“No, and I’m not eager to either,” Judy returned with a grimace. “Aunt Mattie might make a dreadful fuss. I wish we could clear up the mystery before she gets here.”
“We have tonight to work on it,” Kathleen remarked thoughtfully. “If only we could get down into the cottage basement! It wouldn’t do though, to break the door lock.”
“Hardly,” Judy agreed. “Mr. Krumm would have a just complaint then!”
Though the Beaver Patrol girls made light of the “ghost” and the strange flute music which had disturbed their slumbers at the cottage, they were determined to find a logical explanation for the occurrence.
Judy and her friends had said very little about the mysterious happening, but the story had leaked out and greatly enlarged in the telling. Throughout the afternoon, the girls were besieged by questions. Their rivals in the Lone Tree unit seemed especially interested.
“We’re certainly the target of attention,” Judy remarked to Kathleen. “I can’t understand why the Lone Tree girls are so fascinated by every detail. Something’s in the wind!”
The Beaver Patrol members remained at camp for dinner and to enjoy a ceremonial camp fire which wound up with the telling of ghost stories. At nine o’clock, the station wagon took Judy, Kathleen, Miss Ward, Ardeth and Virginia to Calico Cottage for the night.
“We’ll have our tent by tomorrow, I’m quite sure,” Miss Ward told the girls as they let themselves into the dark cottage. “That will be a relief.”
“I don’t mind being here,” Virginia asserted. “In fact, I think it’s exciting! Do you suppose we’ll hear that flute player tonight?”
“We will if we keep dwelling upon it,” Miss Ward replied as she switched on the lights. “The mind, you know, plays strange tricks. Now everyone to bed, and no nonsense.”