SPOOKS OF THE LONESOME ISLE
"Yes, I know the way. I could go there blindfolded," answered Harriet, in reply to a question from Miss Elting.
The hour was nine o'clock in the evening. The night was very dark, though the stars were shining. It had been decided that Margery and Tommy should remain on board the "Red Rover," putting out all lights and locking the doors, though no anxiety was felt about them, as there was scarcely a chance that their presence would be discovered, provided the girls remained quiet.
The paraphernalia for the evening's enterprise was carefully loaded into the rowboat; then, with final admonitions to Tommy and Margery to keep silent and not be afraid, the party set out in the rowboat for the entrance of the creek. They paused there long enough to make certain that no one was about, after which they rowed along the shore a short distance and made a landing at a point where the ground was fairly level.
"Now be very quiet," whispered Harriet. "Remember the signal to return to the boat is one long caw. Two caws in quick succession mean 'hurry.'"
"We shan't be far apart, shall we?" questioned Hazel, somewhat apprehensively.
"No. Within speaking distance," replied Miss Elting. "Leave it to Harriet and Jane to make the first advance. We will follow when the time is right. It is fortunate that we left Tommy and Margery at home. Are you ready, Harriet?"
It was a silent party of four shadowy figures that made its way cautiously along the shore of the island for some little distance. The party then turned sharply to the right and disappeared among the bushes that marked a slight rise of ground. Reaching this rise they turned to the left and once more proceeded straight ahead.
The lights of a campfire were soon distinguishable between the trees. The party was nearing the camp of the Tramp Club. The time to prepare for their final triumph was at hand.
"Now, Harriet," urged Miss Elting in a half whisper.
"Yes. I will go around to the other side of the camp. That will be the most difficult position to get away from, so I am choosing it for myself. Jane, you will remain here, while Miss Elting and Hazel will take a position halfway between us. You see that will enable us practically to surround the camp. After you hear me, wait a moment, then give them a thriller."
Harriet, accompanied by the guardian and Hazel, stepped promptly away. After going on for some distance, the girl directed Miss Elting and Hazel to stop and remain where they were, except that they were to separate, yet keep within easy call of each other. This detail arranged, Harriet went on.
According to previous arrangement, Jane, Miss Elting and Hazel gradually crept nearer to the camp, continuing until they could make out the figures of the boys quite plainly. The latter were sitting about the campfire. Their attitude was one of dejection. They had been outwitted and they knew it.
"If we don't find those girls to-night, then to-morrow morning we'll get out of here," announced George. "They know that they have won and we'll let them come and tell us so rather than hunt all summer for them."
"What about that half-breed?" asked Sam. "I think we'd better find out who he is. I didn't like the looks of that fellow a little bit."
"Neither did I," agreed George. "Queer we never saw him around here before."
"You must remember this is a large lake," Billy informed them. "He probably is a fisherman who hangs out on the island, and who resented our encroaching upon his preserves. I think I saw the same fellow once in a canoe, but he was so far away that I don't think I would know him were we to meet face to face."
"There are too many mysterious things on this island," averred Larry Goheen, with emphasis. "I, for one, shall be glad to get away from it. I know there are spooks here."
"Spooks!" jeered George. "Who's afraid of spooks? Who—" George's voice trailed off almost into a whisper. "I heard something," he exclaimed.
"So did I," added Larry, nodding.
A laugh, a distinctly human laugh, shrill and mocking, was wafted to them. The boys gazed questioningly at each other. Larry glanced about apprehensively. Then out of the night came the most weird, most demoniacal laugh any member of the Tramp Club ever had heard.
The boys sprang to their feet.
Other laughs, accompanied by shrieks, followed each other in quick succession. The laughs seemed to come from all quarters. It was difficult to say from just what particular point any one of them did come.
"Spooks!" yelled Larry Goheen, bolting toward the lake. Billy caught and jerked him back.
"No, you don't," growled Billy. "We stand together."
"I don't want to stay here," chattered Larry. "I never try to fool people with fake courage when I know that running is my one best course to pursue."
"Is there a lunatic asylum in this part of the country?" asked Baker. "Can it be possible that any of the inmates have escaped."
Billy Gordon shook his head. "Nothing as easy as that," he sighed.
"Great Scott! There it goes again!" breathed Larry. "It's down that way, too," pointing in the direction taken by Harriet Burrell.
It was a long, weird wail, well calculated to freeze the marrow in one's bones.
"Come on, fellows!" cried George, with a fine showing of resolution. "We'll lay that ghost!"
George was the only one of the boys who thought to snatch up a club as he ran. But now the unearthly sounds came from the rear, instead of ahead of them. The boys wheeled abruptly, only to hear right in front of them a dismaying chorus of ghostly noises.
"Let's go!" urged Larry. "It's surely a lot of banshees!"
"Great Scott! Look!" quivered Sam, pointing with trembling finger.
In the faint light the boys made out a white figure that might have been anywhere from seven to ten feet in height. The boys were too scared to judge of length. The awful thing raised its draped arms, a frightful scream sounding on the air.
At that Billy lost his grip on Larry's arm. Goheen made no apologies, but made a straight, swift dash for camp.
The other boys hesitated for a few brief seconds; then they, too, headed for camp. They were not exactly running. They were leaping like as many frightened rabbits, fleeing from a rabbit hound. In their haste they lost their way and were proceeding directly toward the spot where Jane McCarthy was standing.
Jane finally heard them coming. She was filled with glee. She had feared that she was not to have an opportunity to play an important part in this ghost party. Making a noise like a ghost did not wholly satisfy Crazy Jane McCarthy. What she wanted was something more exciting. Her opportunity came very quickly. The boys were nearly up to her, ere she realized that they were so close.
A wild wail halted them.
"Come on, you fellows!" yelled George to his faltering companions.
"There it is!" howled Sam.
He had espied another figure that looked exactly like the first ghost. George discovered it at about the same time. George made a brave rush toward the figure, yelling to frighten it. But Crazy Jane was not easily frightened. She advanced slowly, waving the long, draped arms, and moaning. All at once something came down on the head of George Baker, just as he had raised his club to hurl it at the ghost. The something was a long tough stick in the hand of Jane McCarthy.
George uttered a howl and sprang back. The ghost advanced on him. Billy got a light tap, then Sam yelled as something damp brushed his cheek. He did not know that it was the leaf of a bush. He thought it the cold, clammy hand of the ghost.
The boys having gotten more than they had looked for, began to retreat. Sam was the first after Larry to run. He did so with all speed, followed closely by George and Billy. They were confused. They did not know just where the camp was located. Glancing over their shoulders they saw that the ghost was pursuing them. The boys began to shout anew, and to run even at greater speed.
"There's some more of them," howled Sam.
"Yeow!" yelled George. He sprang to the left, in which direction he believed the camp lay, then he halted. Another ghost was confronting him. George hesitated. The ghost uttered a moan. The brave George Baker, captain of the Tramp Club, took to his heels. The others did the same, except that each took a different direction. Wherever they ran they were followed by moans and screams, principally from the lips of Crazy Jane McCarthy.
It seemed to their excited imaginations that the woods were full of ghosts of giant stature, with voices capable of making one's hair stand on end. The worst of it was that the ghosts persisted in pursuing them. They chased the brave Tramp Club right into camp, where the lads arrived one by one. Instead of stopping the boys bolted for the launch, in which the frightened Larry Goheen already had sought safety.
"Cast off," yelled George, the last to leap into the boat.
The launch was shoved from the shore and allowed to drift while the boys sat shivering, listening to the wails from the forest.
"Good-bye," answered Sam.
"Fellows, we are all cowards," declared George, beginning to get control of himself. "We should have staid and knocked them out."
"I'll go back, if you say so," answered Billy promptly.
"No. I've got enough of this place. To-morrow morning we break camp and go back to the other camping place. No more ghost parties for mine."
"As long as we have decided to move why not go now," suggested Larry.
The boys discussed the matter briefly, then decided that they would. Sam was put on guard to watch for the return of the ghosts while the others hurriedly broke camp. But there were no more ghostly moans nor ghostly intruders that night.
The ghosts in the persons of the Meadow-Brook Girls were on their way to their rowboat. Beaching it they sat down and laughed until their eyes were wet with tears.
"It was a mean trick to play on them," gasped Miss Elting. "But I think we have more than won our wager. It is a wonder that they didn't suspect us."
"There goes a boat!" cried Jane. "It's a launch."
"It is the boys. We have frightened them off," answered Miss Elting.
The girls rowed quickly home, but ere they had reached the entrance to the secret creek they were startled by the sound of a shrill scream. They recognized the voice as Tommy's and began to shout, and to row with all their might. A moment later, just as they were about to turn into the opening with their boat, a canoe shot out and darted across their bows, disappearing in the darkness.
"A man, a man!" yelled Tommy as Harriet shouted to know if the two girls were all right. Tommy threw open the door and in her excitement walked off the after deck of the "Red Rover" and fell forward into the stream.
"Jane, do you recognize that man?" cried Harriet excitedly.
"Yes," exclaimed Jane, "he's the man I saw this afternoon, and he's our mysterious enemy too, or my name's not Jane McCarthy."