dark and gloomy mountains, amid which they were encamped.
As his gaze wandered toward the peak of the one on the side of which the
tent was pitched, he gave a start of surprise.

For, coming down a place where, that afternoon, Tom had noticed a sort
of indefinite trail was a figure in white. A tall, waving figure, which
swayed this way and that--a figure which halted and then came on again.

"I wonder--I wonder if that can be a wisp of fog?" mused the young
inventor. He rubbed his eyes, thinking it might be a swirling of the
night mist or a defect of vision. Then, as he saw more plainly, he
noticed the thing in white rushing toward him.

"It's the phantom--the phantom!" cried Tom, aloud. "It's the thing the
miner saw! We're on Phantom Mountain now!"

CHAPTER XIV--WARNED BACK

Tom's cries awakened the sleepers in the tent. Mr. Damon was the first
to rush out.

"Bless my nightcap, Tom!" he cried. "What is it? What has happened? Are
we attacked by a mountain lion?"

For answer the young inventor pointed up the mountain, to where, in the
dim light from a crescent moon, there stood boldly revealed, the figure
in white.

"Bless--bless my very existence!" cried the odd man. "What is it, Tom?"

"The phantom," was the quiet answer. "Watch it, and see what it does."

By this time Mr. Jenks and Mr. Parker had joined Tom and Mr. Damon.
The four diamond seekers stood gazing at the apparition. And, as they
looked, the thing in white, seemingly too tall for any human being, slid
slowly forward, with a gliding motion. Then it raised its long, white
arms, and waved them threateningly at the adventurers.

"It's motioning us to go back," said Mr. Parker in an awed whisper. "It
doesn't want us to go any farther."

"Very likely," agreed Tom, coolly. "But we're not going to be frightened
by anything like that; are we?"

"Not much!" exclaimed Mr. Jenks. "I expected this. A ghost can't drive
me back from getting my rights from those scoundrels!"

"Suppose it uses a revolver to back up its demand?" asked the scientist.

"Wait until it does," answered Mr. Jenks. But the figure in white
evidently had no such intentions. It came on a little distance
farther, still waving the long arms threateningly, and then it suddenly
disappeared, seeming to dissolve in the misty shadows of the night.

"Bless my suspenders!" cried Mr. Damon. "That's a very strange
proceeding! Very strange! What do you make of it, Tom?"

"It is eviden