Part 19 (1/2)
The girls s.h.i.+vered, and Carol shuffled her chair closer to David's bed.
”Ran himself to death?” suggested David.
”Well, he died,” said the Scotchman.
”Is it true?” asked Carol, glancing fearfully through the screen of the porch into the black shadows on the mesa.
”Absolutely true,” declared the Scotchman. ”I was in the searchin'
party that found him.”
”I--I don't believe in spirits,--I mean haunting spirits,” said Carol, stiffening her courage and her backbone by a strong effort.
”How about the ghosts that drove the men out into the graveyards in the Bible and made them cut up all kinds of funny capers, and finally haunted the pigs and drove 'em into the lake?” said Barrows slyly.
”They were not ghosts,” protested Carol quickly. ”Just evil spirits.
They got drowned, you know,--ghosts don't drown.”
”It does not say they got drowned,” contradicted Barrows. ”My Bible does not say it. The pigs got drowned. And that is what ghosts are,--evil spirits, very evil. They were too slick to get drowned themselves; they just chased the pigs in and then went off haunting somebody else.”
Carol turned to David for proof, and David smiled a little.
”Well,” he said thoughtfully, ”perhaps it does not particularly say the ghosts were drowned. It says they went into the pigs, and the pigs were drowned. It does not say anything about the spirits coming out in advance, though.”
Carol and Barrows mutually triumphed over each other, claiming personal vindication.
”Do you believe in ghosts, Mr. Duke?” asked Miss Tucker in a soft respectful voice, as if resolved not to antagonize any chance spirits that might be prowling near.
”Call them psychic phenomena, and I may say that I do,” said David.
”How do you explain it, then?” she persisted.
”I explain it by saying it is a phenomenon which can not be explained,”
he evaded cleverly.
”But that doesn't get us anywhere, does it?” she protested vaguely.
”Does it--does it explain anything?”
”It does not get us anywhere,” he agreed; ”but it gets me out of the difficulty very nicely.”
”I know a good ghost story myself,” said Nevius. ”It is a dandy. It will make your blood run cold. Once there was a--”
”I do not believe in telling ghost stories,” said Miss Landbury.
”There may not be any such thing, and I do not believe there is, but if there should happen to be any, it must annoy them to be talked about.”
”You shouldn't say you don't believe in them,” said Miss Tucker. ”At least not on such a dark night. Some self-respecting ghost may resent it and try to get even with you.”
Miss Landbury swallowed convulsively, and put her arm around Carol's waist. The sudden wail of a pack of coyotes wafted in to them, and the girls crouched close together.
”Once there was a man--”
”It is your play, Mr. Barrows,” said Miss Landbury. ”Let's finish the game. I am ahead, you remember.”