Page:Fairview Boys at Camp.djvu/74



"! Ha!" laughed Mr. Jessup. "My sister was right about you, Sammy! You're always on the lookout for something odd."

Sammy was a little put out by the attention he had drawn to himself. But for all of that, he was not going to back down.

"Well," he said, "I only thought that if queer things had been going on around your camp, Mr. Jessup, maybe the person who had been taking your things would be hiding in here."

"So you're sure it's a person, and not a ghost; eh?" asked the hunter, with a smile.

"I don't believe in ghosts," delared Sammy.

"Good boy! Neither do I. But I'm sorry I can't agree with you that the mystery is in this old mansion."

"Why?" asked Sammy, who liked to stick to a point.

"Because the hermit and I, so far as I know, are the only ones on this part of the island. If there was anyone else here Maybe would have routed him out long ago; wouldn't you, Maybe?"

The dog barked, and wagged his tail.

But Sammy Brown was not satisfied. The old mansion, that had been used for a hotel, when the upper part of Pine Island had been a Summer resort, looked strange enough to hide any sort of a mystery, and the boy made up his mind he would get at the bottom of this one.