lt sure that Barney Mulloy was somewhere in Glen
Springs.

"I know that I saw him!" was his persistent declaration.

"And heard him walk!" added Hodge. "I can swear to it."

"Yes. And though the thing is so strange, it makes me feel better, for I
am sure now that Barney is not dead."

"But he looked like a ghost!" Bart admitted. "I'm with you, though, to
the end in this thing. We'll go to the bottom of it."

Questioning the people of the village yielded no better results.
Everybody agreed that no person answering to the description of Barney
Mulloy had been in Glen Springs. Some of them were even more nervous and
indignant than the landlord, for almost the sole remunerative business
of these people was the keeping of summer boarders, and they feared that
gruesome reports about the place would drive guests away.

"Mr. Hodge and I are coming back here to-night," Merriwell said to the
landlord. "Perhaps we shall bring some of these friends with us. It
seems useless to continue the investigation now, and I want, besides, to
ask some questions at Sea Cove. The launch is all ready to return to
Sandy Hook, and the officer in command says that his orders require him
to return there without further delay. But we will come back to-night."

The landlord's face did not give the proposition an eager welcome,
though one of his business tenets was never to turn a guest away.

So the launch steamed away to Sandy Hook, leaving Glen Springs and its
strange and unsolved puzzle behind.

Frank only partly enjoyed the trip.

But for that seemingly impenetrable mystery, the trip to Sandy Hook,
with the visit of inspection which followed, would have been jolly.
However, there was so much to be happy and thankful for, anyway, that
the spirits of the party partook largely of the brightness of the day.

The run of the speedy launch up the coast was pleasant, and at Sandy
Hook they found their fellow students awaiting them, and were given a
right royal welcome by Captain Isaac Heath, the officer in charge of the
proving-grounds.

"Say, fellows, this is great!" Danny warbled, as Captain Heath escorted
them to where the big guns were. "I always did like big guns!"

"You're such a big gun yourself!" sneered Bink, under his breath.

"Binky, if my brain caliber required no more than a number five hat, as
yours does, I'd sing low about big guns!"

"Number five hat? Why----"

"This ten-inch breech-loading rifle takes a charge of one hun