It isn't
anywhere between us and the mine because we looked, and I doubt that
he'd walk any farther than this."

Rick had to agree that it wouldn't make much sense to park the vehicle
any farther away than the spot they had selected from which to watch.

The traffic ceased. All Sons of the Old Dominion apparently had arrived,
and all were presumably feasting on good food. It was only eight
o'clock; the ghost wasn't due for an hour. Rick thought an hour was
probably more than the ghost producer needed to get ready for his
appearance. Only a few minutes might be needed. That meant he and Scotty
would have to wait until a few minutes before nine, to be sure no one
slipped by.

One late arrival roared past as they waited, and then all was quiet. At
ten minutes to nine Rick admitted defeat. "Either he isn't coming, or he
got there through the fields. Let's go see if he shows up."

As they hiked down the road, ears attuned for a motor vehicle behind
them, Rick explained his theory of ghost production to Scotty. "There's
only one way a transparent spook can be produced, and that's optically.
In the movies they use a double exposure. The only way to produce an
optical image on mist is with a projector of some kind."

"Spook projector," Scotty agreed. "Only where is this projector
located?"

That, Rick pointed out, was the prize-winning question. "All we can do
is keep an eye open for the projector beam."

"Both eyes," Scotty corrected.

It was one minute before nine when they arrived at the mine entrance.
The Sons of the Old Dominion were still eating, but there was a lack of
noise or joyousness that made Rick aware that the Sons knew about the
ghost. He saw groups facing the place where the ghost would appear.

The boys were in front of the mine entrance. By unspoken agreement they
moved to a position directly in front of the pool. If the ghost
appeared, it would be almost over their heads. The shelf was too high
for them to see into the water, but they were in a position where any
human activity couldn't possibly be overlooked.