“Look out for signs of a high wall on the left, boys,” he finally told them.  “It may be almost hidden by vines and scrub trees by now, I was warned.  It surrounds the whole place, though here and there it may be broken down.  Few people after dark want to pass this place except in a hurry, and although it’s only a mile and a half from the railroad, I don’t believe tramps ever think of coming here.  You see, most of them know the stories told about Randall’s Folly, and they steer clear of the place.”

A short time afterwards Hugh’s keen eyes made a discovery.

“I think the wall you mentioned lies over yonder where all that wild tangle can be seen,” he remarked, whereupon there was a hurried movement in that direction, followed by various exclamations to the effect that the scout master’s announcement was indeed true.

“Seems as if the castle must be perched on a high piece of ground, commanding a pretty good view of the country around,” observed Arthur, as they sought for a broken place in the crumbling wall so as to gain an entrance to the grounds beyond.

“The story goes that Judge Randall built it that way so he could keep watch, and know if any of his wife’s former suitors were heading this way,” Alec explained.

“Why, he must have been a regular old Bluebeard!” gurgled Billy.

“He was demented on that one subject,” confessed Alec, “and the disease kept getting a stronger grip on him until finally—–­but hello! here’s the hole in the wall we wanted to find, so let’s crawl over the broken-down stones and enter.”

“Hold on,” snapped Hugh just then, “I thought you said, Alec, no one was bold enough to trespass here!  If you look down to where I point you’ll see part of a footprint in mud, showing that a man must have come across this broken wall not half an hour or so ago!”

CHAPTER II

CREATING A PANIC

When Hugh gave utterance to this really startling announcement, he naturally lowered, his voice.  The others came crowding up, and stared at the tell-tale mark.  As their scout education had long since passed far beyond the novice range they had no difficulty in seeing that Hugh had stated the truth.

“A whopping big foot made that mark,” whispered Billy.

“And see there,” added Alec, hastily, also in a low tone, “here’s a second one not so big.  Two fellows crossed this hole in the wall, and only a short time ago, because the mud is as fresh as it can be.”

That caused the scouts to exchange significant looks.

“Anyhow,” Billy was heard to whisper to himself, “whoever made those footprints was a live human being, and no spook, that’s sure.”

The thought evidently did much to relieve his mind, Hugh realized.  Alec meanwhile was shaking his head as though not only puzzled but annoyed.

“What do you make of it, Hugh?” he asked, like most of the fellows turning to the scout master when there was a difficult problem to be solved.