“All right—I’ll take you up! I’ll go down with two pails, and when I get back, you do the same!”
“What is that queer noise?” asked Dorothy suddenly. “Listen!”
The girls sat perfectly silent, and a low singing and sighing, which at times sank almost to a moan, could be heard in the woods close by.
“Could it be two boughs rubbing each other?” asked Ruth. “I read about that happening once, and scaring some boys out of their wits.”
“No,” replied Miss Phillips, “there would have to be wind for that, and it’s perfectly still to-night. It sounds to me like some animal in distress.”
“A wild animal?” asked Doris, fearfully. “Oh, let’s bolt the door, Captain!”
“No, no; probably a cat or a dog, whining. Let’s forget all about it. Suppose we sing a while.”
The girls did try to put aside all their fears, but Ruth and Ethel, although they would not admit it, dreaded for the time to come when the party should break up.
But the moment came all too soon. “Nine o’clock,” announced Miss Phillips, rising from her pillow on the floor. “Time for taps!”
The girls got up reluctantly and Edith brought Ruth her pails. The latter laughed gaily. “And now for the great adventure,” she said, as she opened the cabin door and stepped out into the darkness.