What a gigantic tower!? exclaimed Banesh, alias Faster Fenay. ?Is that a fortress?? ?Sort of,? answered his friend Pravin Chaubal. ?It?s the ancient residence of Inamdar Raval. A ruined palace where nobody lives now. The Inamdar himself has retired to Ahmedabad and his son Ketan is in service in Bombay. He is a friend of Sureshbhai.?

?Shall we pay a visit to the tower? I love ruined palaces.?

?You would!? laughed Pravin. ?And if there weren?t any, you?d love to ruin some!?

?Don?t talk rubbish! Honestly, shall we go there tonight??

?Impossible. The entrance to the tower is locked.?

?Why??

?Because it?s a haunted tower. The whole of Amberkatha is under the shadow of a ghost. Every night, they say, a ghost walks on the wasteland, with ten foot strides!?

?It couldn?t.?

?It does! The ghost is twenty feet tall.?

?Nonsense! I don?t believe in ghosts, tall or short.?

Faster Fenay was on a holiday visit to Amberkatha, a small town in Gujarat, where his friend Pravin?s elder brother Suresh was working as an engineer in an oil factory. The two had taken a long walk together and were now returning home.

On their way they came across a stream beside which was a small hut neatly roofed with Mangalore tiles. In the open space in front were stacks of hay and a pile of bamboos. ?Neat place,? remarked Faster Fenay. ?No one?s home, though.?

?Come on,? said Pravin, not listening. ?I?m hungry.?

Pravin led his friend home by a short route. As they approached the bungalow, they saw a bag and a holdall in the veranda.

?Guests??

?Ketanbhai in person ? the Inamdar?s son I was telling you about just now,? Pravin whispered.

A bespectacled young man was drinking tea and chatting with Suresh.

?Oh, hallo Pravin!? said Ketan, putting down his cup. ?Kemchho ? How are you??

?Fine. Majaama choo,? said Pravin. ?This is my friend Banesh alias??

?Faster Fenay! Yes, I?ve heard of him. The spirit of adventure, eh? Will your spirit stand against a spirit from the other world, old chap??

?What do you mean, sir?? asked Faster Fenay.

?I mean I?ve come on two days? holiday with the sworn purpose of hunting a ghost which has been harassing this place for too long. The villagers wrote me a letter. So I came.?

?You mean the ghost in the tower??

?Right. So you?ve heard about it??

?Pravin just told me,? said Faster Fenay.

?And here?s an old man who?ll tell you a lot more,? said Suresh, pointing to a wrinkled old man who was sitting in a corner of the room, smoking a clay pipe. It was such a dark corner that they had not noticed him at first. His eyes glowered at them out of the darkness.

?He?s Shamaldas, the man who lives in the hut with Mangalore tiles,? whispered Pravin to his friend. ?Retired and alone.?

?It?s a very wicked ghost,? the old man was saying through a cloud of smoke. ?And my advice to you, youngsters, is not to disturb it.?

?We won?t,? said Ketan, smiling. ?We will lay the ghost, so that it will stop roaming and lie down in peace. Boys, if you are game for it, we?ll go and sleep in the tower tonight!?

Faster Fenay stared at this wonderful new Dada, his eyes wide. What could be greater fun than hunting a ghost? He was game, of course, and Pravin too, after some hesitation.

?I wish I could come with you,? said Suresh, ?But I?m on night shift.?

To be continued

B.R. Bhagwat?s short story, Faster Fenay Lays a Ghost, translated from Marathi by the author, first appeared in the children?s magazine Target, edited by Rosalind Wilson. It was later published in the short story collection, The Carpenter?s Apprentice, by Katha, a Delhi-based non-profit organisation and publishing house.