CHAPTER XIII

JOFFY SEES A “GHOST”

Following a low-voiced conversation among the boys, to which Andy Rush, in recognition of the service he had rendered, was admitted, Bob exclaimed:

“That’s the stuff! That ought to cure him of bothering us. How soon can you have it ready, Jerry?”

“In a couple of days. I’ll work on it at odd times, as I don’t want things here to get behind. There’s lots to do yet on the airship.”

“I hope you boys are not going to desert me,” remarked Mr. Glassford, as he overheard Jerry’s closing words. “I’ll need your help every day now.”

“No, we’re only getting up a little plan to scare that old nuisance, Joffy, and keep him away from this tent,” explained Jerry. “If we don’t, he’s likely to damage our _Comet_.”

“Indeed, he is. Scare him good and proper while you’re at it. But now, if you’re ready, we’ll adjust the planes and see how they look.”

The boys were very busy the remainder of the day, and when they were finished the airship looked more than ever like a machine that would navigate the upper regions. It was large and imposing, and would be more so when the car containing the machinery was in position.

That night Jerry and his chums spent several hours in the big tent, taking cautious observations outside, every now and then, to see that neither Noddy nor Joffy were sneaking around to spy on them. The motor boys were not much bothered by the lads of the town, for they had promised all the youngsters, who did not annoy them by trying to gain admittance to the tent at forbidden times, a trip in the airship.

“Well, it’s ’most done,” remarked Ned, when, close to midnight, the boys left the tent, a watchman being on guard to insure that no damage would come to the _Comet_.

“Yes, we did better than I thought we would,” admitted Jerry. “I can make the dummy to-morrow night and then, with a couple of lanterns fastened to it, we’ll be all ready to give Joffy something to think about.”

The next day the troublesome old man was seen around the tent, but he did not attempt to enter. Possibly he did not see a good chance to annoy the boys.

“Is everything ready, Jerry?” asked Bob that evening, when, after their day’s work on the airship, the four lads were gathered in the tent.

“All ready,” replied the chief conspirator. “All I have to do is daub a little phosphorus on the dummy and it will be in shape to do the ghost dance. But I don’t want to do that until the last minute. How’s the wind, Ned?”

“Good, and in the right direction. We can stand in the clearing, and let it go right over his cabin.”

“That’s the stuff. Well, we’ll start as soon as it gets a little darker.”

Jerry and his chums gathered up several mysterious-looking packages, and a little later they left the tent by the rear, crawling under the canvas to keep out of sight of any prying ones who might be gathered in front.

It was about a mile to where Sid Joffy lived alone in his cabin on the edge of the clearing. The boys soon covered the distance, however, and came to a halt in a little clump of woodland, just opposite the somewhat dilapidated shack where the shiftless man made his home.

“He’s in, for I can see a light in the cabin,” whispered Ned.

“There’s no telling by that,” replied Jerry. “He’d leave a lamp burning all day and night rather than take the trouble to blow it out. Sneak up there and take a look in.”

“I will,” volunteered Bob.

“No, Chunky, you’re too heavy to go lightly. Let Andy go. He’s small and not so easily seen. But hold your hand over your mouth, Andy, so you won’t get to talking by mistake.”

“I won’t,” promised the little chap, proud to be in on some scheme with his friends the motor boys.

He glided off into the darkness, and presently returned.

“Is Joffy there?” asked Ned.

“Yes, and some one’s with him.”

“Who?”

“Noddy Nixon!”

“Noddy! Then he’s probably plotting with Joffy to annoy us in some other way,” declared Jerry in a whisper. “Well, we’ll kill two birds with one stone, and give Noddy a scare too. Have you got the cord fastened on, Ned?”

“Yep. It’s all right. Easy, there, Bob, you nearly stepped through the kite.”

“Yes; don’t break that, or it’s all off,” cautioned Jerry, as he anxiously inspected a large box-kite, which was one of the things he and his chums had brought along. It was not damaged, and a little later it was silently rising through the air, floating in the direction of Joffy’s lonely cottage.

“Now for the dummy,” whispered Jerry. “Hold the kite string, Bob, while I fasten the ‘ghost’ on.”

Bob did as requested, and Jerry attached to the stout kite cord a light figure, in the shape of a man, but clad in ghostly white.

“Now for the phosphorus,” went on Jerry, when he had the dummy in place. “Don’t get it on your clothes, fellows.”

He poured a solution of the glowing stuff over the dummy, and then more cord was let out. There was a good breeze blowing, and soon the kite had carried the dummy right over the cabin.

“Now the lanterns,” ordered Jerry. “Hand ’em here, Ned.”

Ned passed over two red Chinese lanterns, in which candles were burning. They were fastened to the string, and when up in the air looked like two fiery eyes, staring down from the blackness, for the night was very dark.

“Say, that’s all to the lolly-pops!” exclaimed Andy in a hoarse whisper. “That’ll scare him out of a year’s growth.”

“It isn’t so bad,” admitted Jerry, “even if I did make it myself.”

He let out some more string, and then he and the other boys went a little nearer to the cabin, taking care to keep out of sight by crouching down behind the underbrush.

“All ready, fellows,” whispered Jerry a little while afterward. “Groan for all you’re worth!”

A moment later such a series of unearthly noises came from the depths of the woods that it sounded as though something dreadful had happened. The boys fairly outdid themselves.

“Here he comes!” said Jerry in a low voice, and a moment later a small patch of light, which had indicated that Joffy had opened his door, became larger, as he threw wide the portal.

The boys groaned more weirdly than before.

“What is it--cats?” the conspirators in their place of hiding heard some one from within the hut ask old Joffy. They recognized Noddy Nixon’s voice.

“I never knowed cats to be around here,” replied the man as he stepped from his cabin. He looked all about, and, of course, could see nothing. Then he gazed up.

No sooner had he done so than he let out a frightened yell, which drowned the noise of the groans.

“Look! See!” shouted Joffy, pointing upward. “It’s a ghost! It’s a ghost in the air over my cabin! It’s come to haunt me! I’m a dead man! This is a warnin’ to me! My days are numbered! Oh! the ghost! the ghost!”

Jerry gave the kite cord a yank, and the phosphorous-covered figure swayed weirdly high in the air.

“Oh, he’s comin’ after me!” screamed Joffy. “He’s comin’ to git me! Save me, Noddy, save me!”

Hardly able to keep up their groaning because of their laughter, the boys saw Noddy rush to the door. He looked up to where Joffy pointed, and he too saw the ghostly figure.

Jerry groaned in a blood-curdling manner, yanked the string until the strange figure danced again, and then in a hollow voice announced:

“Beware! Beware of the airship! Approach it not, or it will be your death. Beware! Beware!”

“Oh! oh! I’ll never go near it agin! Never! never! Not the longest day I live and draw the breath of life! Good Mr. Ghost, please don’t kill me this time, an’ I’ll be good! Please, please, good Mr. Ghost!”

Whether Joffy’s words took what little nerve Noddy had, or whether the sight of the ghost-like figure scared him, the boys could not determine, but with a frightened yell the bully dashed from the cabin and started across the clearing for town.

Jerry rapidly pulled in on the cord, and the figure in the air, with the two red points dangling below it, seemed to be rushing down from the sky to attack the fleeing youth. Joffy saw it, and with a frightened scream he, too, took to his heels and disappeared into the darkness after Noddy.

“They’ll never stop running until they get to the town,” announced Jerry, as he gave a final series of groans, in which the boys joined. “I guess we’ve taught both of them a lesson they won’t forget in a hurry,” and he proceeded to reel in the kite cord, to haul down the lanterns and the dummy.

“It worked better than I thought it would,” said Ned as the motor boys started for home in great glee at having played this trick on their mean enemies.