Chapter 8. In The Mud

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_ CHAPTER VIII. IN THE MUD

Mr. Lagg looked hopefully from one to the other of the Outdoor Girls. Clearly he was very much in earnest over his strange offer, and he saw nothing out of the ordinary in it. But it must be admitted that it is not every day four girls are asked to take a motor tour and solve the mystery of a ghost-haunted house. Betty and her chums evidently realized that.

Betty finally spoke.

"Well," she said, slowly, "we would like to do you a favor, Mr. Lagg, and we wouldn't want you to pay us----"

"I won't have you undertake it on any other basis," he interrupted. "If you solve that mystery for me it will be a big favor, and worth paying for. I might make up a verse about that part of it, but I won't take your time. But please consider it."

"If we did it at all," spoke Mollie, "we would do it as a favor to you, for you have been very kind to us. But I don't like to promise to undertake it. I'm sure mamma would object."

"I wouldn't want to stay all night in a haunted house," declared Amy, with a shudder, whereat Grace cried:

"Don't do that! You'll have us all nervous before we know it."

"You might not have to stay there all night," said Mr. Lagg, "though of course I know that is customary in solving mysteries of this kind. You might be able to tell what it was without staying there long. I wouldn't want you to run any risks, you know."

"Why don't you undertake it yourself?" asked Betty.

"I can't spare the time. I am needed at my store. That boy is sure to wrap up the wrong kind of tea or sugar, and my customers are very particular. And as for the poetry end of the business, he is no good at that at all. No, I can't spare the time."

"But if you think those doctors have an object in making the mansion appear haunted," spoke Grace, "why do you not go to the authorities and complain? Surely they would do something for you."

"I thought of that," said Mr. Lagg, simply, "but you know what the police are about ghosts. They would only laugh at me, and do nothing. Besides, if these doctors are doing it, they are sharp enough to cover their tracks well. I would have no chance. But they would never suspect you girls, and they might betray themselves. Come now, will you look into this for me?"

He was very much in earnest, and Mollie, who had at first been inclined to laugh at the ghost theory, began to think that at least Mr. Lagg had some basis for his alarm. If after all his work in getting the property, that no one had cared for so long, it was to become useless on his hands, he was to be pitied, for he had labored hard to accumulate his savings.

Still the girls did not want to be rash, to run into danger, or undertake something that would get them unpleasantly talked about, for in no place other than in a country town is there so much gossip.

"You needn't answer me right away," went on the storekeeper. "Take a little time and think it over. Speak to your folks about it, and tell the boys, if you like. But if these ghosts, whatever they are, don't get out of that place soon, I'll lose all the money I put in it."

"Did those doctors hint at taking it at a lower figure than you offered it for?" asked Betty.

"No, they haven't yet. If that is their game they will wait a little longer, I think," spoke Mr. Lagg. "But don't be in a hurry to decide now. Think it over. I'll go now, for I must get back to my store.

"I'm glad to have seen you,
One and all.
When up my way,
Please make a call."

He bowed to them all in turn, and took his leave, the girls excitedly talking about the object of his visit, as he went out.

"Did you ever hear of such a thing?" asked Grace.

"The haunted mansion of Shadow Valley," remarked Mollie. "It reads like a book title."

"Maybe we could make a story of it," suggested Amy, whose taste ran somewhat to literature, and who had won several prizes in school essay work.

"We'd better solve the mystery first," said practical Betty, "then we'll know what sort of a book to make. I wonder if we ought to take this up?" and she gazed half-doubtfully, half-suggestingly, at her chums.

"Not right away, at any rate!" exclaimed Mollie. "Let's talk about our motor tour. I'm just dying to get off on that. Afterward we can consider Mr. Lagg's offer. Poor man, he seemed really worried! I'd like to help him if we could."

"So would I!" declared Betty.

The girls alternated their talk between the proposed tour and the haunted mansion. The latter was left in abeyance, but they tentatively decided to take a long auto trip, as soon as they could arrange for a chaperone to go with them on such occasions as they would stay over night at hotels, while other nights were to be spent at the homes of relatives or friends. In a way it would be a duplication of their camping and tramping trip, except that they would cover a wider range of country, and be more comfortable.

"And I only hope we have as much fun!" exclaimed Mollie. "Now, girls, we've talked enough. Let's go for a run. I telephoned to have my car brought here, and----"

"Here it is--quite marvelous!" interrupted Betty, as the large and handsome auto drew up outside, in charge of a man from the garage.

Auto veils, bonnets, goggles and gowns were soon donned, Mollie's chums having come partly prepared for a trip, and soon, with Mollie at the wheel, they were riding down the pleasant main street of Deepdale.

"Hey there! Take us along!" came a voice as they turned off the main thoroughfare into a smaller road that led to the farming country beyond.

"It's Will and Frank," said Grace, as she observed the two boys.

"And there comes Allen," added Amy.

"Now, Betty, maybe you'll talk more," for the Little Captain had been rather silent.

"Shall we take them?" asked Mollie, as she noted Betty's blushing cheeks. "There is plenty of room." Her car would seat seven with comfort.

"Take us along!" pleaded Will. "We'll buy the chocolates, girls."

"Oh, let him come," petitioned Grace, for her candy stock had again run low.

"That's all she thinks of!" declared Betty. "But I have no objections."

"Especially when Allen is around," taunted Mollie, as she slowed up her car near the sidewalk.

"Come on, fellows!" exulted Will. "We're going to have a ride in the joy wagon."

"The chocolates," Grace reminded him, coolly, as he started to get in between her and Amy.

"We'll buy them when we get out a ways," he promised.

"Get them at Lee's," she stipulated. "His are best."

"Did you ever see such a sister!" cried Will. "She has no heart! Very well, run us around to Lee's, Mollie. I'll get the candy if it--breaks me," and he began searching through his pockets, picking up bits of change on the way.

The other boys took their seats, and soon the machine was moving again, a stop being made for the chocolates. Grace insisted on going into the store with her brother.

"If I didn't he'd palm off the twenty-cent kind on us, and tell us they were Lee's best," she said to her chums.

"You eat so many of them that you can't tell the difference--your taste is jaded," taunted Will.

"Can't I, though?" replied Grace. "Well, I'm not going to give you the chance to try me. We'll have the best!"

Again they were under way, Grace passing around the box of confectionery.

"Shall we tell the boys about Mr. Lagg?" asked Betty of Mollie, beside whom she rode on the front seat, the boys and other girls being in the tonneau.

"Just as you like."

"Then I think I will." The story was soon told.

"Was he in earnest?" demanded Will.

"He seemed so."

"Then let's have a try at laying the ghost!" proposed Frank. "I wonder what the union rates are for ridding haunted houses of the haunt? We must have union wages."

"Of course," agreed Will. "Girls, will you transfer any rights you may have as ghost-layers to us, if we pay you a commission?"

"We'll think about it," murmured Betty.

"I believe it's all foolishness!" declared Grace. "Maybe Mr. Lagg was only making fun of us."

"No, there _is_ something in it," said Allen Washburn, quietly.

"How do you know?" demanded Will, quickly.

"Because I acted as Mr. Lagg's representative in some legal matters," replied the young law student, who was allowed to do some practice. "I know that he owns the old mansion, and I heard, indirectly, that he was having trouble disposing of it to the sanitarium doctors. Of course I can't say as to the ghost, but there is some hitch over carrying out the transaction. If you girls could solve the mystery, providing there is one, I know you would be doing Mr. Lagg a service."

"Then let's do it!" cried impulsive Mollie.

"And we'll help," added Will.

Half-jokingly they talked about it as they motored over the pleasant road. There had been a heavy shower the night before and the main highways were in excellent condition, though a trifle muddy in spots. Of course some of the less-used country roads would be well-nigh impassable.

It was while crossing one of these roads, on a hard macadam highway, that the girls and boys saw, stuck in the mud of the poorer path, a peddler's wagon. The bony horse was doing its best to move the vehicle, which had sunk down in a hole, one wheel being imbedded in the mud to the hub.

"Why, it's that hair-tonic man!" exclaimed Mollie, as she slowed down to avoid a rut in the road.

"No, his wagon is all painted with gaudy signs," said Betty. "That's a boy driving that wagon. Why--why!" she exclaimed, as she caught sight of the lad, "it's the same boy who took home the little lost girl for us--the same one who told us about the man with the five hundred dollar bill. It's Jimmie Martin!" _

Read next: Chapter 9. In Shadow Valley

Read previous: Chapter 7. Mr. Lagg's Offer

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