CHAPTER XXVII.THE GHOST.
Before the “preparedness program” of the afternoon was started, Miss Ladd addressed the group of Camp Fire Girls thus, speaking in low tone, of course, in order that she might not be overheard by any eavesdropper who might be in hiding in the vicinity:
“Now, we want to do this thing right. How many of you feel that you can throw a stone a considerable distance and accurately?”
Katherine, Helen, Marion and Violet held up their hands.
“How many of you would like to use catapults?” was the Guardian’s next question.
The hands of Harriet, Marie, Ethel, and Ruth went up promptly. A moment later Estelle and Ernestine also put up theirs.
“I believe I could learn how,” said Estelle.
“We don’t want too much demonstration around here this afternoon,” Miss Ladd warned. “Everything must proceed quietly and as if nothing unusual were taking place. How many rubber bands have you, Helen?”
“Oh, a dozen or twenty,” the latter replied.
“Well, we’ll proceed to cut half a dozen Y-forks and make them into catapults. We’ll start out at once. Hazel, you get a hatchet, and, Marie, you get a saw; the rest of you get your combination knives.”
In a few minutes they were in the thick of the timber, searching the small trees and saplings for Y-forks to serve as catapult handles. In half an hour they returned with a dozen of varying degree of symmetry and excellence.
Then the work of assembling the parts of these miniature engines of war began. Some of the girls exhibited a good deal of mechanical skill, while others made moves and suggestions so awkward as to occasion much laughter.
“Well, anyway,” said Marie after she had been merrily criticised for sewing up the “mouth” of a “pocket” so narrowly that a stone could hardly fly out of it; “there are lots of boys who would make a worse job sewing on a button. Don’t you remember last winter at a button-sewing contest, Paul Wetzler cast the thread over and over and over the side of the button—and he didn’t know any better.”
“That’s a very convenient way to dodge a joke on you, Marie,” said Violet. “But just because boys don’t know anything is no reason why we shouldn’t.”
“Whew! some slam at me,” Marie exclaimed. “I’m very properly squelched.”
After half a dozen catapults had been made, the girls practiced slinging stones for an hour and several of them developed considerable skill. In this way it was determined who should have the preference in the use of these weapons.
Then at the suggestion of Miss Ladd, adozen slings were made to be tied about the waist for carrying a supply of stones, some the size of an egg, for throwing with the hand and pebbles for use in the catapults. After these were completed, the girls went down to the beach and gathered a plentiful supply and took them back to the camp. Then a score or two of these stones were deposited in the slings, and the latter were put in convenient places in the tents on short notice. The catapults also were turned over to those of the girls who proved most capable of using them skillfully.
The last item of preparations on the program of the day consisted of completing plans for a succession of night watch reliefs. As Katherine, Hazel, Azalia, and Ernestine were assigned to special scout duty immediately after dusk, they were excused from assignment on any of the reliefs. This left ten girls among whom the watches might be divided, which was done in the following manner:
The eight sleeping hours from 9 P. M. to 5 A. M. were divided into five watches of equal length and assignments were made thus:
First watch: Marion Stanlock and Helen Nash. Second watch: Ruth Hazelton and Ethel Zimmerman. Third watch: Violet Munday and Harriet Newcomb. Fourth watch: Julietta Hyde and Marie Crismore. Fifth watch: Estelle Adler and the Guardian, Miss Ladd.
Nothing further of particular interest tookplace during the rest of the day, except that shortly before suppertime Addie and Olga Graham, both dressed “fit to kill,” called at the camp and thanked the girls for their assistance in getting “their brother” back home.
“Is he all right now?” Hazel inquired with genuine concern.
“Yes, he’s fine,” Addie replied. “You see he has spells of that kind every now and then, and we don’t know what to make of it. But today’s was the worst spell he ever had.”
“Don’t you do anything for him?” Hazel asked.
“What can we do?” Addie returned. “He isn’t sick. I’m afraid it’s just a little distemper. There is absolutely no reason for it.”
Miss Ladd asked the Graham girls to remain at the camp for supper, but they “begged to be excused on account of a pressing social engagement.”
After darkness had fallen as heavily as could be expected on a clear, though moonless night, the four scouts set out through the timber toward the Graham cottage. All of them carried flashlights and clubs which might easily have been mistaken in the dark for mere walking sticks. The clubs were for protection against dogs or any other living being which might exhibit hostility toward them. Katherine and Hazel had also two of the rubber-band catapults, as they had exhibited no little skill, for novices, in the use of them.
The other girls built a small fire near thetents, to keep the mosquitos away, and sat around it chatting and waited for the scouts to return. Miss Ladd insisted, as soon as dusk began to gather, that they bring out their “ammunition” from the tents and keep it close at hand for immediate use if anything should happen to require it.
And something did happen, something of quite unexpected and startling character. The scouts had been gone about half an hour and the night had settled down to a blanket of darkness on the earth, a sprinkle of starlight in the sky, the croaking of frogs, the songs of katydids and the occasional ripple of water on the lake shore. A poet might have breathed a sigh of delightful awe. Well, the girls were pleasureably impressed with scene and the sounds, if they were not exactly delighted, and the awe was coming.
It came without warning and was before them very suddenly. It was in the form of a man in a long, white robe, long white hair and whiskers, the latter reaching almost to his waist. He stalked, stiffly, unemotionally out of the darkness south of the camp and across the open space within thirty feet of the fire, where sat the startled, chill-thrilled group of girls, speechless with something akin to fear and momentarily powerless to shake off the spell that held them as rigid as statues.
CHAPTER XXVIII.A BUMP ON THE HEAD.
Suddenly Helen Nash’s memory served her so well that she regained control of her wits with a shock. Here is what she remembered:
“I don’t want them to scare you with a ghost”—these words uttered by little Glen just before his warning speech was interrupted by the appearance of Addie Graham at the girls’ camp.
That recollection was enough for Helen. There was nothing tenuous, elusively subtle, or impenetrably mysterious any longer about the ghostly apparition. Little Glen had something very clear and definite in his mind when he made that remark.
Her muscles having relaxed from their rigid strain of superstitious suspense, Helen reached for the “ammunition sling” that she had placed beside her and drew therefrom one of the catapults they had made in the afternoon, also a pebble about the size of a marble, and fitted the latter in the pocket of the weapon. Then she drew back the pocket and the pebble, stretching the rubber bands as far as she could extend them, and took careful aim.
Helen had practiced with this weapon a good deal in the last two or three hours and acquired considerable proficiency for so shorta period of experience. Moreover, she was skilled in amateur archery and could pull a bow with a strong right arm. This experience, together with a general systematic athletic training at school, rendered her particularly well adapted for her present undertaking.
The other girls, under the spell of awe-fascination which had seized and held Helen before it was broken by a sudden jog of her memory, knew nothing of what was going on in their midst until they heard the snap of the rubber bands. And doubtless it would have taken them considerable time to fathom it had the pebble-shooter’s aim not proved to be remarkably good. It struck the “ghost” on the head.
Of course even Helen could not follow the pebble through the air with her eyes, nor could she see where it struck, but other unmistakable evidence informed her as to the trueness of her aim and the effect of the blow. A sharp thud informed her that she had hit something of substantial resistance, and the next bit of evidence broke the spell for the other girls with a realization of what had taken place.
The “ghost” wavered and seemed about to topple over, at the same time emitting a groan of pain which proved him to be thoroughly human. Helen was frightened, but there was a new kind of awe in this fright. All suggestion of superstition had left her and in itsplace was the dread that she might have killed a man.
The latter dread, however, was soon dispelled. The “ghost” did not fall. He staggered, it is true—evidently the pain of the blow had stunned him considerably; but he managed to put speed into his pace, although the evidence of his suffering was even greater after he began to run. In a minute he disappeared in the darkness of the timber.
“My! that was a good shot, Helen,” Ethel Zimmerman exclaimed. “And he will surely wear some lump on his head for some time to come.”
“I was afraid I pulled too hard,” Helen replied with a sigh of relief; “and, believe me, I’d rather be scared by a ghost several times over than with the prospect of having a murder record.”
“Who is he?—have you any idea?” Violet asked.
“Can’t you guess?” Helen answered. “Isn’t he someone connected with the Graham family?”
“What was he trying to do—scare us?” Julietta inquired, addressing the question as much to herself as to anybody else.
“I should imagine something of the kind, although he may be the crazy man the Graham girls spoke about,” said Helen.
“I don’t believe there is any such person,” Miss Ladd volunteered at this point.
“Then why did they suggest such an idea?” Violet questioned.
“I don’t know, unless it was to frighten us,” the Guardian replied.
“Frighten us away from here,” Harriet supplemented.
“Exactly,” said Helen. “That’s my theory of the affair. Don’t you remember what Glen Irving said just before Addie Graham put in her appearance and cut short our interview with the boy?”
“He said something about ghosts,” Harriet recalled.
“Not about ghosts, butaghost,” Helen corrected. “It made quite an impression on me. Didn’t any of you wonder what he meant?”
“I did,” announced Violet; “and I remember exactly what he said. It was this: ‘I don’t want them to scare you with a ghost.’”
“Those were the very words,” Helen declared. “Now do you get the connection between that remark and what just took place? Glen had heard them talking over their plans, isn’t it all very clear?”
“At least it is very interesting,” commented Miss Ladd.
“Since you have got so near a solution of this affair, perhaps you’ll go a step farther and tell your interested audience who that ghost was,” Ruth Hazelton suggested.
“Oh, no, I wouldn’t be so rash as that,” Helen responded; “but if I were going to write to Mrs. Hutchins tonight, I would suggestto her that, if Mr. Pierce Langford should return to Fairberry in the next week or two, she might have somebody examine his head for a bump.”
“A phrenological bump?” inquired Harriet, the “walking dictionary.”
There was a general laugh.
“Not a phrenological bump,” Helen answered.
CHAPTER XXIX.A CRUEL WOMAN.
Katherine, Hazel, Ernestine and Azalia found it no easy task to pick their way through the dark timber more than half a mile to the Graham cottage. Several times, finding themselves hopelessly entangled in a thicket, or stumbling over disagreeably uneven ground, and fearful of losing their way, they made use of their flash lights until able to continue their journey satisfactorily.
But after they caught their first glimpse of the light in the Graham cottage, they made no further use of the flash lights. Guided by the illuminated windows and their memory of the surroundings, they made their way over the intervening space until within a hundred feet of the house, where they halted and looked and listened for about fifteen minutes.
First, they wished to make sure that there was no dog on the place. They were reasonably certain that the Grahams kept no watchdog, as several of the girls had been careful to check up in this regard when passing near or calling at the cottage. But as additional precaution, they made a careful inspection from a safe distance on this scouting expedition before venturing close to the house.
The night was clear and warm, but no moon was shining. There was a stillness in the airwhich alone might have been expected to cause a dog to howl for very lonesomeness. Even while the four scouts were waiting for evidence of a canine guard at the Graham place, far away in the distance there came a mournful howl from a mournful hound in a farmyard. The sound was repeated several times, and although there were two or three echoing responses from as many neighboring sources, none came from a kinship kennel of the Graham premises.
At last Katherine and Hazel decided that it was safe to advance nearer to the house. Leaving Azalia and Ernestine at the edge of the timber to watch for any condition or circumstance that might prove unfriendly to their venture, the two leaders advanced across the clearing.
As they neared the building, a sound, which they had not heard before reached their ears and drove from their minds all thought or fear of a watchdog. The sound was like the plaintive cry of a child and seemed to be muffled as if coming through two or three thick walls.
There were two windows on the side of the house nearest the advancing girl scouts. Through the drawn shade of one of these came the rays of incandescent bulbs which lighted the room. The other window was dark.
The advance of Katherine and Hazel was guided now by the seeming source of the muffledcry. As they started for the house, their initial impulse was to direct their steps toward the lighted window. But as they approached the building, almost unconsciously they veered gradually to the right until they found themselves standing close to the unlighted window at the rear.
Without a doubt the muffled sounds came from this part of the cottage. A whispered conversation between the girls resulted in the following procedure: Hazel stood guard at a distance of ten or fifteen feet while Katherine stood close to the window, almost pressing her ear against the glass in order the better to hear the sounds that interested them. For two or three minutes the listener continued in this attitude; then she went to where Hazel stood and the latter advanced to the window and did likewise. She also tried the sash to see if it was locked, succeeding in raising it slightly, so that the sounds within reached her ear more distinctly.
Several minutes later both of these girls returned to the edge of the clearing and rejoined their two companions stationed there. A low-voiced consultation was held, at the close of which Hazel said:
“Well, all this means that we’ll have to return to the cottage and stay there until we find out something more. Let’s see what we can discover in the front of the house.”
She and Katherine accordingly went back and directed their inspection as Hazel hadsuggested. The shade trees did not cover the lower pane to the full limit and they were able to look in and get a fairly good view of the room.
Mrs. Graham and “Jimmie Junior” apparently were the only members of the family at home, if we may disregard as one of the family, little Glen, who undoubtedly was the author of the muffled sobs. Mrs. Graham was reading a fashion magazine and her son was playing solitaire at a card table.
Almost the first view acquainted the girls with the fact that the woman was much disconcerted over something, and it soon became evident that the cause of this nervousness was the sound of weeping that reached her through the closed door of an adjoining room. Presently she arose, with a hard look on her face and determined manner, and moved in the direction from which the offending noise came.
Katherine and Hazel did not take the additional precaution this time of alternating as watcher and guard. They stood together at the window, and as they saw Mrs. Graham open the door they moved quickly to the window next toward the rear. By the time they reached it, this room also was lighted.
Fortunately a similar condition existed here also with reference to the width of the window shade and they were able to get a fairly good view of this apartment. Mrs. Graham evidently was disposed to lose no timeand to leave ground for no misunderstanding as to her purpose. She threw open a second door, this time a closet door, and the girls beheld a sight that fairly made their blood boil.
There sat little Glen on a chair with a rope wound around his body, arms, and legs, securing him so firmly to the article of furniture on which he was seated that he could scarcely move a muscle. His face was wet with tears and a picture of suffering.
For the first time the watchers observed that the woman had a leather strap in her hand, and they were still further horrified when they saw her swing it cruelly against the bare legs of the quivering child.
Once, twice she struck the boy. Hazel and Katherine could hardly contain their indignation. Indeed it is not at all to be doubted that they would have attempted to interfere on the spot if an interruption had not come from another source before the third blow could fall.
There was a disturbance in the front of the house. Somebody had entered and was talking in a loud voice. Mrs. Graham let her arm fall without dealing the third blow for which she had raised it as a man entered the room in anything but mild and pleasant manner.
“What are you doing, Mrs. Graham?” he demanded. “What did I tell you about this conduct of yours? Do you realize that you are bringing things to a climax where I’ll wash my hands of the whole affair?”
The speaker was Pierce Langford.
CHAPTER XXX.THE GIRLS WIN.
Mrs. Graham looked uncomfortable—not ashamed or abashed. Doubtless the conflict within her was between the cruelty of her nature and the fear of financial reverses in consequence of that cruelty. She did not answer the rebuke of her confederate attorney.
The latter drew a knife from his pocket and in a moment was severing the rope that bound the child to the chair. After he had released the boy, who looked gratefully toward him as a protector, the man threw cold water on little Glen’s natural feeling of confidence toward him by saying:
“Now, mind you, Mrs. Graham, my interference is not moved by any sentiment of sympathy for the kid. I merely want to inform you that things are coming to such a pass that I may be forced to drop out of this game purely as a move of self-salvation. For instance, it appears very unwise to make any further attempts to frighten that bunch of girls. They simply don’t scare. See that?”
Langford indicated the object of his question by taking off his hat, which he had neglected to remove when he entered the house, and caressing gently with two or three fingers a badly swollen wound on the side of his head almost directly over his right ear. Mrs.Graham looked at it curiously, not sympathetically.
“Where did you get that?” she inquired.
“Those girls did it, or one of them, I presume. I thought my make-up would paralyze them, but instead they nearly paralyzed me. I think they fired some rocks at me, for something of that description struck my head, and you see the result.
“I drove my machine into the timber a little farther up the road and put on my ghost outfit. Then I walked through the woods to the girls’ camp and stalked past them. You would have thought my appearance was enough to freeze their veins and arteries. Well, they pretty nearly put mine in cold storage for eternity. Now, what do you know about ‘first aid to the injured?’ Will you get some cold water and alcohol or liniment? I’m going to have a fierce swelling. I don’t suppose I can keep it down much now, but I’m going to have an awful headache and I’d like to prevent that as much as possible. Let the kid go to bed, and do something for me.”
Glen took advantage of this suggestion and went into another room. Mrs. Graham and the lawyer returned to the living room. Katherine and Hazel watched them for about twenty minutes, but heard little more conversation. Then Langford left the house and Mrs. Graham and her son prepared to retire. As it appeared that they would be able to get no further information of interest to themat the Graham cottage that night, Katherine and Hazel and the other two girls who waited at the edge of the clearing returned to their camp and reported the success of their expedition.
Early next day, Miss Ladd, Katherine, and Hazel went by boat to Twin Lakes and appeared before a magistrate and swore out a warrant for the arrest of Mrs. Graham on a charge of cruel and inhuman treatment of a child in her custody. Before leaving Fairberry she had been given authority to take this move if in her judgment such emergency action were advisable. She also asked that Glen Irving be removed from the custody of the Grahams. Then Miss Ladd sent a telegram to Mrs. Hutchins asking her to “come at once.”
Mrs. Hutchins arrived at Twin Lakes next day. Meanwhile Mrs. Graham was arrested and the boy was taken temporarily as a ward of the court. When she was confronted with the charges against her and the evidence of the two Camp Fire Girls who had witnessed one instance of outrageous cruelty, her cold resistance was broken and she promised to accede to Mrs. Hutchins demands if the prosecution were dropped.
This seemed to be the best settlement of the whole affair, and it was accepted. By order of court Glen was turned over to Mrs. Hutchinswho assumed the obligation of his care and custody.
Mrs. Hutchins remained with the girls a week at their camp at Stony Point, and then all returned to Fairberry, where the tents were pitched again in the broad and scenic ravine known as Fern Hollow. Here they camped again for another week, summarized, tabulated, and classified the achievements of the last few weeks, conferred honors, and finally adjourned to their several homes, there to remain until the autumn opening of school.
But the adventures of the year for this Camp Fire were not complete. More of equally stirring character were in store for three of the girls, and those who would follow these events should read the volume entitled:
CAMP FIRE GIRLS ON A HIKE;or,LOST IN THE GREAT NORTHERN WOODS.
ByLouis Arundel
1. The Motor Club’s Cruise Down the Mississippi; or The Dash for Dixie.
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5. Motor Boat Boys Down the Coast; or Through Storm and Stress.
6. Motor Boat Boy’s River Chase; or Six Chums Afloat or Ashore.
7. Motor Boat Boys Down the Danube; or Four Chums Abroad
ByKatherine Stokes
1. Motor Maids’ School Days
2. Motor Maids by Palm and Pine
3. Motor Maids Across the Continent
4. Motor Maids by Rose, Shamrock and Thistle.
5. Motor Maids in Fair Japan
6. Motor Maids at Sunrise Camp
For sale by all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt of 75c.
M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY701-733South Dearborn StreetCHICAGO
STORIES OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN;MYSTERY, ROMANCE ANDADVENTURE
Every red blooded American Boy and Girl will be greatly pleased with these books. They are written by the master writer of such books, Edward S. Ellis. There is mystery, charm and excitement in each volume. All the following titles can be procured at the same place this book was procured, or they will be sent postpaid for 25c per copy or 5 for $1.00.
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3. The Aeroplane Boys Among the Clouds; or, Young Aviators in a Wreck
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Just the type of books that delight and fascinate the wide awake Girls of the present day who are between the ages of eight and fourteen years. The great author of these books regards them as the best products of her pen. Printed from large clear type on a superior quality of paper; attractive multi-color jacket wrapper around each book. Bound in cloth.
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Transcriber's Note:At least four variations of the title of the book are present in the text:book cover: "Camp-Fire Girls at Twin Lakefrontispiece: "Campfire Girls at Twin Lake"title page: "Campfire Girls at Twin Lakes"main text heading: "Camp Fire Girls at Twin Lakes"Distinct original spellings have been retained.