The Phantom Town Mystery

A whirl of gleaming sand and dust on a cross desert road in Arizona. The four galloping objects turned off the road horses rearing riders laughing; the two Eastern girls flushed excited; the pale college student exultant; the cowboy guide enjoying their pleasure. A warm sage-scented wind carried the cloud of dust away from them down into the valley.“That was glorious sport wasn’t it Mary?� Dora Bellman’s olive-tinted face was glowing joyfully. “Wouldn’t our equestrian teacher back in Sunnybank Seminary be properly proud of us?�Lovely Mary Moore delicately fashioned fair as her friend was dark nodded beamingly too out of breath for the moment to speak.Jerry Newcomb in his picturesque cowboy garb blue handkerchief knotted about his neck looked admiringly at the smaller girl.“I reckon you two’ll want to ride in the rodeo. I never saw Easterners get saddle-broke on cow ponies as quick as you have.� Then his gray eyes smiled at the other boy tall thin pale who was wiping dust from his shell-rimmed glasses. “Dick Farley I reckon you’ve ridden before.�Dick flashed a radiant smile which made his rather plain face momentarily good-looking. “Some� he said “when I was a kid on Granddad’s farm just out of Boston.�Jerry a little ahead was leading them slowly across soft shimmering sand toward a narrow entrance in cliff-like rocks.Dora protested “Mary ought to know how to ride a cow pony since she was born right here on the desert while I have always lived on the Hudson River until two weeks ago.�CONTENTSLucky LoonThe Ghost TownThe Missing Friends“Desperate Dick�Poor Little BodilThe Evil-eye TurquoiseMiddle of the NightSinging CowboysA Vagabond FamilyA Lonely Mountain RoadThe Skeleton Stage CoachA Narrow EscapeA Sand Storm“A.’S and N. E.’S.�In the Barn LoftSearching For CluesA Wooden DollA Strange HostessA Gun ShotIntroducing an Air ScoutA Possible ClueAn Interesting ArrivalA Silver PlaneA Long Night WatchA Cry for HelpIs It a Clue?It Was a ClueA New ComplicationAn Old LetterSecret Entrance to the Rock HouseA Wonderful Secret Told