THE FEATHER MAN 239 



my own camp, I followed a new-made lumber road 

 to have supper with the lumber-jacks at their head- 

 quarters. After supper I made ready to go, but 

 the cook stopped me. 



'' 'Don't ye go,' he said, 'the woods round here 

 ain't safe at night.' 



" 'LynxT I asked, for that's about the only 

 kind of beast I prefer to leave alone. 



" 'A haunt!' the cook answered. 'There ain't 

 a man as '11 go outside the light 0' the fire here, 

 nights.' 



"Now, Shan, a lumber-jack is usually the kind 

 of man who doesn't care for any danger, and a 

 ghost which could scare an entire lumber camp 

 would be worth meeting. 



" 'Tell me what's happened,' I asked the cook. 



"He went into a long rambling story, from 

 which I gathered that men coming back through 

 the woods at night had been attacked, generally in 

 the face and head. One man had been knocked 

 down, another had his head cut open and a third 

 declared that the ghost of an Indian had come and 

 tried to scalp him. 



"Then an idea occurred to me. 



" 'Were all those men wearing fur caps?' I 

 asked, though deeming the question needless, for 



