The Chums of Scranton High on the Cinder Path | Page 5

K. started up again, and by another minute the old car had passed
in among the trees, with the overgrown brush "swiping" against the
sides every foot of the way. It was necessary that they proceed slowly
and cautiously, because none of them had ever been over that long
disused road before, and all sorts of obstacles might confront the bold
invaders of the wilds.
Hugh was using his eyes to good advantage, and at his advice the
others did the same. It was a good thing the car was old, and that it
mattered nothing how those stiff branches scraped against the sides
during their forward progress. K. K. knew how to manage, all right, and,
although the trail was quite rough in places where the heavy rains had
washed the earth away, and left huge stones projecting, he was able to
navigate around these obstacles successfully.
Twice they came to low places where water ran, and there was some
danger of the heavy car becoming mired. At such times several of the
boys would jump out, and after investigating the conditions perhaps
throw a mass of stones and pieces of wood in, to make what Hugh
called a sort of a "corduroy road" across the swampy section of ground.
It was all very interesting in the bargain, and, for the time being, the
boys even forgot the fact that they were exceedingly tired.

Then they seemed to be gradually ascending a grade, where the road
turned out to be somewhat better.
"I imagine we're getting close to the quarry now, fellows," Hugh
informed them; "if what I was told is true. It will lie over here on the
right; and only for the dense growth of trees with their foliage still
hanging on, we might see the cliff forming the background of the
quarry right now."
Julius and Horatio looked around them with increasing interest, and
perhaps a slight flutter of unusual vigor in the region of their hearts. It
was about as gloomy a scene as any of them had ever gazed upon.
Years had elapsed since work in the stone quarry had been abandoned,
and Nature, as usual, had done her best to hide the cruel gashes made in
her breast by man; the trees had grown and spread, while bushes and
weeds extended their sway so as to almost choke everything around.
The distant cawing of the crows sounded more gruesome than ever
amidst such surroundings; but there was no sign of bird-life to be seen.
It was as though the little feathered creatures found this region too
lonely even for their nest building. Not even a red or gray squirrel
frisked around a tree, or boldly defied the intruders of his wilderness
haunt.
"There, I just had a glimpse of the place through an opening!" suddenly
announced Hugh; "I calculate that we'll soon come in plain sight of the
whole business, for this road leads straight across the dumps, I was told,
and then on again in the direction of Hobson's Pond."
The sun was passing behind the first cloud of the whole day just then.
Somehow the added somber conditions had an effect on all the boys;
for, with the temporary vanishing of the king of day, the shadows
around them appeared to grow bolder, and issue forth from their secret
retreats.
"Ugh! this is certainly a fierce place for a fellow to visit, say around
midnight," K. K. was forced to admit, for he was the essence of candor
at all times.

"Wild horses couldn't drag me up here at such a time as that," said
Horatio, as he looked ahead, and shivered, either with the chill of the
air, or from some other reason, he hardly knew himself.
"Hugh, would you try it if someone dared you to?" demanded Julius
suddenly, taking the bull by the horns, so to speak.
"I don't think I would, on a dare," replied the other calmly, yet
deliberately, as he smiled at the speaker; "but if there was any good and
sufficient reason for my doing the same, I'd agree to come alone, and
spend a whole night in the deserted quarry. However, I'm not
particularly hankering after the experience, so please don't try to hatch
up any wild scheme looking to that end. If you want to come, Julius,
you're welcome to the job."
Julius shuddered, and looked a bit pale at the very thought.
"Oh! I wasn't even dreaming of it, Hugh," he hastened to declare. "I'd
much prefer to being asleep in my own comfy bed at home when
midnight comes around, and the last thing on earth you'd catch me
doing would be out hunting spooks."
It was just as Julius finished saying this that they received a sudden
shock. A loud and