When I opened my eyes, I thought maybe I would find myself in the comfort of my soft, warm bed after having a bad dream.  No such luck.  I was definitely not dreaming.   And right before my eyes, Bob was tugging and pulling like a madman trying to loosen what he thought was a map held in the tightly closed fist of the ghostly figure. 

                 Finally discovering that he couldn't loosen it, Bob turned to me looking for some sort of advice.  He didn't listen to me before, so why should he now.  I didn't know what he wanted me to say.  But before I had a chance to open my mouth, a strange thing started to happen to the weird figure standing in front of us. 

                 Its hard, cold face started to become alive with expression.  I thought it was trying to communicate with us when its nose started to wiggle and twitch.  Bob stepped back and joined me as we watched its sunken eyes bug wide open and its dried lips curl up.  It sort of looked like it was going to sneeze.  Then this tall figure, dressed in old, raggedy clothes, let out a whopper of a sneeze.  The two of us were sprayed from head to toe.  It was disgusting.  

            "ACHOO! ACHOO!"  The noise was deafening.  Bob was cool about it and said, "Bless you, Buster."     

              "What's going on here?"  I thought to myself.  Suddenly, I realized what was happening.  That was no ghost - it was Buster Reilly.  He had set up the whole thing: the phony story, the ghost, and the map.  We swallowed the bait all right, and also the hook, line, and sinker.  He had almost scared me half to death, and poor Bob thought he had discovered something important for a change.  But as usual, "bad news" had once again entered his life.  I knew it was too good to be true.

                    Buster, by now, was laughing as he started to move toward us from inside the closet.  Now most people would have been embarrassed if something like that had happened to them, but not Bob.  He actually started to laugh right along with Buster.  The two of them seemed to think it was very funny.  That was just like Bob to go along with a joke, even if the "joke" was on him.  He turned to look at me as he continued to laugh.  Buster, by now, had tears forming in his eyes.  He really thought he had pulled off a good one.

                    I think Bob finally had enough of this nonsense, so he turned around and slammed the closet door right in Buster's laughing face.  Holding the door closed with his foot, he nodded for me to help and grab hold of a high back chair.  Then he tilted it under the rusty doorknob to hold the door tightly shut.  Buster started shouting and banging wildly on the other side.  He didn't seem to enjoy a joke if it was played on him. 

                   We looked at each other, started to laugh, and walked slowly out of the room as Buster continued to pound on the door.  I guess he who laughs last, laughs best, but I was certain this wasn't going to be the last of Buster's jokes, and was just as sure that Bob wasn't about to give up his search for the treasure map after what just happened.                   

                   
       Suddenly, there was a loud crash followed by a high pitch scream.  The next thing we knew, a flash of red zipped past us, flew down the stairs and out the front door.               

                 Bob and I looked at each other wondering what had happened.  We sort of figured it was Buster who had just rushed past.  Then a strange odor began to surround us.  Looking down the stairs, we noticed black footprints that led out the door.  I was certain they weren't there when we came up the stairs.  Maybe Buster had stepped in something while he was in the closet.  Looking closer, Bob checked out the footprints and told me to get down on my knees and smell one.  Feeling like a jerk, I did what he asked.  We were sure that these black marks were causing the smell.  Bob touched one with his finger and said that it was sticky.  We both agreed that the strange smell was familiar and thought that it smelled a lot like tar.  Maybe Buster could help us out in the morning and explain a few things.

Answer the following questions in complete sentences.

1.  What did Bob believe was in the hand of the ghostly figure?

2.  What had Buster done? 

3.  What did Bob do to get even with Buster?

4.  Why do you thing Buster screamed?

5.  What strange things did the boys find on the stairs? 

6.  What did these strange things smell like?