“Maybe the fountain will tell us where it is,” Judy was beginning with a laugh when suddenly they all heard a low moan. It seemed to come directly from the fountain.
“Wh-hat was that?” gasped Lois.
Lorraine had turned pale.
“Sh!” Judy cautioned them.
If the fountain had anything to say, she wanted to hear it. A chill came over her as she waited. Lois and Lorraine huddled together, shivering. The moan came a second time and with it the long drawn-out words, “Go-oo a-wa-ay!”
“He doesn’t need to tell me twice. I’m going!” declared Lois. “Come on, Judy! Why are you standing there?”
“I’m not afraid of a voice. If someone is trying to scare us, he will have to think of something more frightening than that. I’m just puzzled. Before, it was a woman—or a girl.”
“What was?” asked Lois and Lorraine both together.
“The voice from the fountain. It wasn’t a man, and it wasn’t moaning. There it is again!”
Thoroughly frightened, Lois and Lorraine rushed ahead of Judy down the path. It was already so dark they had difficulty following it, but the moans that were following them gave wings to their feet. Only Judy was reluctant to leave. She turned to the fountain, as if it were alive, and called, “I’ll be back! I will, too,” she reiterated, catching up with her two friends, who were determined to leave with or without her. “I’ll be back first thing in the morning, and either Horace or Peter or both of them will be with me. I’m not going to let any moaning fountain keep me from finding out what’s going on.”