They crowded behind her, stirred by the note of excitement in her voice, straining their eyes in the direction she had pointed out.
The man was just about to enter the shelter of the woods when the snapping of a twig under Laura's foot caused him to stop and look about him, startled.
In that brief second the moon shone full upon his face, and with a start of sheer amazement Billie recognized him.
"It's the 'Codfish'!" she cried. "Girls, it's the 'Codfish'!"
"The Codfish?" they repeated in excitement, and Laura shook her arm wildly.
"Billie, are you sure?" she asked, then gave a gasp of amazement and dismay.
For Billie, forgetting how ridiculous she must look in her ghostly garb, had started in pursuit.
"She's crazy!" cried the "head ghost," speaking this time in the voice of Rose Belser. "Some one go after her quick and get her back. Suppose one of the Pickles should see her from the house!"
But before she could finish Laura was racing like mad after her chum.
Billie had stopped at the edge of the woods and was listening for some sound that might tell her in what direction the man had disappeared.