“But I want to,” Valerie insisted. “I don’t want the girls to wait on me. I didn’t intend to be a burden when I came on this trip and I won’t be one!”
“Darling, you could never be that!” Gale said tenderly. She continued humorously: “Here we want to give you service and you won’t have it. I wish somebody----”
“All clear,” Tom called, and there was a sudden rush of wet figures for the poor sanctuary of the tumbledown shack.
A fire crackled cheerily in the fireplace and the tired riders were gathered around it gratefully, yielding to the comfort of its warmth and to the laziness a good supper had instilled in them.
“And still no ghosts,” Madge sighed, leaning her head cozily against Janet’s shoulder.
“No, and I can’t say that I miss them,” that individual added, stifling a yawn.
“It has stopped raining,” Jim volunteered from his post at the door. “Tom and I will put up a tent outside for the night.”
“You girls can roll in your blankets on the floor here in front of the fire,” Tom continued. “We----”
All of them came to attention. From somewhere, they were not certain of the exact position, came three slow, measured knocks.
“Ah, the ghost has arrived!” murmured Carol.