iskers," said Hart coolly. "I got him,
too, I think."

"You must be mad, mad!" shrieked the detective, tearing open the window,
and vanishing.

"For Heaven's sake, Wally, no more shooting!" cried Grant, running
after Furneaux.

Minnie and her mother appeared at the dining-room door. Finding the place
in semi-obscurity, and reeking with gunpowder, they screamed loudly.

"You Steynholme folk are all on the jump," said Hart. "Cheer up, fair
dames! Thunder relieves the atmosphere, you know, and one live cartridge
is often more effective than an ocean of talk."

"Bub-bub-but who's shot, sir?" gasped Minnie.

"A ghost, a most scoundrelly apparition, with fearsome eyes, offensive
whiskers, and a hat which is a base copy of mine."

"Owd Ben!" sighed Mrs. Bates, collapsing straightway in a faint.

Luckily, Minnie caught her mother and broke her fall, because the
housekeeper was large and solid, and might have been seriously injured
otherwise. Hart was distressed by this development, but, being eminently
a ready person in an emergency, he rose to the occasion by extracting the
empty case from the revolver, and holding it to the poor woman's
nostrils, while supporting her with an arm and a knee.

"This is far more effective than burnt brown paper, Minnie," he said.
"Now, don't get excited, but mix some brandy and water, and we'll have
your mother telling us who Owd Ben is, or was, before Hawk-eye comes back
to disturb us. Judging by the noises I hear, he's busy outside."

"That's father!" shrieked Minnie hysterically.

"Good Lord! Has your father--"

For an instant, Hart was nearly alarmed, but Grant's voice came
authoritatively:

"It's all right, Bates. Let go, I tell you!"

"Phew!" said Hart. "I was on the point of confusing your respected dad
with Owd Ben ... That's it, ma! Sniff hard! As a cook you're worth your
weight in gold, which is some cook."

Meanwhile, Furneaux, seeing that no dead body was stretched on the strip
of grass beneath the window, dashed into the shrubbery to the right, and
was clutched in a mighty embrace by an older but much more powerful man
in Bates, who had hurried from the front of the house on hearing the
pistol-shot. Most fortunately, the gardener, deeming his vigil a needless
one, had not armed himself with a stick, or the consequences might have
been grave. As it was, no one except Hart had been vouchsafed sight or
sound of the latest specter, which, however, had left a very convi