Young Hunters of the Lake | Page 8

want to know something about Lake Narsac," came from
Whopper. "I've heard there were about a million snakes up there and all

big fellows, too. Is that true?"
"O' course it is," answered Jed Sanborn, with a grin. "Snakes is twenty
to fifty feet long, and so thick ye have to wade through 'em up to your
knees. Ha ha!" and he commenced to laugh. "I got ahead of ye thet time,
didn't I, Whopper?"
"But tell us the truth," insisted Giant. "We're thinking of camping up
there, and, of course, we won't want to go if there is any real danger."
"Well, to tell the plain, everyday truth, boys, I don't allow as how there
is any more reptiles up to Lake Narsac nor there be around Lake Firefly
an' in the mountains whar I hang out. Narsac may have a few more
rattlers, an' them's the wust kind---you know thet as well as I do. The
wust thing I know about Lake Narsac is the ghost up thar."
"Is there really and truly a ghost?" queried the doctor's son. "Of course,
I don't believe in them," he added, hastily.
"If ye don't believe in 'em why do ye ask about 'em?" demanded the old
hunter, rather indignantly.
"Oh, well---" and Shep could not finish.
"Did you ever see the ghost?" asked Snap.
"I sure did, my boy."
"When?" cried Whopper.
"What did it look like?" demanded Giant.
"I see the ghost less nor a month ago---when I was up to Lake Narsac
after fish. It was a foggy morning, an' I was fishing from a little island
near the upper end o' the lake. All to once I heard a strange sound, like
somebody was moanin'. I sat up an' listened, an' I looked around-----"
"And what did you see?" asked Giant, excitedly.

"Didn't see nuthing just then. Soon the moanin' died out, an' I thought I
must have made a mistake, an' I went on fishin' ag'in. Then come that
strange moanin' once more, an' it made me shiver, for I was in a mighty
lonely spot. All to once, something cried out, 'He's dead! He's dead!' I
looked around, but I couldn't see a soul. 'Who is thar?' I called. Then I
heard a strange whistle, an a rustlin' in the bushes. A minute later I saw
a figure in bright yellow standin' out before me on the lake. It seemed
to move right over the water in the fog, an' in less than a minute it was
gone."
"What was it?" asked Snap, and his voice trembled a little.
"I dunno, Snap. It looked like a real old man, with claw-like hands. I
called out to him, but he didn't answer, and when he seemed to be lost
like in a smoke, I was scared an' I don't deny it. Just then I felt a big tug
on my line an' I pulled in an' found I had hooked a water snake. Thet
settled me, an' I came down to Firefly Lake an' to hum quick as I could
git thar!"
"What do you think it was?" asked Whopper.
"I can't for the life o' me tell."
"Are you sure you heard that voice, or was that imagination?" asked
Snap.
"It wasn't no imagination whatsoever," answered the old hunter,
positively. "I heard thet voice jest as plain as I can hear yourn, an' it
come right out o' the sky, too!"
"That is certainly queer," mused Snap. "You say the ghost was
yellow?"
"It was."
"I thought most ghosts were white," put in the doctor's son.
"Was it a man?" asked Frank.

"If it was, how did he walk on the water?" demanded Jed Sanborn. "Oh,
it was a sure ghost, no two ways on it!" And the old hunter shook his
head positively.
"Are there any houses near the lake?" questioned Giant.
"Not a house within two or three miles. It is the wildest place you ever
visited," answered Jed Sanborn. "Hunters don't go there much on
account of the rough rocks in the stream flowing into Narsac. If you
take a boat you may have to tote it a good bit---an' it ain't much use to
go up there less you've got a boat, because you can't travel much along
the shore---too many thorn bushes."
After that the old hunter told them all he knew about Lake Narsac. He
said the lake and its surroundings were owned by the estate of a New
England millionaire who had died four years before. In settling the
estate the heirs had gone to law, and the rightful possession of the sheet
of water with the mountains around it was still in dispute.
"One thing is sartin," said the old hunter. "If ye go up thar, ye won't
have no