The Phantom Violin Read online

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  _A Mystery Story for Girls_

  _The_ PHANTOM VIOLIN

  _By_ ROY J. SNELL

  The Reilly & Lee Co. Chicago

  COPYRIGHT 1934 BY THE REILLY & LEE CO. PRINTED IN THE U. S. A.

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER PAGE I The Ship's Ghost 11 II Mysteries of Night 22 III A Phantom of the Air 28 IV Captivating Phantom 37 V Pale Green Light 43 VI A Strange Catch 52 VII The Last Passengers 63 VIII Dizzy's Welcome 72 IX The Call of the Gypsies 80 X Silent Battle 90 XI Song of the Phantom 99 XII Gold 107 XIII The Head Hunter 116 XIV Secret of Greenstone Ridge 126 XV A Leap in the Dark 138 XVI Greta's Secret 146 XVII The Cavern of Fire 156 XVIII At the Bottom of the Ancient Mine 166 XIX Mystery from the Sky 174 XX Aid from the Unknown 192 XXI A Song from the Tree Tops 201 XXII The White Flare 209 XXIII Musical Enchantment 219 XXIV The Little Black Tramp 233 XXV Father Superior Takes a Hand 240 XXVI Passing of the Pilgrim 250 XXVII Green-Eyed Mansion 262 XXVIII Treasure at Last 267

  THE PHANTOM VIOLIN

  CHAPTER I THE SHIP'S GHOST

  "Flo--Florence! They saw me!"

  The little French girl, Petite Jeanne, sprang noiselessly through thecabin door. Then, as if to keep someone out, closed the door and proppedherself against it. "They saw me!" she repeated in a whisper. "Andthey--I believe they thought me a ghost. I'm sure it was so. I heard oneof them, he said 'ghost.' I heard him!" Jeanne clasped and unclasped herslender fingers.

  "Who saw you?" Florence stared at her through the dim light of the moonthat came straying through the narrow window.

  "Yes. Who saw you?" came from somewhere above them.

  "The men." Jeanne was growing calmer. "There were two of them. They sawme. They had tied their boat to the wreck. They were going to dosomething. I am sure of that. Then they saw me and acted very muchafraid. And then--"

  "You _do_ look like a ghost," Florence broke in. "In that white dressinggown with your golden hair flying in the moonlight, you look just like aghost. And I suppose you popped right up out of the hatch like a ghost!"She laughed in spite of herself.

  "But these men--" her tone sobered. "What were they doing here at thistime of the night?"

  "That?" said Jeanne. "How is one to know? They rattle chains. They seeme, then Old Dizzy lets out one of his terrible screams, and they aregone!"

  Closing her eyes, the little French girl saw all that had happened justas if it were being played before her as a drama. She saw dark waters ofnight, a golden moon, distant shores of an island, black and hauntingand, strangest, most mysterious of all, the prow of a great ship rearingitself far above the surface of Lake Superior's waters.

  The ship was a wreck, you would have said a deserted wreck. And yet, evenas you said it, you might have felt the hair rise at the back of yourneck, for, appearing apparently through the solid deck, a whiteapparition rose at the prow. Rising higher and higher, it stood at last awavering ghost-like figure in that eery moonlight. This was her ownfigure Jeanne was seeing now. Once again, with eyes closed, she seemed tostand there in her wavy gown of filmy white, bathed in the goldenmoonlight. Once again she looked at the glory of the night, the moon, thestars, the black waters, the distant, mysterious shores where no onelived.

  The distant shore line was that of Isle Royale fifteen miles off theshore of Canada, in Lake Superior.

  All this was a grand and glorious dream to her.

  They had been here three days, she and Florence Huyler, whom you may havemet before, and Greta Clara Bronson, whom you are going to love as PetiteJeanne, who had known her for but two months, loved her.

  "Tomorrow," Jeanne had whispered to herself, standing there in themoonlight, "we are going ashore, ashore on that Mystic Isle."

  Ashore? One would have said she must be standing on a ship lying atanchor. This was not true. The old _Pilgrim_, a three hundred footpleasure boat, would never sail again. Fast on the rocks, her sternbeneath the black waters, her prow high in air, she would rest there awhile until--ah, well, until, who could say what or when?

  "This," the little French girl had whispered, "is our summer home." Howthe thought had thrilled her! Three girls, the "last passengers," theyhad styled themselves, three girls alone on a great wrecked ship for longsummer months.

  What fun it had been to fit out the captain's and the first mate'scabins--what fun and what work! Bunks had been leveled, chairs and tablesfitted with two short and two long legs to fit the slanting floors, ascore of adjustments had been made. But now they were all done.

  "And tomorrow," she had repeated in a whisper, "tomorrow--"

  But what was that? Had she caught a sound? Yes, there it was again, likethe purring of a cat, only louder. It came from the dark waters of night.Listening, intent, motionless, she had failed to fathom its meaning.

  "Something on shore," she had tried to assure herself.

  "Ashore." At once her keen young mind was busy conjuring up fantasticpictures of those shores which, though so near, scarcely a half mileaway, were utterly strange to her. Wild moose, wandering about likecattle; wolves, tawny gray streaks in the forest; high ridges; greatboulders laden with precious green stones; and in the silent waters ofnarrow bays such monstrous fishes.

  "Ah!" she breathed. "Tomorrow!"

  But again her mind was caught and held by that strange sound, a veryfaint put-put-put.

  Even as she listened the sound ceased. Then of a sudden she felt a thudthat shook the wrecked ship. At the same instant she made out a dark bulkthat was, she felt sure, some form of a craft.

  "Men!" she thought with a shudder. "Men coming to the wreck in the night!I wonder why?"

  She was frightened, dreadfully afraid. She wanted to escape, to dropthrough the hatch-way, to go where her friends were in the cabin below.Her feet would not move. So there she stood, white-faced, tossinggold-white hair, waving white robe, a pale ghost in the moonlight.

  What did the men on that boat think of her? Of course there were men, twoof them, on the deck of that small, black power boat. For the moment theydid not see her.

  "Why are they here?" Jeanne asked herself. "What will th
ey do?"

  This indeed was a problem. The ship had been relieved of her cargo, allbut a few barrels of oil in the hold that could not be reached. Even thebrass fittings had been removed.

  "There is nothing they could want," she assured herself, "absolutelynothing. And yet--"

  Jeanne was gifted with a most vivid imagination. This old ship had sailedthe seas for more than forty years. What unlawful deeds might not havebeen done within this grim old hull! There had been smuggling, no doubtof that. The ship had visited the ports of Canada a thousand times. Whatsecret treasure might still be hidden within this hopeless hulk? Sheshuddered at the thought.

  "All we want," she breathed, "is peace, peace and an opportunity toexplore that most beautiful island."

  Strange to say, the little French girl was not the only person who atthat moment felt a cold chill run up his spine. One of the men, the tallone on the little schooner, had caught sight of a patch of wavering whitefar up on the prow.

  "Mart!" he was saying to his companion, and there was fear in his voice,"Do you think anyone ever died on this old ship?"

  "Of course. Why not?" His companion's voice was gruff. "What do youthink? She's sailed the lakes for forty years, this old _Pilgrim_ has,and why wouldn't people die on her, same as they die on other ships?"

  "Then," the other man's words came with a little shudder, "then it was alady that died, for look! Yonder in the prow is her ghost a-hoverin'still."

  The other man looked at the drifting, swaying figure all in white, and hetoo began to sway. It seemed he might drop.

  Seeming to collect his strength with great effort, he seized the linethat held his own tiny craft to the wrecked ship, then grasping a pikepole, was prepared to give it a mighty shove that would send it far out.

  At this very moment a strange and terrible sound smote the air; a wildscream, a shrill laugh, all in one it rent the still night air threetimes, then all was still.

  The man with the pike pole shuddered from head to foot. Then, regainingcontrol of his senses, he gave a mighty heave that set his small craftquite free of the apparently haunted ship.

  The boat had not gone far when a curious animate thing that seemedneither man nor beast burst from the narrow cabin. The thing beganroaring and dancing about the deck like a baboon attacked by hornets. Onthe creature's shoulders was something four times the size of a man'shead. The upright body was quite as strange as the head. As the boatcontinued its course the great round head rolled off and a smaller oneappeared. This small head bobbed about and roared prodigiously, but allto no purpose. The little black boat had moved straight on to pass atlast from sight into the night.

  Then, and not until then, did the wisp of white, which, as you know, wasPetite Jeanne, glide forward and vanish. She burst excitedly into a darkcabin.

  "I heard chains rattle," Jeanne repeated, standing still in the cabindoorway. "One of the men spoke. They looked up at me. I wanted to run,but I couldn't. My--my feet wouldn't budge!"

  She began dancing around the small cabin in her excitement.

  "What happened then?" Florence, a large, ruddy-cheeked girl in knickers,demanded. "What did they do?"

  "They--why, it was queer! They seemed in an awful hurry. They untiedtheir boat and--

  "Of course," she added as an afterthought, "there was Dizzy. He let out amost terrible scream, and laughed. How he did scream and laugh! Threetimes--one, two, three. They shoved off, those men did, as if their verylife depended on it!"

  "Thought you were a ghost," Florence chuckled. "Can't be any questionabout that. Who'd blame them? Look at you!"

  "And then," Jeanne went on, "then some queer thing with two legs came outand danced wildly about the deck. He had an enormous head. Bye and byehis head tumbled off, at least the awful big part, and I heard himroaring at the other men."

  "Him?"

  "Yes. It was a man in a diving rig. He'd taken off the helmet. Now, whatdo you think of that?"

  Quite out of breath, the blonde haired little French girl dropped downupon a berth at the side of the cabin.

  "Man in a diving suit." Florence spoke in a matter-of-fact tone. "Goingto dive, of course."

  "But why?"

  "That's right. Why?" Florence's brow wrinkled.

  "I wish--" she said slowly after a period of silence, "wish they hadn'tcome."

  She was to wish this many times in the days that were to follow. And thenshe was to change her mind.