You aren't afraid to go into the attic, are you ?" he continued, seeing that the others hesitated.

"Why, of course there are no such things as ghosts.

Or, look here, I'll go in, and you can wait outside." "N--no, I don't mind," answered Vance; "and it'll be an awful lark catching them with their heads under the clothes." "All right, then, let's do it; though I suppose we'd better wait till every one's in bed." The last suggestion was agreed upon, and the three friends lay talking in an undertone until the sound of footsteps and the gleam of a candle above the door announced the fact that Mr.Blake was retiring to rest.
"He's always last," said Vance; "we must give him time to undress, and then we'll start." A quarter of an hour later the three boys, in semi-undress, were creeping in single file up the narrow staircase.
"Be careful," whispered Vance; "there are several loose boards, and they crack like anything." The small landing was reached in safety, and the moon, shining faintly through a little skylight formed of a single pane of glass, enabled them to distinguish the outline of two doors.
Now it was a very different matter, when lying warm and snug in bed, to talk about acting the ghost, from what it was, when standing shivering in the cold and darkness, to put the project into execution.

During the period of waiting the conversation had turned on haunted houses, and no one seemed particularly anxious to claim as it were the post of honour, and be the first to enter the big attic.
"Go on!" whispered Mugford, nudging Vance.
"Go on!" repeated the latter, giving Diggory's arm a gentle push.
The new boy had certainly undertaken to play the part of the ghost, and there was no excuse for his backing out of it at the last moment.
"All right," he muttered, "I'll go." Just then a terrible thing happened.

Diggory clutched the door-knob as though it were the handle of a galvanic battery, while Mugford and Vance seized each other by the arm and literally gasped for breath.
The stillness had been broken by a slight sound, as of something falling inside the attic, and this was followed a moment later by a shrill, unearthly scream.
For five seconds the three companions stood petrified with horror, not daring to move; then followed another scream, if anything more horrible than the last, and accompanied this time by the clanking rattle of a chain being dragged across the floor.
That was enough.