It was chilly and draughty in the old structure, but the fire made it more cheerful than otherwise it would have been, and the boys really began rather to enjoy their odd adventure. “But if only the ghost would walk!” exclaimed Phil about nine o’clock. “Hark! What’s that?” exclaimed Blake in a whisper. “The wind rattling some of the old windows,” answered Jack. “Go on—it’s your move.” “I’m going to move to bed,” yawned Phil. “You fellows can wake me up when it’s my turn to watch.” “Go ahead,” assented Jack, for he and Blake had to finish the deciding game of checkers, and it was at an interesting stage just then. It was harder to awaken Phil than they thought, when the two decided to stretch out on the old bags about twelve o’clock. Nothing had disturbed them, and as Phil, stretching and yawning, got up he remarked: “Say, this isn’t as much fun as I thought it would be. What will one of you fellows take to stand watch for me?” “Go on! Do your duty!” exclaimed Blake. He and Jack made themselves as comfortable as they could on the floor, with the bags for mattresses; and they got close to the fire, for the night seemed to get colder. There was plenty of wood, however. Probably Phil tried not to go to sleep—he said afterward that it couldn’t have been more than a minute that he dozed off, but the fact was that it was getting daylight when he awoke again. He sat up, rubbing his eyes in surprise, and, for a moment, hardly able to remember where he was. Then he saw Jack stretching and yawning, and Blake turning over. “Oh, what a hard bed!” complained Jack. Then something seemed to recall a matter to him, and he cried out: “Why didn’t you call me Phil, to stand my second trick; eh?” “Because—er—I,” stammered Phil. “Say, you slept the rest of the night through after we woke you that time!” cried Blake. “Well—er—I guess I did. But so did you fellows!” “But, you didn’t call us,” objected Jack. “How could we? Say, we’re hot ghost-hunters, we are!” “I don’t believe there is any such animal,” declared Blake. “Come on, let’s finish up the sandwiches and get back to camp. The girls may have been looking for us, and be worried when they find we’re not home.” Jack was looking about with a puzzled expression. “Say, fellows,” he began, “didn’t we have two lanterns with us?” “We sure did,” answered Phil. “Well, there’s only one here now, and all those sandwiches are gone.” “Rats!” exclaimed Blake. “Well, they are, I’m not joking,” protested Jack. “Oh, I used the word rats in its real meaning—not as slang,” explained Blake. “I meant that rats had carried off the sandwiches.” “Well, they didn’t carry off a lantern,” declared Phil. “That’s sure. And my knife is gone. I left it on the checker-board.” “And my match-box!” cried Blake. “The one——” “Never mind her name—we know who gave it to you!” mocked Jack. “But, fellows, this is queer.” The three chums looked at each other. Then Blake said: