CHAPTER XVI.
THE CAMP INVADED AND CAPTURED Clad in their long fishing boots, none of the boys made anything like his usual speed in running.
Grumbling inwardly at their clumsy gait, all three hurried as fast as they could into the near-by stretch of forest.
There, in a path, they came upon a middle-aged woman accompanied by four girls, all of whom showed signs of unusual alarm.
"Oh, Dave," called Belle Meade, "I'm so glad to see you!" "You usually are," laughed Darrin, "but I never knew you to make so much noise about it before." "What's the trouble ?" Dick inquired, after a hasty greeting to Mrs.Bentley, Laura Bentley, Belle Meade, Fannie Upham and Margery White, the latter four all Gridley High School girls.
"A man---he must have been crazy!" replied Laura.

Her voice shook slightly, and she was still trembling, though the color was beginning to return to her face.
"Did he offer to molest you ?" flared Dick.
"No, indeed!" replied Mrs.Bentley promptly and laughing nervously.
"In fact, I think we must have frightened the man, for his desire seemed to be to get away from us as fast as he could." "But that face!" cried Miss Fanny.

"I never want to see it again." "It must have been our Man of the Haunting Face," murmured Dick, turning to his chums.
"That was he---just who it was!" declared Belle, with emphasis.
"I don't know whom you're talking about, but 'haunting face' just describes the man who frightened us." "It was so silly of us!" murmured Laura Bentley.

"It was clear nonsense for us to be so frightened, but when, we saw that face peering at us from behind a tree we simply couldn't help screaming." "Are you alone ?" demanded Prescott in some astonishment, for these were carefully brought-up girls, and it was not like their parents to let them go into the woods without other guard than that of a chaperon.
At that instant Dick's question was answered by the appearance of Dr.Bentley, who, on account of his weight, panted somewhat as he ran.
"Did---these---young men frighten---you so badly---that you---made such a commotion---and caused me nearly to breathe---my last in running to---your aid ?" demanded the good doctor gaspingly, his eyes twinkling.
"No, sir; we came, like yourself, when we heard the girls scream," Dick Prescott explained.
Then, amid much talking, and with as many as three people speaking at once, the story was quickly recounted for Dr.Bentley.
"We've seen the fellow before," Dick explained, "but he always fakes alarm and vanishes.

We call him our man of mystery---the Man with the Haunting Face." "Some poor, simple-minded fellow," suggested Dr.Bentley.