The summer holidays were again at hand. Before school closed, however, the head master, Mr. Meadows, intended to give a prize to the “student” who should write the best composition. Each one was at liberty to choose his or her own subject; and the whole six—except, perhaps, Steve and Jim—were resolved to do their best to win.

Of course this prize was to be given with due ceremony and parade. Still, it was not thought that any thing specially noteworthy would take place, and the affair would not be brought up except to show the mournful blunder made by Will.

A few days before this, the four most distinguished heroes—Will, Charles, Stephen, and George—assembled at their favorite resort, a mossy bank bordering the river. Here they hatched a horrible plot—a plot far exceeding in enormity and inhumanity the pitiful one contrived and executed by Bob on this same river a week or so before.

In order to show that these boys had no notion to what lengths their unchecked fancy might lead them, their whole conversation on this memorable occasion is given.

“Boys,” Charles began, “I wish we could plan some amusement for the holidays—something that would make it lively.”

“I think we have had enough of playing tricks,” Will said with disgust.

“We are older and wiser now than we used to be,” Charles replied, “and we should have more sense than to get ourselves into trouble any more.”

“What about Bob’s punishment?” asked George. “Didn’t we get into trouble enough then, and is that so very long ago?”

“Exceptions prove the rule!” Charles triumphantly retorted.

“Well, what is it that you mean to do?” Steve inquired lazily.

[261]

“Oh, I don’t know; nothing in particular;” Charles answered. “But let us lay our heads together, and plan something startling.”

“Very good; but who is the one to be startled?” the Sage asked. “According to all accounts, we boys have startled the inhabitants of this village quite enough. Only the other day I heard a good old lady say, in speaking of us, ‘Those awful boys! They carry consternation with them!’”

“Of course;” put in Steve. “And now that we’ve got our reputation up, we must keep it up. It would be very wrong for us to let our talents dwindle and rust away; so, Charley, if any new idea has come to you, let us know it.”

“You all know the old house away up this river?” Charles asked.

“Well, I guess we are acquainted with it,” Will replied. “But what about it? What could we do there?”

“It seems to me that it would be a good thing to go there and inspect it. I never went through it, but I should like to do that now. And when we get there, we should feel so romantic that we might hit on something—we might even lay a plot!”

“What would the owner say to us for inspecting his house?” George asked.

“Don’t you know that it has no owner?” Charley asked, in some surprise. “I’ve heard my father say that there has been a sign with ‘For Sale’ on it swinging there for twenty years. It’s such a crazy wreck that no person will rent it; and I guess by this time it is a heap of ruins, and not worth tearing down and carting away. There is only half an acre of ground belonging to it, and likely that is full of great weeds. The man who owns the place has more property, and he lets this go to ruin without remorse; but every year he comes along and picks the ten or twelve apples and pears off the old trees in the yard. He doesn’t care any more for it, and the house has been empty so long that it’s called ‘Nobody’s House.’ No one cares to live in such a place, so lonesome and gloomy, and with those ghostly fruit-trees and the[262] neglected fence, all looking like spectres. In fact, there is a story that the place is haunted!”

“You seem to know all about it, Charley,” said Steve. “I’ve seen it a long way off, and I’ve heard that it is haunted, but that is all.”

“Yes, I asked pa to tell me about it, for I want to go and explore the place some day,” Charles replied. “And it seems to me that it would be fun for us all to go some day. What a hubbub there would be if we all got there together! And I’m certain the ‘owner’ wouldn’t care, if we tear the old ruin all to pieces.”

“That’s a good idea!” said Steve, with sparkling eyes.

“Don’t you see, we might even take up our quarters there, it’s so far out of the way,” Charles continued. “No one would come to molest us; for more people than you suppose, believe the house is haunted, and never go near it.”

“I see what you’re thinking of,” said Steve. “You mean to bring that old ghost back to life!”

“Well, that might be done for a little by-play, but that isn’t what I meant,” Charley returned. “I know that boys in stories try to raise a ghost or two sometimes, when everything else fails them, but it wouldn’t be a profitable business for us. We don’t want to copy after such vagabond heroes; let us strike out in another line.”

“Well, if you have laid any plot, tell us what it is,” Stephen said impatiently.

“Boys, I want to hatch a plot, with that shell of a house for our head-quarters; but I want your help, for I don’t know how to go to work. As I said before, I haven’t thought of any thing yet.”

“Don’t tell us what you ‘said before,’ Charley;” said Will. “It sounds too much like a lecturer reminding the people of what he has said, just as if he thought they didn’t pay attention enough to him to remember a word of his speech.”

“Well, boys, I have an idea at last,” Charles said slowly, after a long pause. “Let us persuade some one to go there, thinking a great villain has a prisoner there.”

“Pshaw! Who would believe that!” said George, contemptuously.

[263]

“Wait till we get everything arranged,” Charles rejoined grimly. “This is a good idea, George, and I can prove it to you. And now that I have thought of it, I am going to work it out. We might even compose a letter, begging for help, and seeming to come from some lonely prisoner in that house, guarded by jailers and villains, and afraid of being put to death.”

“I don’t know who would be foolish enough to be caught by such a letter,” George replied laughingly.

“Well, let us try it, anyway; and if we succeed it will be capital sport,” said Stephen, interested already in the scheme. “But who will be the victim, the fellow to be imposed on?” he asked suddenly. “Surely none of us, after what we have said, will be foolish enough to be trapped.”

“Hardly,” said Charles, with a smile. “But Marmaduke isn’t with us; let us make him the dupe.”

“Why single out Marmaduke?” asked Will.

“Well, the victim must be one of ourselves, and Marmaduke knows nothing about our plot, of course. And besides, he is so full of mysteries and romance that if he should get such a letter, he would believe every word in it, and be mad to plan a rescue. His notions about such things are so queer that it will do him good to be wakened up.”

“If Marmaduke is the one to be awakened,” George said, “I think your plan may succeed very well; because, poor fellow, he is always expecting to light on some prodigious mystery. I must give in, Charley, that it would be fun to drop such a letter some place where Marmaduke would be sure to find it, and then we could hide ourselves and see the result. How he would rave at the thought of rescuing a captive!”

“Doesn’t it seem to you, boys, that it would be rather a mean trick to play on anyone, especially on a schoolfellow?” Will asked.

“Certainly it seems mean,” Charles replied, “but it is only for fun, and Marmaduke would enjoy it at the time, and soon get over his anger when we explained everything. Of course, we will be and careful not to do anything too wicked.”

[264]

“Well, it is bad to stir up such a boys anger,” Will persisted.

“Let me improve on your plot,” Steve ventured to say. “Let us suppose that a beautiful French young lady was stolen by an enemy of her father’s and brought over to America, and imprisoned in ‘Nobody’s House.’ Let her write a wild appeal for help, which we will drop in Marmaduke’s path.”

“That’s going a little too far,” Charley said decidedly. “I shouldn’t like to meddle in such a desperate game as that.”

“Wouldn’t a French captive be apt to write a letter in her own language?” Will asked, as though he were overseeing that scheme.

“That would be the fun of it,” Stephen answered. “A letter in genuine French would draw a less romantic boy than Marmaduke.”

“Very true,” said George. “But could you write such a letter?”

“Of course not—Mr. Meadows himself couldn’t, perhaps. Ten to one, Marmaduke would think he could do it perfectly.”

“Marmaduke may be rather foolish,” said Charles, “but I doubt whether he would write such a letter, and then be imposed on by it!”

“Do you take me for a fool?” cried Stephen, with theatrical indignation. “Now, Will’s cousin Henry can scribble French like a supercargo, Will says—let us get him to do it.”

“The very thing!” cried Charles and George in a breath. “Come, Will, we are going to do this, and you must help us,” the former requested.

“I don’t like your ideas at all, boys,” Will replied, “but if you are bound to do it, why, I don’t want to be left out, and so I’ll write to Henry, and get him to come here. He spoke of coming soon when he wrote to me last; and now I’ll ask him to hurry along as soon as the holidays begin.”

“You’re a jewel, Will!” all three exclaimed in excitement.

[265]

“Oh, we’ll hatch a famous plot, won’t we, boys?” and Steve, the speaker, clawed the ground as though he were a demon or a hag.

“It’s my turn to suggest something now,” the Sage observed. “When Marmaduke sets out for the prison-house, we, of course must go with him. Let Henry and Stephen, or whoever we may think best, slip on in advance, and represent the prisoner and the fiendish villain when we arrive.”

A shout of acclamation greeted this new proposal.

“The plot is getting pretty thick,” said Steve. “And now, what about the ghost in the back-ground?”

“Oh, we might manage to have a ghost appear to Marmaduke, but we can attend to that afterwards,” Charles returned. “Now, Will,” he added, “its your turn to improve on our plot—what do you suggest?”

“I shall leave that for my cousin to do,” Will answered. “Unless I’m out of my reckoning, he will make improvements on the original plan that will astonish us all; for it is as natural for Henry to lay plots as it is for Steve to play tricks.”

&ld............