"That must have been Barney that Bart and I saw." "But the walking ?" Hodge dubiously questioned.
"And why should he be in hiding ?" Diamond demanded.
"Some men love darkness, because their deeds are evil," Dismal droned.
"Well, you may be sure that Barney's deeds were not evil," said Frank, "Barney is straight, and true blue." Night was at hand when the launch cast anchor in the shallow harbor in front of Glen Springs and sent a boat ashore with Merry and the friends he had chosen for the vigil of the coming hours of darkness.

The landlord of the little hotel was not pleased that they had returned for the purpose of capturing the "ghost," though he was beginning, as he confessed, to feel "creepy" about it himself.
"I was intendin' to set up and watch for it, if you hadn't come," he finally admitted.
No one answering to Barney's description had been seen in Glen Springs through the day.

In fact, no stranger whatever had been seen in the place from the time the launch went away until it returned.
"It's mighty curious," Bart grimly observed.
"I have a feeling that we will learn to-night just what it is," said Merriwell.
Frank occupied his old room, and sat at the window with Hodge, while Diamond, Rattleton, and Bruce remained in the office.

The doors leading to the corridor were at first closed.

Merry looked at his watch after the lights were put out in the part of the building occupied by the landlord and his family.
"It ought to be coming around again pretty soon," Bart remarked, finding it impossible to escape a queer, uneasy feeling, anxious as he was to see the specter, and determined as he was to effect its capture if it again appeared.
As he said it, the sounds of those mysterious steps were again heard in the corridor, and they heard the occupants of the office fling open the door.
"You weren't walking in here ?" Diamond demanded.
"Not on your life!" Bart answered.
"But we heard some one!" "Of course you did, and so did we.