The Mercer Boys in the Ghost Patrol

by Capwell Wyckoff

  10 Emergency Service

  The drill was going on merrily. It was four days after the fire at theHyde place and the cadets had recovered from the effects of theirstrenuous experience. On the day following the fire the colonel hadordered the suspension of the daily routine and a number of burns hadbeen treated. Weary muscles and sore lungs had been rested to goodadvantage and now the swing of things was once more in evidence.

  All of the units were having infantry drill. Even the cavalry andinfantry divisions were compelled to drill with rifles every so often,and today, under Major Rhodes, a graduate of the school and one of theregular staff, they were hard at it. The sun beat down upon them from aclear sky but by this time the cadets were well used to it. The hottestdays failed to shake them in their tasks.

  Suddenly the colonel appeared and called the major. There was a hurriedconference and then the major went back to his position. Crisply hecalled: “Battalion, attention! Count off in fours!”

  The count ran along the line. At a further word the guns were dropped torest and the cadets faced the colonel. He spoke to them in a ringingvoice.

  “Gentlemen of the Corps, we are faced with another call to duty. A goodmany serious things have happened while we have been here on the Ridge,but this is the most serious of them all. The little daughter of thefarmer who supplies us with food has been lost or kidnapped!”

  The closely packed ranks stirred. The colonel went on: “A number oforganized groups are at present looking for this child all over theRidge. We have not been asked to help, but of course it is our duty andwe will form searching parties at once. There will be no more officialduties until the child has been found or until some definite word hasbeen received as to her whereabouts. I trust you will dutifullyprosecute the search until every inch of the Ridge and the surroundingcountry has been scoured.”

  The colonel saluted the major and turned away.

  There was a total silence in the corps but eyes flashed with excitement.

  “Companies dismissed,” ordered Major Rhodes.

  The cadets broke ranks and stacked arms. From then on things moved fast.In groups the young soldiers formed for the search. It was decided thatthey would remain away from camp for the night if necessary, andknapsacks were hastily packed. While Don, Jim and Terry were preparing,Vench and Douglas hurried to their tent.

  “Suppose we five form a bunch of our own,” Douglas suggested.

  “Sure,” responded Don. “I think our best move would be to go to theCarson house and find out where the little girl was last seen. Then wecan map out our campaign from that point.”

  This was agreed to and the cadets hurried off down the road. It was justnoontime and they wanted to get in every bit of work they could whilethe daylight remained.

  “That was the cute little girl we were playing with the day we had thepie,” observed Vench, as they hurried along. “I certainly hope nothinghas happened to her.”

  “I hope not,” agreed Don. “It’s possible that she just wandered offsomewhere. Wonder who told the colonel about it?”

  “Little Jimmie Carson,” said Jim promptly. “I saw him come into campjust as we were leaving for drill.”

  It did not take them long to reach the Carson house, which they found tobe thronged with visitors. Men from the neighboring houses had come todo their bit by searching and the strong Ridge women had come to consolethe heartbroken mother. Mrs. Carson was delighted to see the boys.

  “Oh, you have come to help look for Dorothy?” she cried, seizing Don’shands.

  “Our colonel has ordered the whole cadet corps to keep searching untilwe find the little one,” Don smiled. “We have divided up in bands toscour the country.”

  “How very kind of your colonel—and of you!” cried the frightened woman.“With so many looking for the child I don’t see why she shouldn’t befound.”

  “Unless she’s past finding!” croaked an old lady with a sad air andmournful eyes.

  “She isn’t past finding,” snapped Jim, impatiently. “I haven’t any doubtthat we’ll locate her. Now, Mrs. Carson, where was she last seen?”

  “She went out last night about nine o’clock to bring in a rag doll thatshe had left out under the grape arbor,” replied the farmer’s wife. “Iheld the door open for her, so that she would surely find her way in,but she didn’t, poor little soul. Oh, I’m so sorry that I ever let hergo out. We searched the yard immediately, but we couldn’t find a traceof her, and she didn’t answer our calls.”

  “Thank you,” said Don gently. “Then she disappeared from her own backyard?”

  “Yes,” nodded Mrs. Carson, wiping her eyes.

  At that moment the county sheriff, a tall and disagreeable-looking mannamed Blount, swaggered into the room. It was evident that he regardedhimself as the most important person there and as his eyes fell on thecadets his brow darkened.

  “Humph!” he grunted. “So those soldier kids are looking too, eh? Well,they won’t find anything.”

  Terry looked at the sheriff’s shoes, and then allowed his eyes to travelslowly up the entire length of his body until he had seen all of him.The sheriff reddened and then blustered.

  “Well, what’s the matter with you?” he cried.

  “Nothing,” returned Terry, mildly. “I’ve never really seen an importantman before and I wanted to get a good look now that I am close to one!”

  “Say, I’ll run you kids—” began the angry sheriff, as a slight snickerwent up. But Don cut him short.

  “Come on, you fellows,” he called. “We have work to do. No use standingaround wasting breath on useless subjects.”

  “Nice kindly old soul, that sheriff,” growled Vench, when the cadetswere again outside.

  “He isn’t worth thinking about,” said Don. “Now, boys, let’s get on thejob.”

  Their first job was to look under the grape arbor, but scores of feethad churned up the ground so that nothing could be learned from it. Theyleft the yard and struck off into the woods.

  “Too bad we couldn’t find a clue under the arbor,” grumbled Terry.

  “I doubt if there were any clues,” advanced Jim. “Some of the men wouldhave seen them in the first place. After all, we aren’t detectives, andour job is to beat up the Ridge much in the manner of going over it witha fine-tooth comb.”

  “That is true,” nodded Vench. “Suppose we don’t run across her tonight?Are you going back to camp?”

  “No,” decided Don. “We’d only lose time. We’ll stay here and get a freshstart early in the morning. The colonel wants us to stay right on thejob until some trace of her is found.”

  “How are we to know if she is found?” Douglas asked.

  “A cannon will be fired three times,” replied Terry. “That’s the signalfor recall.”

  Throughout the entire afternoon and early evening the cadets trampedover the Ridge, going to parts of the rolling hills that they had neverseen before. There was no sign of the little one, although they kepttheir eyes wide open, and it was quite late before they struck camp forthe night. They made a fire and spread out their blankets andprovisions.

  While they ate darkness descended over the Ridge. The meal was a goodone and the tired cadets ate heartily. Afterward they discussed thewisdom of keeping watch.

  “Not that anyone will come along and gobble us up,” said Terry, “but ifthat child should call out in the night we’d miss her if we were allasleep.”

  “That’s true,” Jim said. “And, anyway, I think we ought to have a firegoing all night. We’ll want one in the morning. That ghost is some humanbeing bent on mischief and we must keep our eyes open for him. I’m surehe’s mixed up in this thing, somehow.”

  This was agreed to and the boys figured out watches for themselves.During the evening, before they went to sleep, they sat around on theirblankets and talked quietly, listening for any call or unusual sound.None came and at nine o’clock they decided to turn in.

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nbsp; Throughout the night the separate watches were faithfully kept and thecadet who sat watch listened to the night sounds. But when the morningfinally came and they rolled out at daybreak, not one of them had hearda single sound that would lead them to hope.

  “We’ll have to put in a good hard day,” Don said, as they ate the lastof their sandwiches.

  Terry scrambled to his feet. “I’m going down to the brook and fill mycanteen,” he announced. “I don’t know where there is a spring around andthat brook looks perfectly all right.”

  “Maybe you had better boil the water and make sure before you drink it,”Vench suggested.

  Terry went back into the bushes some fifty feet until he found agurgling little brook. The water looked cool and refreshing as itbubbled around the stones, and the redhead bent down to fill hiscanteen. It was then that a sound reached him, a sound that caused himto straighten up.

  “Now, did the brook make that sound?” he wondered.

  But it came again and Terry hesitated no longer. With a single bound hehopped across the water and parted the bushes on the other side. There,in a tiny hollow like a cave, her feet wet and her clothing covered withmud, sat the little Carson girl, her eyes red with weeping and her faceswollen from her contact with vines and branches. She stared in wildterror at Terry as he broke his way through the bushes, but as he spoketo her the look faded for one of glad recognition.

  A trembling gladness filled the boy. With a smothered cry he jumped atthe child, sweeping her in his arms and pressing her to him as thoughshe had been his own.

  “You blessed little mischief-maker!” he choked. “What are you doing outhere?”

  “The ghost, he chase me,” wailed the child, beginning to tremble. “I gofor my dolly and the ghost come after me. I want my mama.”

  “You’re going to have your mama,” promised Terry. “So that confoundedghost is at the bottom of it, is he?”

  “Yes, he chase me,” sighed the child. “You’re the soldier that atemama’s pie.”

  “That’s right,” grinned Terry. “Come along, I’m going to take you home.”

  He gathered the little body in his arms, easily jumped the creek, andfairly flew back to the camp. The others were rolling up their bundlesas he dashed up.

  “Took you a long time to get that water,” Jim hailed.

  “I’ll show you what kind of water I got,” whooped the happy redhead.“Allow me to introduce Miss Dorothy Carson!”

  A medley of cries greeted the good news and the child and Terry werenearly knocked over in the rush. Dorothy Carson was pawed by the boysbut did not seem to mind it.

  “Where’d you find her?” Don asked, squeezing Terry’s arm.

  “Heard her crying back of some bushes,” was the reply. “That darned oldghost chased her away from the house.”

  The return journey was swiftly made to Carson’s house and the mother wasnearly frantic with joy. At the farmhouse they found the colonel withMajor Rhodes, and together they all listened to the story of the childregarding the ghost. She had gone out to get the doll, had seen thefearful shape near the chicken house, and too terrified to call out shehad run away into the hills, where she had wandered until Terry hadfound her.

  The boys were overwhelmed with thanks and praises and Terry’s facebecame as red as his hair. The boastful sheriff was away at the timewith a posse and there was no one to resent their success. After a happytime at the house they all went back to camp. Terry had the honor offiring the “Gossip” three times as the recall. Before two o’clock theentire corps was back in camp, eagerly exchanging news. All of them hadsearched faithfully.

  Just before taps that night Jordan, Terry, Don, Jim, Douglas and Venchwere requested to report to the colonel after drill on the followingday. Wondering what could be in the wind the cadets went to bed, tosleep soundly after their strenuous search.