Bailey’s Estes Park Excitement by Linda McQuinn Carlblom

town.”
    â€œThen again it might.” Bailey let out a giant sigh. “Maybe we should just go back to the hotel.”
    â€œYeah. We need to gather more evidence before we point fingers at people.”
    â€œLet’s take the shuttle back. I’m tired of walking.”
    â€œMe, too.” Kate hooked Biscuit’s leash on him and set him down. “It’s a wonder you didn’t get trampled by that huge elk or the stampeding herd,” she said in his pointy little ear. “You are so brave!”
    â€œIt’s amazing none of us did,” Bailey added. “God must be working overtime keeping an eye out for us.”
    â€œAs usual.”
    The girls joined a couple of people who were waiting at the shuttle stop.
    Kate plopped down on the bench. “We should get in touch with the other Camp Club Girls when we get back.”
    â€œYeah, they’ll want to hear about our adventure.”
    A voice interrupted their conversation, and Justin and Joe’s grandma joined them under the shelter. “Oh, hi girls!”
    â€œMrs. Perkins! What are you doing here?”
    â€œI’ve been doing a little shopping this morning.” She held up her bags as proof. The shuttle pulled to the curb and the group boarded. Bailey and Kate sat across the aisle from Grandma Perkins and her shopping bags. Biscuit sniffed them curiously.
    â€œWhat have you girls been up to?” Grandma Perkins asked.
    â€œWe went for a hike this morning and now we’re heading back to the hotel.”
    â€œJustin and Joe were hiking today, too!”
    Bailey bit her lower lip. “Yes, we saw them.”
    â€œMy stomach is growling.” Kate put her hand on her tummy.
    Bailey, relieved at the change of subject, looked at her watch. “That’s because it’s lunchtime. It’s almost twelve o’clock.”
    â€œGuess we timed that right.”
    When the shuttle parked in front of the hotel, Bailey, Kate, Biscuit, and Grandma Perkins got off.
    â€œOh, Mrs. Perkins! Did Mr. Perkins win the bugling contest?” Kate asked.
    â€œNo, someone else won,” Grandma Perkins replied.
    Bailey could hardly believe her ears. “That’s impossible! He was the best one there!”
    â€œWell, I’m glad you thought so, but the judges didn’t agree.” Grandma Perkins’s voice was kind. “It’s all right. He just did it for fun. He didn’t care if he won.”
    â€œI bet Justin and Joe were really disappointed,” Bailey said quietly as they walked down the hotel sidewalk.
    â€œYes, they were.” Mrs. Perkins shook her head. “Especially Justin.”
    Bailey suddenly stopped and gasped.
    â€œWhat’s the matter?” Kate’s eyes followed Bailey’s line of vision toward the old historic building.
    â€œI thought I saw a ghost in that window.”
    â€œBailey! You know better than that!” Kate laughed but then paused. “You’re as white as a sheet!”
    â€œWhich window?” Grandma Perkins asked.
    â€œThe fourth floor, four windows over from the right.”
    â€œAh, yes. The famous room 408. And what did this ghost look like?”
    â€œLike a cowboy. He had a cowboy hat and a mustache and he just stared out the window then faded off to the left.”
    â€œThat must be the old cowboy ghost we read about in the brochure!” Kate kept her eyes on the window.
    â€œLegend has it that a guest thought he saw the same thing years back,” Grandma Perkins explained. “But the front desk confirmed that the room was vacant. They said no one could have stood in that window because it was over the bathroom sink, and he couldn’t have faded to the left because it would have taken him through the wall. That was the first reported sighting of the cowboy ghost. Many people have seen him since then, but only at this time of the year.”
    â€œAre you telling me I saw a real