"I think so, too," declared Paul. "The earthquake won"t account for it, Walter."
"Perhaps not. But I can"t think what else it could be."
"A human agency, you may be sure of that," declared Cora. "I don"t believe in the supernatural. This was done by human hands and, sooner or later, we"ll discover by whom. Humans are fallible and will make a mistake. We must watch for that mistake."
They righted the furniture and talking of the matter seemed to make it lose some of its mysteriousness. The boys stayed to supper and until late in the evening. Jack offered to remain all night, and sleep on the couch downstairs, but Cora would not hear of it.
"We"ll be all right," she declared. "We can call you on the telephone if we want you. Besides, Mr. Floyd is going to leave open the door leading to his quarters, and he can hear if we call. We"ll be all right."
"Well, ring us up if you find the chairs doing a fox trot or hesitation waltz in the middle of the night," suggested Walter.
The girls went upstairs together, casting quick, nervous glances over their shoulders as they ascended. They locked their hall doors as soon as they were inside. But as the four chambers communicated, it was as if they were in one large apartment.
"Oh dear!" exclaimed Cora, as she was taking down her hair. "I"ve forgotten it."
"What?" asked Bess, who was taking off her shoes.
"My flashlight," Cora answered. "I left it on the table in the living room. I meant to bring it up, for I like to see what time it is if I awaken in the night."
"I"ll go down with you if you want to get it," offered Hazel.
"No, thank you. I"ll do without it. I dare say I shan"t need it."
"Let"s burn a light all night," proposed Belle.
And no one called her silly. So the lamp was left aglow, turned down a little.
Contrary, at least to some expectations, the night pa.s.sed peacefully.
There was no disturbance, and the girls awoke refreshed and with only a little feeling of uneasiness as to what might happen in the future.
But when Cora went downstairs, and began looking among the things on the table in the living room, another manifestation of the queer happenings was in evidence.
"Where"s my light?" she demanded. "I left my flashlight here last night, and now it"s gone. Did any one take it?"
No one had, the boys and girls denying all knowledge. Nor had Mr. or Mrs. Floyd removed it, and Cora was positive she had left it on the table. She recalled her remarks about it the night previous.
"Well, it"s gone," she said. "Another one of the mysteries."
"You seem to be singled out," observed Walter. "First it"s your auto, and now your light."
"Do you think the two cases have any connection?" asked Cora.
CHAPTER XX-MORE HAPPENINGS
Walter considered the matter rather judicially before answering. Then he gave as his decision:
"No, I can"t say that I do. It is, perhaps, only a coincidence that your automobile and your flashlight should have been taken. I dare say that had it been a light belonging to any one else it would have disappeared just the same."
"You mean that they-the mysterious They-would have taken the light, no matter to whom it belonged?" asked Jack.
"Exactly! It was a case of wanting a light and taking it."
"But how did they get in to take it?" asked Paul. "There"s no sign of anything having been broken; is there-no doors or windows?"
"We didn"t look," Cora said.
"Then that"s what we"d better do," Jack suggested.
But an examination did not show that any means had been used to force a pa.s.sage from without. The windows were provided with screens which fastened from within in such a way that force would have to be exerted to slip them. And this had not been done. Nor had the door been tampered with.
"There"s only one way to account for it," said Walter, "and that is on the theory that the Surprisers, Ghosts, They-whatever you choose to call them-used skeleton keys. And they must be professional burglars, or they would have made noise enough to have aroused you girls. You didn"t hear anything; did you?"
Not one had heard a sound.
"But if they were professional thieves wouldn"t they have taken something else besides a flashlight?" asked Jack. "There"s plenty of other things they might have picked up."
This was true enough, for the girls had left many of their more or less valuable belongings downstairs. But none of them had been taken.
"Perhaps they just needed Cora"s light to help them in some of their other surprise visits," suggested Bess. "Isn"t it most delightfully mystifying?"
"I don"t know that I find it especially so," retorted Belle, with a quick glance over her shoulder. "It"s getting on my nerves."
"Well, you can quit and go away when you want to," suggested her sister.
"Never!" cried Cora. "We"re not going to desert in the face of danger; are we, Belle?"
The slim twin hesitated a moment, and then answered, but not very decidedly:
"No."
"I knew you wouldn"t," said Jack"s sister. "We Motor Girls aren"t cowards."
"We give you credit for that," declared Walter.
In spite of the brave front of Cora and her chums, the happenings at Camp Surprise were getting on their nerves. The boys, true to their promise, began to plan to do their own cooking; but in view of the fact that the oftener they were in the girls" bungalow the better Cora and her chums liked it, it was decided to have the boys take all their meals with the girls. Jack, Walter and Paul would merely sleep in the smaller building, where they were in close call by means of the telephone.
For the next two days nothing happened. No more articles were missed, and the furniture remained where it was put. Then came two or three days when our friends were off on long picnics, remaining all day, leaving Mr. and Mrs. Floyd in charge. Nor on these occasions did anything happen. The bungalow was as peaceful when they returned as when they left.
"I guess it"s all over," said Cora, when nearly a week had pa.s.sed, and there had been no more manifestations. "It was a flashlight they were looking for all the while, and, now that they have it, they are satisfied."
"It might be," admitted Belle. "I hope it is."
There were happy days in the mountains. Sometimes the young folks would wander far afield or through the woods, taking their lunches and staying all day. Again they would go berrying or fishing. And they did not get lost again, for the boys became familiar with the lay of the land. Cora, too, as well as Belle and Bess, got her bearings, and knew how to find the back paths.
Fishing formed a pastime that all enjoyed, for the streams and ponds in Mountain View were private property, and had not been depleted of their finny inhabitants. So fish formed many a dainty dish for the table.