"In the dark?"
"We had a campfire."
"And what happened?"
"Well, Laura and two other girls and I had to go into the house."
"That old wreck!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Lance again.
"Ye-es."
"Weren"t you afraid?" demanded Chet.
"That-that"s the trouble. We were frightened."
"Somebody played a trick on you," declared Chet.
"No, they didn"t!" gasped Jess. "It was a real ghost."
At that both boys chuckled, and Chet said:
"Aw, say, now, Jess. How could there be a _real_ ghost?"
"Never mind. That"s not the point," Lance interposed, eagerly. "We want to know what"s become of Laura."
"So we do," admitted Chet.
"Was she scared, too?" asked Lance.
"Of course she was. _You"d_ have been--"
"Wouldn"t either!" snapped Lance. "No ghost would ever scare me. Some of the other girls played a trick on you."
"Of course, that"s it," said Chet. "But that don"t explain why Laura--"
"That"s it!" interrupted Lance. "Tell us where she is."
"She must be there," declared Jess, in an awestruck voice.
"Where?"
"In the house."
"In Robinson"s old house?" gasped Chet.
"That"s where we left her. I thought she got out ahead of us. But she didn"t."
"And none of you were brave enough to go back and look for her?"
demanded Lance, with scorn.
"We thought she was ahead. All the girls ran--"
"What made you run?" asked Chet, trying to soothe her.
"The light."
"You saw a ghost light, eh?" demanded Chet. "I bet you"d been hearing that old story they tell about the Robinsons."
Jess nodded.
"And the ghost lantern appeared?"
"Yes. It _did_. It was really there, Chetwood."
"All right. I didn"t think Laura would fall for a thing like that,"
scoffed the absent girl"s brother.
"Say!" demanded Lance, who admired Laura greatly and would not let even her brother laugh at her. "All those other girls ran, didn"t they? Jess ran. Why should Laura be any braver than the rest of the bunch?"
"Well! she ought to be," grunted her brother. Then he turned again to Jess, who was fast recovering her composure now. "And you didn"t see Laura leave the house after your scare?"
"No."
"How many of you girls were in the house?"
"Only four of us."
"And three got away?"
"Yes."
"Supposedly, then, the ghost got Laura?"
"She didn"t come out, Chet. You needn"t laugh. Something bad has happened to her."
"Of course, if you are sure she didn"t come out of the house--?"
"Just as sure as I stand here!" declared the girl, emphatically. "I didn"t think so until just now. It seemed as though she must have run ahead and taken one of the regular cars to town. But now I know that wouldn"t have been Laura"s way, whether she was scared or not."
"I should say not," said Lance, in disgust. "You girls are all alike-all but Laura! She wouldn"t have left you in such a mess."
"Now, stop that!" commanded Chet. "Such talk won"t lead to anything but angry feelings. Jess thought Laura was ahead. Now we"ll go back and find her."
"Oh, Chet! if you only would," begged Jess, too miserable to even be offended at Lance.
"We"ll get out the car. Father won"t mind. And I got my license to run it only last month."
"Bully!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Lance.