WE have already described the other tests to which Don put his disguise during the forenoon, and we know that every one who saw him believed him to be old Jordan’s ghost. Godfrey, especially, was greatly alarmed, and Don had the satisfaction of seeing him run, which was a sight worth going miles to behold. The magical manner in which he appeared and vanished, was very bewildering to all who witnessed it; but it would have been no mystery at all, had they been aware that the window that led into old Jordan’s room was unfastened. As they could see nothing of Don after he went behind the corn-crib, they naturally concluded that he had vanished into thin air. In no other way could they account for his disappearance.

Don had wasted a good deal of time in these experiments, and now the ringing of the dinner-bell admonished him that he must pull off his disguise,[Pg 249] and hurry back to the house. Another thing that warned him to make haste, was the knowledge that he had thrown the negroes into a state of great excitement and alarm. He was afraid they might tell his parents what they had seen, and that would bring about an investigation.

“It would never do to be caught in the act,” thought Don, as he hastily pulled off old Jordan’s clothes and bundled them into the chest. “I don’t know what father would say to me. But didn’t Godfrey run, though? I declare it seems selfish for me to enjoy all this fun by myself. I wish I had some good fellow to help me laugh!”

Don stopped for a few minutes to indulge in a very hearty but silent fit of merriment, and then having put on his clothes, and wiped the black off his hands and face with a damp cloth which he had taken the precaution to bring with him, he glanced about the room to make sure that he had left everything just as he had found it, and went out, locking the door behind him. He reached the house and made his way to his room without being seen, and having performed a hasty toilet, went down to the dining-room in time to learn that the measures he had taken to frighten Godfrey Evans, had succeeded almost too[Pg 250] well. One of the servant girls was standing at the door showing a good deal of the whites of her eyes, and looking altogether as if she were highly excited about something.

“It’s all nonsense, Jane,” Don heard his mother say.

“No odds, missus,” replied the girl. “Sam say he can’t hitch up dem hosses no mo’. He wouldn’t go nigh dat barn, he say, fur no money in dis broad world. He done seed it, suah.”

Don, well knowing what it was that the girl referred to, and hardly able to control himself, so great was his desire to laugh, glanced about the table to see what the family thought about it. They were all there, and their faces expressed the greatest astonishment. Even the general elevated his eye-brows, and turned about in his chair to look at the girl. Don sat down in his place and tried to look as surprised as the rest did; and then recollecting that he had yet seen or heard nothing to be surprised at, he asked:

“What’s the matter?”

“Why, mother just sent out word to Sam to hitch up the horses,” said Bert, “and he sent back word that he couldn’t think of it.”

[Pg 251]“Why not?” inquired Don.

“O, because he’s got it into his head that there’s something out there—something that looks like old Jordan.”

“Never mind, Jane. I will look into the matter after dinner,” said the general.

The girl disappeared, and the family being left alone, devoted themselves to the viands before them and to discussing the strange incidents that were reported to have happened at the barn during the forenoon. Don found that, for a wonder, the story of his exploits had been told without the exaggeration common in such cases, but, to keep up appearances, he was obliged to feign ignorance, and inquire particularly into things. Bert and his mother declared that it was all moonshine—that the hostler had not seen anything; but the general was pretty well convinced that something had happened, and that an investigation would not be out of place. It was a wonder that no one suspected Don, and perhaps the reason was because he looked so innocent.

The investigation came off immediately after dinner, but nothing new was brought to light. The hostler told his story in a straightforward manner and produced his witnesses to prove what he said;[Pg 252] and so positive were they all that they had seen Jordan’s haunt about the barn but a few hours before, that the general began to think that perhaps the old fellow had returned after his long absence, but, for some reason which he could not explain, was keeping himself as close as possible. The general tried to laugh the matter off at first, but soon found that it was much too serious for that; and his face assumed an expression of trouble and anxiety when he found that the field hands, one and all, had sent him word by the hostler that when night came, they would call on him for the money that was due them.

“I am really afraid I have made a mess of it,” thought Don, when he heard this. “I had no idea that I was going to scare everybody so badly, and I wish now I hadn’t done it. No matter, it will soon be over now. I’ll frighten Godfrey to-night, if he comes after that barrel, and then I’ll never play old Jordan again!”

The general looked grave and seemed greatly perplexed, and so did Mrs. Gordon; while the boys, Don among the rest, declared that there must be some explanation for the strange things that had happened in the barn that morning, and spent the rest of the day in trying to clear away the mystery.[Pg 253] They looked in every place, except the one in which they would have been the most likely to find some clue to aid them in their search, and hunted for everything except the right one. They all believed now—all except Don, of course—that old Jordan had come back, and they looked everywhere for him, except in his room. They knew he could not have gone in there if he had been so disposed, for the door was locked.

Night came at last, and so did all the negroes employed on the plantation, who asked for their money. The general, knowing that it would be of no use to argue with them, declined to pay them off until the year for which they were hired was ended; but he promised that, if they saw the apparition again and would show it to him, he would settle with them at once and let them all go. Don breathed easier after that. He was afraid that his propensity for mischief was about to occasion his father great inconvenience, and he was glad that the trouble could be averted without a confession on his part. He told himself that his father would never see the apparition. He would take precious good care to avoid that.

Don did not put on old Jordan’s clothes that night, because Godfrey did not come to the potato-patch as[Pg 254] he had agreed. Clarence waited and watched for him until nine o’clock, and as soon as he could slip away from his relatives the next morning, he went down to Godfrey’s cabin to see what had kept him at home. Don followed him at a distance, and saw that his cousin held a long and earnest conversation with Godfrey, and that he seemed to be very much elated about something when he came back. By putting these two things together, Don arrived at the conclusion that Godfrey would be on hand that night, and so he was. Don happened to be on the watch when he went into the summer-house; and knowing that Godfrey would not come so far unless he intended to go the rest of the way, he ran back to the house to get ready for him. It was certainly provoking, when he was in so great a hurry, to find the kitchen occupied by two servants, who would surely see him if he took the key to Jordan’s room down from its nail, and who, besides, would be certain to speak about it. They must be got out of the room somehow, and there was no time to waste.

“Jane,” said Don, suddenly, “did you hear mother calling you?”

“No, sar,” replied the girl, jumping up.

“I didn’t either,” was Don’s mental comment, as[Pg 255] she hurried away. “Ben,” he added, turning to the old negro who sat in the chimney-corner, “what did old preacher Hudson want of you just a few minutes ago?”

“Sar?” exclaimed Ben. “I didn’t see no preacher Hudson to-day, sar!”

“Why, wasn’t he out at the gate just now calling for you?”

“Mebbe so, sar,” replied Ben, rising and picking up his hat, “but I didn’t see him. Mebbe he’s dar now.”

“I don’t think he is,” said Don, to himself, “but it will not hurt you to go out and see; and in the meantime——”

Don put the key into his pocket as soon as Ben was out of sight, and lost no time in making his way to the barn. At the door he met the hostler.

“Time to lock up now, Mr. Don,” said the latter, “but I’se a little jubus ’bout dat barn, sar. Yes, sar, I’se a little jubus!”

“Well, then, go back to your quarters and I will lock the doors,” replied Don.

The hostler, glad to be relieved of so disagreeable a duty, turned and went off, and Don, after closing all the doors, and locking all except one, hurried[Pg 256] into old Jordan’s room. It was the work of but a few minutes to put on the negro’s clothes and black his face and hands; and this being done, he seized a shovel, and stealing out of the barn, climbed the fence and ran across the potato-patch. About thirty yards from the fence he stopped, and crouching down close to the ground, waited to see what was going to happen. Presently he heard cautious footsteps, and a few seconds later two heads appeared above the top rail of the fence.

“There they are,” thought Don, his heart beating rapidly with excitement. “Now I’ll see if either of them has courage enough to come over the fence after they find out I am here.”

As these thoughts passed through Don’s mind he arose to his feet, and driving his shovel into the ground began throwing out the dirt so rapidly, that in a very short space of time he had dug a hole as large as a moderate workman would have been able to dig in ten minutes. He worked till the perspiration started out all over him, but kept his eyes fastened on the two heads, which could be seen plainly above the fence. He knew that the owners of the heads heard the sound of the shovel, and that they were listening to it and talking about it. They stood[Pg 257] there at the fence so long that Don began to think they were too badly frightened to come any nearer.

“I am afraid I haven’t managed this thing quite right,” thought Don. “I ought to have let them come into the field first, and then showed myself to them while they were at work. Godfrey will never come within reach of me again while I have these clothes on.”

Very likely Godfrey never would, if he had been left to himself; but Don had somebody else to contend with, and that was his cousin Clarence, upon whom he had thus far scarcely bestowed a thought. Clarence had more courage then Godfrey. He had almost too much, Don afterward thought, when he found himself tied up in the potato-hole.

The two stood at the fence and talked and listened for a few minutes, and then to Don’s great surprise, and somewhat to his alarm, they jumped over into the field and came toward him, Clarence leading the way.

Don had half a mind to throw down his shovel and take to his heels; but suppose he had done so, and the swift-footed Godfrey, emboldened by his flight, had followed and caught him! What then? It would have turned the joke upon himself, and[Pg 258] besides Clarence would have found that his cousin was acquainted with his secret, and that was something Don did not want him to know.

“I am between two fires,” thought Don, almost ready to laugh in spite of his fear of detection, “and for once in my life I have overreached myself. I am sure to be found out, no matter whether I run away or stay here, and then what will Clarence think of himself? Could he ever face father again, after entering into a c............