“Yes sir. None were actually enlisted like Old Douglas, but there were other camels owned by Confederate officers. It was something of a fashion among Confederate gentlemen due to Jefferson Davis. I suppose it's possible that a Confederate gentleman owned a camel of a dark and violent disposition. The creatures are generally patient, so long as you don’t tie them or beat them, but animals are like people, sir, they come in all kinds. That camel might have been the kind of animal to like killing things for the fun of it, but the sight of the letters C, S, and A reminded him of his old master and calmed him.”

“Good lord, the ghost of a kill-crazy Confederate camel.” Mr. Reeves said. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Teddy, but I've always found Confederate ghosts to be very strange among all the different kinds of ghosts.”

“Oh, we certainly are, sir.” Teddy said. “Just look at me and all my riveted glory. So far I’m the only ghost of a man that’s died in a motor vehicle. It’s a distinction I hope to hold onto for a few more decades. There’s just one more thing you should probably know concerning camels and the Confederacy, sirs: there was the matter of Camp Verde. That was where most of the camels used in the original US experiments ended up. We captured Camp Verde in 1861 and when we did, we came into the possession of about…eighty camels or so.”

“So what did you do with them?” Joseph asked. “Put bonnie blue blankets on them and put them to work?”

“Only a few. Most of them, we just let loose. We were on the march and in contested territory. We didn’t have the time to wrangle a bunch of camels. But here’s what I’m thinking, sir: perhaps one of the camels felt obliged to the CSA for giving it its freedom.”

“There’s a delicious irony here.” Mr. Reeves said. “But I won’t stress it, it’s fairly obvious.”

“I don’t see the irony, sir.’

“I had a feeling you wouldn’t, Teddy.” Mr. Reeves said.

‘So we’re after a Confederate camel, that shouldn’t be too hard to deal with.” Joseph said. “We just mix some greasewood in with a mint julep and he’ll come to our side like a cat to a bowl of milk.”

A knock suddenly came from Mr. Leed’s office.

Everyone save for Mr. Reeves jumped.

“I have something I need to show you all.” Mr. Leeds called out.

“He did it again!” Matthew exclaimed. “He moved in and out without any of us seeing him! Mr. Reeves, are you sure there isn’t a secret door in his office?”

“I’m sure there isn’t, though you’d think there would be one around here somewhere given all the haunted house stuff we collect. He’s just fast. Very fast. Superhumanly fast, naturally.”

“Oh, Mr. Leeds! He’s the…special one among the Poeists, isn’t he?” Teddy asked. “Do you think I could see him? You know, as thanks for helping you all out here?”

“I think we should part ways for now, Teddy.” Matthew said. “Tell Esmee and Nick we are doing well and that we should be home before Friday.”

“Well, hold on! I didn’t say I wanted to see him without his cloak on, sir, if that’s what you’re thinking I was getting at! It shouldn’t be hard thing to see him with his--”

Matthew turned off his gaeite candle and Teddy returned in an instant to England.

“For the best.” Mr. Reeves said. “I don’t think Mr. Leeds would have been able to stand him.”

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The four men entered Mr. Leed’s office to find that the shrouded man had placed a strange, white object on his desk.

The men would have figured out what it was in an instant, but the brown detritus and black strands clinging to it in certain spots threw them.

“...Is that a piece of skull?” Joseph asked.

“Oh God, did it kill again?” Martin asked.

Joseph suddenly thought of Tybalt back in Blackwall. The little fellow would sometimes bring him dead birds and rats--and sometimes pieces of dead birds and rats.

“This is a piece of skull.” Mr. Leeds answered. “But it's not from a victim. While you were out, I checked the electrograph, and found that Fort Bowie had sent us a message. A group of men came across the Red Ghost and shot at it with their rifles.”

“Why do they always do that?” Martin asked. “You’d think by now everyone would have heard the old adage “The living have no defense from the dead.”?”

Mr. Leeds chuckled, and the sound was like a muffled horn. “I’m proof that people always like to shoot what can’t be killed.”

“So these men were alright?” Mr. Reeves asked. “Did the Red Ghost attack them?”

“No. The Red Ghost turned and ran.”

“Were any of the men Confederates?” Mr. Reeves asked. “Were they wearing anything that would have identified them as Confederates, uniforms, CSA belt buckles, things like that?”

“Not that I could tell, but I did not pay much attention to what they were wearing.”

“We learned quite a bit today about who the Red Ghost might be.” Mr. Reeves said. “It’s a long story, but he may have Confederate sensibilities. He may spare those that wear emblems of the Confederacy and kill those associated with images of the Union.”

“That’s an interesting development. Perhaps one of the men that fired on the Red Ghost was a Confederate? That is something worth following up on. Anyway, the men chased after the Red Ghost but, to no surprise, the Red Ghost teleported away, leaving behind the standard red hair--and this bit of skull.”

“They all said that something white was riding the Red Ghost.” Joseph said. “White like a skeleton wrapped in a blanket, apparently.”

“They were good enough shots to blow a bit of ectoplasm off the Red Ghost.” Mr. Reeves said.

“A skeleton atop a camel…” Martin mused. “...It reminds me of depictions of the demon Gremory in the Ars Goetia…”

“Excuse me, did you say camel?” Mr. Leeds asked.

“The Red Ghost is either the ghost of a camel or an actual camel.” Martin explained. “I know, it sounds very odd for there to be a camel ghost in the United States, but that’s what we’ve determined. The Red Ghost is the ghost of a camel or camel driver related to either the US Camel Corps or, more likely, later Confederate camel operations.”

“I lived well before the Revolution, and I don’t remember any sort of Camel Corps.” Mr. Leeds said.

“A lot of people don’t.” Martin said. “But it was, indeed, real.”

“But the Red Ghost manifests not as a camel, not exactly, but as a skeleton riding a camel.” Mr. Reeves said.

“And now because of the men, he’s another headless horseman.” Joseph said. “Unless he’s the kind of ghost to regrow his ectoplasm. Good Lord! What’s with this country and headless ghosts?”

“It seems rather queer to me that the skeleton was so still people confused it for luggage.” Mr. Reeves said. “Normally when you get a ghost that manifests itself in the form of a skeleton, they’re very animated. Old Bloody Bones is an example of that. They know they’re dead and delight in being dead, they want everyone to know they’re dead. But this skeleton had a cloth over him, like he was hiding himself. That’s queer.”

Matthew took out his gaeite candle. “I’m curious about something. I’m going to illuminate the room for a moment.”

Silvery-white olprt radiance washed over the room--and the bit of skull.

The men and Mr. Leeds were stunned. It did not turn black.

The skeleton was a physical skeleton. A real corpse rode the back of the Red Ghost.

“What made you think the skeleton was physical, Matthew?” Martin asked.

“What Mr. Reeves just said.” Matthew answered. “Along with a hunch of my own. The Red Ghost is a violent ghost. Violent ghosts usually spring from messy ends. I’m not sure what sort of circumstance would have placed a corpse on the back of a camel, but it couldn’t have been clean.”

“I think this development further points to the Red Ghost being the ghost of an animal instead of a man.” Mr. Reeves said. “If this was the ghost of a man, I don’t think he would keep his corpse riding in the same saddle he was in. I think he would have dropped the corpse and rode as a ghost rider.”

“Some manes are very attached to their corpses.” Martin said.

“But they tend to animate their corpses when they’re attached, and no one’s seen the corpse move so much as a jerk.”

“Hm. True, true.” Martin said. “A loyal camel, still carrying its rider after all these years…such a sad manes.” Martin said.

“But if it's the manes of a camel, why did he attack a woman and a bear?” Matthew asked.

“His violence doesn’t make much sense for a man either, and yet his violence remains a fact.” Joseph said. “In time, we’ll figure it out.”

“Anything more to report, Mr. Leeds?” Matthew asked.

“Nothing more, save that there was a slight decrease in the jackrabbit population tonight.”

“Then I say to you, Mr. Leeds, have a good stroll under the moonlight, and to the rest of you, good night.” Matthew said. “Let’s get our rest, gentlemen. We have made great progress today, but there is still much more work to do tomorrow. Tomorrow, I feel that I can try the Zacare Operation.”