CHAPTER VIII
THE OLD MANSION
Sammy Brown and his chums looked queerly at one another. Then they glanced at Mr. Jessup. He smiled as he peered at them from under his shaggy eyebrows.
"Camp Mystery, did you say?" asked Sammy, wonderingly.
"That's what I said," was the answer. "But don't get frightened, I don't believe the mystery will hurt you."
"Is there really a mystery?" asked Sammy, eagerly. "Is there a—a ghost—or something like that?"
Mr. Jessup laughed heartily.
"No need to ask your name," he chuckled. "You're Sammy Brown? My sister told me all about you."
Sammy blushed.
"Well—er—well," he stammered, "I only thought"
"No harm done at all! " went on the hunter, still laughing. "My sister said one of you boys was always on the lookout for something strange, like buried treasure, or a lost diamond mine. Well, we haven't got either of those things on this end of Pine Island, whatever they may have down below. But that's how I guessed your name, Sammy.
"And now let me see, you ought to be Bob Bouncer, by rights," and he looked at Bob with his head on one side. "How about it?"
"That's my name," admitted the owner of it.
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