“Yes, sir, near the falls. There is an old mill up there. We were coming along the mill road when all of a sudden the Thing, whatever it was, rushed at us. We ran and it came after us! Oh, I thought my last moment on earth had come!” gasped Sabine, shaking afresh over the recollection of what had occurred. “This is strange, to say the least,” mused the master of the school. “How did it look to you, Paxton?” “I can’t tell you any more than I have, sir,” was the reply. “It was ghostlike and half-man and half-beast, and it had a loud voice and that stick of fire. It came at us so—so ferociously that we had to run for fear of being killed on the spot!” This was all either Paxton or Sabine could tell. They stuck to their tale so persistently that Captain Putnam felt compelled to believe them. “I’ll investigate in the morning,” said he. “It is probably some trick.” “Maybe it was played by some of the Pornell students,” suggested Bart Conners. “Possibly. Now go to bed, all of you, and let me hear no more alarms.” Once again the cadets retired. Pepper walked off with Jack and Andy. “Jack, what do you make of this?” asked Pepper. “Oh, it was some trick,” answered the young major. “But did you hear what they said—that it happened near that old mill, the Robertson mill?” “That’s so,” mused Jack. “The place that Bert Field was asking about, and the spot some claim is haunted.” “I don’t think the Pornell fellows would play that trick,” said Andy. “They wouldn’t dare—so close on their other doings.” “I’d like to investigate this on my own account,” continued Pepper. “I am very curious to visit that haunted mill, and I am curious to know why Bert Field is interested in it.” “Well, you may get a chance some day,” answered Jack; and there the talk had to come to an end. In the morning the majority of the cadets were sleepy and inclined to lay around after inspection and breakfast and take it easy. Paxton and Sabine were again questioned, and Captain Putnam departed on horseback, to investigate their story. “Looks as if it was going to rain,” said Andy, and he was right, and soon the drops commenced to fall. It was a steady downpour, lasting until the middle of the afternoon and the boys were glad enough to keep under shelter, only the guards being out, wearing their rubber coats. In the midst of the storm Captain Putnam came back. He held a long talk with George Strong and then called in Paxton and Sabine. “I do not know what scared you,” said the master of the school. “I rode around the old mill and found it locked and nailed up and nobody in sight. As you were badly frightened I will not punish you for leaving the camp without permission. But do not do it again, or I will punish you severely.” And there the matter rested.