Roger and Ruth, peering around her shoulder, caught sight of a pair of gleaming eyes piercing through the darkness.
"It's a cat!" cried Roger, reassuringly. "But how in the world did you succeed in keeping it there?"
"I tied a chicken-bone to a stone," answered Miss Phillips. "And nothing will induce pussy to leave."
Frightened by the voices, the cat fled immediately, and the procession continued. In a minute or two, Doris caught sight of a ghost. But this time she was not really frightened.
"I know it's only a dummy!" she said. "I'm not afraid any more!"
But when the ghost actually began to stretch out its arms and move towards her, Doris admitted that she was scared, and clung, trembling, to Roger. For the hands of the ghost were the bony structures of a human skeleton, and its head was an empty skull!
"That's our lab skeleton, I'll bet!" exclaimed Roger. "But who's moving it?"
"I am!" laughed David Conner, throwing off his disguise.
With another yard, light was visible ahead, and the basement of the gymnasium came into view. Doris breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's nice to stand up straight again, isn't it?" remarked Marjorie, as the whole party reached the less cramped quarters. "But that was a great idea, Captain!"