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she had a fierce and terrifying look about her. “Don’t you go spreading any rumors,” she warned.
    Rusty gulped.
    â€œRusty! Don’t you go wandering off again.”
    He stepped back, relieved to hear his grandmother’s voice behind him. “I wasn’t going to,” he said.
    Frizzy Hair swung around and bustled along the plank sidewalk, her wide skirt swinging from side to side like a ringing church bell, her shoulders stooped forward to guard the two dusty bottles in her arms.
    A shiny red stagecoach rumbled past on the road below. Fancy lettering on its side shone brilliant yellow, like its tall spoked wheels. Pulled by two patient brown horses, it was packed with tourists.
    â€œCan we go for a stagecoach ride?” Sheila asked.
    â€œI want to see the schoolhouse first,” Katie said.
    â€œLet’s go to the blacksmith shop,” Rusty suggested. Across the street a crowd spilled out through the wide open door of Cameron and Ames Blacksmith Shop, along with the sharp ring of metal hitting metal and the dry, nostril-burning smell of red-hot iron. “There’s a demonstration going on over there.”
    â€œHold on, you three,” Gram said. “We need to get organized here. We’ll have plenty of time to see everything over the next few days, but right now GJ and I will find out about the stagecoach ride. That’s a good way to take a quick tour and decide what we want to see first.” She consulted her tourist map. “We need to go back to the Visitors’ Center to buy tickets. So you three head on over to the blacksmith shop and we’ll meet you there.”
    GJ placed a heavy hand on Rusty’s shoulder. “Listen, it’s important that you three stick close together and no one wanders off alone. Sheila, since you’re the oldest…”
    â€œShe’s the same age as me!” Katie protested.
    â€œI’m twleve,” Sheila reminded her. “Exactly how old are you?”
    Katie pulled a face at her best friend. Sheila had turned twelve in June, but Katie’s birthday was still two weeks away.
    â€œAnd you have more sense than these two put together,” GJ continued. “I’m counting on you to see that my grandchildren don’t do anything stupid.”
    Sheila gulped. “I’ll do my best, GJ,” she promised, “but it won’t be easy.”
    GJ threw back his head and laughed. “Don’t I know it!” Then he turned serious. “Just stay together. That goes for the entire time we’re here, not only this morning. You break that rule and we won’t be able to let you out of our sight from then on. Agreed?”
    After each of them solemnly promised to keep this rule, Gram and GJ left and Rusty finally had his chance to tell the girls what he overheard at Wake-Up Jake’s. Carefully editing out any mention of scalded pants or crunched toes, he told them what the security guards said about the stolen gold. “And I saw him!” he added.
    Katie wrinkled her brow. Sheila looked blank.
    â€œThe ghost from last night! He went into the Wake-Up Jake.”
    â€œHe’s not a ghost,” Katie reminded him. “Haven’t you figured that out yet? There’s no such thing as ghosts.”
    â€œYou’re sure it was him?” Sheila asked. “All the men who work here wear clothes like that. And most of them have beards too.”
    â€œYeah, but they’re all way younger than him. And that footprint in the barbershop? It exactly matches the print we saw last night.”
    â€œSo I guess that proves he’s real,” Katie said. “Whoever heard of a ghost that leaves footprints or, for that matter, goes to restaurants? Why should he need to eat if he doesn’t have a real body?”
    While Rusty thought this over, Katie’s eyes slid across the street. “Let’s go see if he’s still there.”
    â€œNo!” Rusty