The Galloping Ghost | Page 6

to the topmost log. It did not yield to his pull.

"Spiked on the other side."
He tried the second one.
"Ah!"
It came away. Without a sound he placed it at his feet. A second, a third,
fourth, fifth. Still no sound.
An opening three feet wide now lay before him. He put out a hand. It
touched some one. groping about, he found the girl's hand, then guided
her through the opening.
"It is strange," he thought. "I have never seen this person. Is she dark or
fair, beautiful or ugly?"
One or two things he could know. She was short and rather plump. Her
muscles were hard. He was surprised at this. He had supposed that rich
men's daughters were always, soft and white.
He drew the girl to a place on the bench beside him.
She was trembling. As her shoulder pressed against his, he felt the wild
beating of her heart. This would never do. She must be calm.
As for his own feelings, he had gone cold all over, just, as he had at the
beginning of every gridiron battle.
"Warm enough when time comes for action," he told himself. It had
always been that way.
The time for action had not yet come. They continued to listen there in
the dark; a boy and a girl; the girl kidnaped for ransom which she
refused to assist in collecting, the boy carried away and held for he
knew not what.
The ticking of their watches sounded loud in this lonely place. Water
lapped on the shore. From time to time there came a low bump-bump.

"Rowboat tied to the dock," Red whispered to the girl. "Wonder if we
could get it?"
She made no reply From somewhere back in the forest a hoot owl
began his silly noise. Red did not know what it was.
He asked the girl about it. She explained briefly.
"Hope he keeps it up," he sighed. "Cover up any little nasty sounds we
may stir up."
"Will there be noises?" The girl seemed to shrink.
Then suddenly her form stiffened. "Count me in on-- on anything. They
are dirty dogs, these kidnapers; deserve the worst!"
"Yes, the very worst!" Red agreed.
He felt loath to leave this place of warmth and momentary peace. There
was something altogether agreeable about being so near to this girl he
had never seen. "Well, the zero hour approaches."
"Yes." She sprang to her feet. "Let's make it now!"
"Now it is."
He rose to stand beside her. So for one full moment, side by side in the
dark, they stood.
At last, with a long-drawn sigh, he seized her hand to lead her out into
the night.
CHAPTER IV
THE GHOST APPEARS
THE mysterious disappearance of Red Rodgers, or the Red Rover, as
every one knew him, caused a great commotion. Had a President been
assassinated it could not have caused a greater stir.

Not an hour had passed after he vanished before the newspapers came
out with an extra with a story telling in detail all that was known about
the affair.
"Red Rover," the story ran has never cared for crowds. Being the star of
the team, he has often of late been all but mobbed by impetuous youths,
foolish old women and infatuated girls. For this reason he had formed a
friendship with the watchman at the tracks by the river where the trains
are made up. Tonight, once safely past this watchman, he went directly
to his berth and turned in for the night.
"It is to be assumed that he fell asleep at once for, though the watchman
was not two hundred yards away, he heard no outcry such as might be
expected had the boy been surprised while asleep and gagged before
fully awake.
"There are few clues," the story went on to state. "In their haste the
kidnapers dragged a pillow from the berth. It was this pillow, standing
out white in the moonlight, that attracted the watchman's attention. The
watchman distinctly recalls hearing the sudden whir and thunder of a
powerful motor shortly before making this discovery. He believes this
to have been the motor of a speed boat, and has the impression that it
went south.
"Various motives have been brought forward. The Rover, some say,
was kidnaped for ransom. He is the all-important factor in the game to
be played at the end of the week. Without him Old Midway cannot
hope to win. For this reason the kidnapers may have believed that a
sum might be extorted from officials of the university for his return.
Knowing the stand that President Lovell of Old Midway has taken
against kidnapers, and the work the Crime Institute of that university
has done in this connection, it is the