"It's in keeping with the story," Mr. Holloway a.s.sured him. "We must keep our script true to fact, you know."

"Well, I'm not keen to take a ducking," Ross announced. "Dan may do the first scene. I'll take my turn later."

"Oh, no you don't!" Chips said quickly. "You asked for the part, so you get it."

"We can omit the ducking today," Mr. Holloway settled the matter. "Well, let's go!"

He brought his moving picture camera equipment from the car and joined the boys at the bridge. Brad and Ross armed themselves with sticks cut from branches of a tree.

After the scene had been fully discussed, the two boys took their places on either side of the bridge. The other Cubs from both Den 1 and 2 remained in the woods, ready to swarm out when Robin Hood should blow three shrill blasts on his horn.

"We're minus a horn today, but by our next practice we'll have one," Mr.

Hatfield said. "Also, the Den mothers have promised to help us out by making Lincoln green woodsmen costumes for all who act in the play."

The filming of the scene began. Repeatedly Ross had to be warned by Mr.

Hatfield to "take it easy."

Although the script called for him to be tumbled into the water, he seemed determined that Brad should be pushed off the log.

Back and forth Brad and Ross whacked with their sticks as the film recording was made.

Mr. Holloway was on the verge of signaling the end of the scene, when the Den 1 boy made a quick lunge at Brad. The latter moved sideways, failing entirely to parry the blow with his own stick.

Caught off balance, Ross fell slightly forward and lost his footing.

Before he could save himself or Brad could offer a helping hand, he fell sideways into the shallow water.

As Ross sprawled amid the lily pads, the watching Cubs burst into laughter. The day was warm and the creek waters exceedingly shallow. The ducking, they knew, would do the boy no harm, and was a fate quite deserved.

"Are you all right, Ross?" Mr. Holloway asked.

Putting aside his camera, he ran to help the boy.

Still chuckling at the mishap, the other Cubs gathered around.

"Brad did that on purpose!" Ross said, angrily pulling off a lily pad which had plastered against his face. "Look at me!"

"You're a little dampish," Brad grinned. "I'm sorry you slipped. I didn't touch your stick, you know."

"This scene is stupid!" Ross fumed. "I've had enough of Robin Hood for one day! I'm going home."

"I'll take you," Mr. Holloway offered sympathetically. "You should get into dry clothes right away."

As the two walked toward the parked car, Ross made a sorry sight indeed.

His shoes and trousers were caked with mud and a lily pad still clung to the back of his shirt.

"That was a ripping scene," Brad laughed, once Ross was beyond hearing.

"Falling into the brink may cure that know-it-all of wanting to hog the best scenes. I thought I'd die laughing when he fell in!"

"You weren't the only one," said Dan in an odd tone of voice. "Did you hear laughter from the woods?"

"From the woods?" Brad echoed, rather mystified. "The other Cubs, you mean?"

"No," Dan replied soberly. "The laughter came from far off. It was a strange, almost ghostly laugh. I think it came from the general direction of the castle."

"That is queer, Dan. None of the Cubs were over there during the filming of the brook scene."

"I know," Dan admitted with an uneasy chuckle.

"Who do you think it was?"

"I don't know," Dan replied. "It seems though, that our castle may be haunted. And by a ghost with a keen sense of humor!"

CHAPTER 4 Laughter from the Woods

"I didn't hear any laughter from the woods," Brad said, gazing thoughtfully toward the fringe of trees beyond the castle. "You're sure you heard it, Dan?"

"Positive," the younger boy replied.

"Maybe it was one of the Den 1 Cubs."

"Everyone was right here watching the filming of the bridge scene. I checked to make certain."

"Well, I don't see anyone in the woods," Brad said. "We might take a look around."

This proposal appealed to Dan. However, before the two boys could leave the creek, they heard an automobile drive up from the main road.

To the surprise of the Cubs, the car stopped nearby. A stout man in a gray suit alighted and came toward the group.

"It's one of the bank officials, I'll bet a cookie!" Brad murmured. "Now what?"

Curious to learn what the stranger wanted, Mr. Holloway and Ross rejoined the group of Cubs. The man approached them, addressing Sam Hatfield.

"Good morning," he greeted the Cub leader, "I am Grover Kain, sent out by the bank to inspect the grounds here. I see you're getting in a little archery practice."

"That's right," agreed the Cub leader. "We need a longer archery field though."

Mr. Kain nodded as his gaze roved over the grounds which had grown up with bushes and were cluttered with brush.

"I trust you'll be careful about starting fires," he remarked. "The season is unusually dry and brush presents a hazard. If a fire should start in this area, it would be most difficult to fight it because of the scarcity of water."

Mr. Hatfield a.s.sured him that the Cub Scouts would be careful.

His answer did not entirely satisfy the bank official, who walked about the premises making note of work that needed to be done.