midnight
`` Oh , a ghost story , of course ! '' urged several voices at once . Mr. Curtis laughed , stretched out his legs comfortably , thought for a minute or two , and then in a slow , sepulchral voice began a narrative which he called `` The Headless Horseman of the Harlem . '' It was a tale full of creeps and thrills , abounding in dank vaults , weird apparitions , wild storms , midnight encounters , and various other appropriate settings and incidents . The boys drew closer still , luxuriating in the `` spookiness '' of it all , and then , just as some of the more impressionable were beginning to cast nervous glances behind them , he ended with a ridiculous climax that brought forth a shout of laughter and turned the whole thing into a farce . A `` round-robin '' followed , the scoutmaster starting a yarn and leaving it at an exciting and dramatic moment for the boy on his right to continue . The absurdity of these continuations kept the crowd in a constant gale of merriment , and when the round was made they clamored for another .