"Appleton, Victor - Tom Swift Jr 24 - And His 3D Telejector" - читать интересную книгу автора (Appleton Victor)

drop in."
Bud chuckled. "You should hear the stories he tells about that place! One
night he heard boots clumping outside his room. He jumped out of bed and
glimpsed the figure of a dead sea captain who
l
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used to own the house. Then it disappeared right before his eyes!"
"Oo-ool" Phyl shivered. "Where is this spook haven?"
"On that hill up ahead, overlooking Lake Carlopa," Tom said.
"Another night," Bud went on, "Dr. Grimsey was awakened by clammy
fingers touching his face. There was Pegleg the Ghost bending over him!"
"Stop! You're giving us goose bumps!" Sandy moaned. "But let's go see the
place, anyhow."
Bud turned off onto a dirt road which wound upward around the hill. Soon a
house loomed ahead against the night sky. It was an old frame building with a
high gabled roof. Lights shone through the unshuttered windows. Bud parked
and the four teen-agers got out.
"Dr. Grimsey's deaf and doesn't always keep his hearing aid turned up," Tom
said, "so bear with him if he seems a bit vague at times."
An elderly man answered their ring. He had a full bushy beard and a wild
shock of iron-gray hair. His eyes twinkled at the young people through horn-
rimmed eyeglasses. "Well, well, well! How delightful! Do come in!"
Tom introduced Sandy and Phyl. "This is Dr. Ethan Grimsey," he told them,
"one of America's foremost electronic engineers."
When they were seated, Sandy remarked, "We were told this house is
haunted, Dr. Grimsey."
THE PEG-LEGGED GHOST 3
"Rented?" The elderly man bent his head forward. "Yes, indeed. I leased the
house when I came here to work on your brother's project."
Sandy repeated her question. The scientist's left hand, which bore a large
hairy mole, flew quickly up to his hearing aid.
"I beg your pardon, my dear," he said with an embarrassed smile. "Er-yes-
there have been some manifestations of a ghost here."
"The ghost of the former owner?" Phyl asked.
"Mm-well, yes, so it would seem. He was an old sea captain-a suspected
slaver and pirate. He finally drowned, but it's said his spirit can't find rest because
of his evil deeds."
Dr. Grimsey seemed oddly ill at ease talking about the ghost, so the girls
began chatting about other subjects. Presently Dr. Grimsey asked Sandy and
Phyl to excuse him and Tom.
"There are some calculations I'd like to go over in my study," he explained.
Sandy smiled. "Of course. Go right ahead."
The crew-cut young inventor got up to accompany their host. Bud rose, too,
saying, "I want to listen in on these geniuses."
Left alone, the girls made a closer inspection of the room. The walls were
covered with dark-patterned paper, and red-plush drapes hung at the windows.
The furniture was massive and old-fashioned.
"What a gloomy place!" Sandy murmured. "Imagine being alone here on a
stormy nightl"
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