It was a most peculiar sound.

Coming from no one direction that one could indicate with certainty, it seemed to fill the whole air with a buzzing noise that beat almost painfully on the eardrums.

While he gazed about, in perplexity at the phenomenon, Frank suddenly descried something that almost startled him into an outcry.

In the sky far to the westward and, seemingly, high in the air, there hovered a bright light!

The next instant it vanished so suddenly as to leave some doubt in the boy's mind as to whether he had really seen it,--and, if he had, if it might not have been a star or some other heavenly body.

He turned to his companion.

"Rastus, did you see a light in the sky there a second ago?"

The boy pointed in the direction in which the mystery had appeared.

"A light--?" repeated the puzzled negro, still scared at the buzzing sound, which had now ceased. "You done say a light--a reg'lar LIGHT, light?"

"Yes, yes," impatiently; "did you see one?"

"No, sah, no, indeedy," was the indignant response; "ah don' see no lights."

"That's strange," said Frank, half to himself. "You are quite sure?"

Again the negro denied all knowledge of having beheld such a thing.

"Ef ah'd done seed anyfing lak dat," he declared; "ah'd hev bin skedaddlin' fer ther hut lak er chicken wif a hungry c.o.o.n afta'

it,--yas, sah."

Thoroughly convinced that his imagination had played him a trick, Frank did not mention the incident, to his fellow adventurers and soon almost forgot it. It was recalled to his mind in a startling manner a few nights later.

This time it was Rastus that saw the strange light, and the yell that he set up alarmed the entire camp.

"Oh, Lordy--oo-o-o-o-ow, Lawdy!" he shrieked; "ah done see a ghosess way up in dar sky, Ma.s.sa Frank!"

Frank seized the black by the arm, as he started to run.

"What do you mean, you big black coward," he exclaimed. "What's the matter with you?"

"Oh, dat dar light," wailed Rastus. "Dat ain't no human light dat ain't; dat light's a way up in dar sky. It's a polar ghosess, dat's wha' dat is--de ghos' ob some dead sailor."

"Don't talk nonsense," sharply ordered Frank, as the others, hastily bundled in their furs, came rushing out.

"Whatever is the matter?" demanded Captain Hazzard, gazing sternly at the trembling negro.

"Oh, Ma.s.sa Hazzard, ah done see a ghos' light in dar sky," he yelled.

"Silence, sir, and stop that abominable noise. Frank, what do you know about this?"

"Only that I really believe he saw such a thing, sir."

"What, a light in the sky!" echoed Captain Barrington. "Did you see it, too?"

"Not to-night, sir."

"Then it has appeared before?"

"Yes, it has," was the reply.

"But you said nothing of it," exclaimed Captain Hazzard.

"No; I thought it might be imagination. It appeared for such a short time that I could not be certain if it was not a trick of the imagination."

"Well, it begins to look as if Rastus is telling the truth," was the officer's comment.

"Yas, sah, yas sah, I'se tellin' de truf, de whole truf, and everything but de truf," eagerly stuttered the negro.

"Where did you first see the light?" demanded Captain Hazzard.

"Right ober de grable (gable) ob de ruuf ob de big hut," was the reply.

"That's about where I saw it," burst out Frank.

"Was it stationary?" asked Captain Hazzard.

"Yas, sah; it's station was airy, dat's a fac'," grinned Rastus. "It was high up in de air."

"That's not what I mean, at all," snapped Captain Hazzard. "Was it moving or standing still?"

"Oh, ah see what yo' mean, Captain Hazzard,--no, sir, der was no circ.u.mlocution ob de objec', in fac', sah, it was standin' still."

"For how long did you watch it?"

"Wall, sah, it jes flash lak de wink ob an eye and den it was gone."

"Possibly it was some sort of antarctic lightning-bug," ventured the professor, who had been intently listening to the account of the strange light.

"Hardly likely," smiled Captain Barrington. "Tell us, Rastus, what it looked most like to you--what did it resemble?"

"Wall, sah, it presembled mos'ly dat big laight what yo' see on a snortermobile befo' it runs ober you. Yas, sah, Cap't Barranton, dat's what it looked lak, fo' sho."

"Does that tally with your impression of it, Frank?" asked Captain Hazzard.

"Yes, sir, Rastus has put it very well. It was more like an automobile headlight than anything else."

"Well, n.o.body could be driving an automobile in the sky," put in the professor, decisively, as if the matter were disposed of in this way without any more argument being wasted.

"No, but there are other vehicles that are capable of rising above the earth," spoke Captain Hazzard, thoughtfully.