CHAPTER VII
A Moaning Cry
“This is a real diamond,” declared Judy.
She brought her find over to the edge of the pool to examine it moreclosely. Then she turned to gaze in wonder at the fountain.
Soon it was not only bubbling. It was sending great sprays of water inall directions—from the center of the high pedestal, from thecupid-like creatures that held it, over the cave behind them and fromthe mouths of the eight stone lions that guarded the four flights ofsteps going down from the fountain.
“It’s beautiful!” breathed Judy. Then, in a louder voice, she called toher friends, who were huddled together over by the yew hedge. “See howfast the pool is filling up! Now the little pool where I found thediamond has vanished and everything looks just the way I remember it.Even the cupids look alive now that they’re all wet and shiny.”
“It’s haunted with all sorts of queer noises,” cried Lorraine. “Don’tstand so close to it, Judy. You may get wet.”
“I wouldn’t mind,” she replied, still under the spell of the fountain.
A little of the spray had wet her coat and covered her hair with a mistthat made it cling to her forehead in damp, red ringlets. She brushedthem back with a laugh and turned again to listen.
“I’m all right. This warm coat protects me,” she began.
“From the water, yes! But are any of us protected from those men backthere?” asked Lois.
“We’ve been seen. I know we have!” Lorraine’s voice was almosthysterical. “Somebody saw us and turned on the fountain full force!”
“Look at the way it sparkles and dances as if it were filled withdiamonds!” Judy exclaimed. “You two girls may be used to fountains, butI’m not. This one does something to me.”
“Me, too,” Lorraine said with a shiver. “It scares me. Come on awayfrom it, Judy. We ought to be going home.”
Judy, still reluctant to leave, walked around the fountain to wherethey were. As she came nearer Lois said, “Look at your hand, Judy! Youdidn’t lose the diamond out of your engagement ring, did you? Thatcould be the diamond you found in the fountain.”
Judy checked quickly, but the diamond in her ring was intact. She hadlost it once, but that was another mystery. Now the new prongs held itsecurely. It was about the size of the stone she had found. Comparingthe two as well as she could in the fading daylight, Judy now feltcertain of her discovery.
“This is a clue to something,” she declared, tying the diamond she hadfound in the corner of her handkerchief for safekeeping. “You girlsweren’t wearing diamonds, were you?”
“I wasn’t,” Lois replied.
“My ring isn’t a diamond. It’s a ruby,” Lorraine began and then brokeoff abruptly, hiding her hand.
“But you aren’t wearing it!” Judy exclaimed. “Where is that gorgeousbig ruby Arthur gave you, Lorraine? I’ve never seen you without itbefore.”
“Neither have I. What have you done with it?” asked Lois. “You haven’tlost it, have you?”
“I guess—I must have,” Lorraine explained lamely.
“Where? In the fountain? Then we’ll hunt for it,” declared Judy.
“I’m sure it isn’t in the fountain,” Lorraine said hurriedly. “Besides,it’s growing dark. If we don’t leave now we won’t be able to find thepath.”
“But we can’t go without your ring,” Lois protested.
“Of course not,” agreed Judy. “Where do you think you lost it?”
“Maybe it _was_ in the fountain? Oh dear!” Lois lamented. “Now thewater is on we won’t be able to look for it. That fountain must attractjewels—”
“Or tears,” Lorraine said, “but it doesn’t matter. We wouldn’t find itthere, anyway.”
“Why wouldn’t we? Do you know where you lost it?”
“Did you take it off?”
“Was it loose on your finger?”
Judy and Lois were both firing questions at Lorraine. They werequestions that she seemed unable to answer. Finally she admitted thatshe had removed the ring from her finger on purpose.
“Why?” demanded Lois. “I don’t think that was fair to Arthur.”
“I don’t either,” agreed Judy.
“But I did it for him,” Lorraine protested.
“You did what? Took off your ring? Why?” asked Judy. “How could thathelp him?”
“I can’t tell you,” Lorraine said stiffly. “Please don’t ask meanything more about it. We’ve all behaved like children today—me withmy wishes and you with your pretending. If that is a diamond you found,Judy, it’s no frozen tear.”
“I know,” Judy admitted. “It belongs to someone, I suppose, and we’llhave to report it. I remember how I felt when my diamond was lost.Someone else may be feeling the same way.”
“If we report it,” Lois said, “we’ll have to report the fact that wewere trespassing. I’d rather find out who lost it some other way.”
“We could advertise.” Judy brightened at the thought. “We could tellHorace—”
“And have him spread our little adventure all over the front page ofthe paper. Oh, no, you don’t,” Lorraine objected. “I’ve seen whathappened to other stories you told your brother. Besides, I don’t wantmy father to know. He’s editor, and he’ll look into any story that hasmy name in it.”
“I didn’t think of that,” Judy admitted. “What I can’t understand,Lorraine, is why you took off your ring—”
“Look,” Lorraine interrupted, “can’t we just forget it? My ring isgone. It’s been gone for several days if you must know. I’ll get itback somehow.”
“How?” asked Judy.
“Wishing, maybe. I don’t know how else.”
“Do you mean someone’s stolen it?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“No, but you implied it.”
Judy soon discovered her questions were leading her nowhere. It was allvery confusing. The diamond she had found and the ring Lorraine hadlost seemed to be clues to something, but she couldn’t figure out what.
“Maybe the fountain will tell us where it is,” Judy was beginning witha laugh when suddenly they all heard a low moan. It seemed to comedirectly 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 chillcame over her as she waited. Lois and Lorraine huddled together,shivering. The moan came a second time and with it the long drawn-outwords, “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 willhave to think of something more frightening than that. I’m justpuzzled. 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 thepath. It was already so dark they had difficulty following it, but themoans that were following them gave wings to their feet. Only Judy wasreluctant to leave. She turned to the fountain, as if it were alive,and called, “I’ll be back! I will, too,” she reiterated, catching upwith 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 orboth of them will be with me. I’m not going to let any moaning fountainkeep me from finding out what’s going on.”
Lorraine stopped short. They had come to the fence. Now a voice shoutedat them from another direction.
“Who’s there? Stop where you are!”
“He’s back!” exclaimed Lorraine, panic-stricken. “That’s the man whopassed us in the car! We mustn’t let him stop us!”
“We won’t,” promised Judy, “but I?
??m afraid we’ll have to stop longenough to protect ourselves from these electric wires. Here’s the stickI used before. I’ll hold them back while you girls crawl under them.”
Lois and Lorraine quickly obeyed. But they did not wait for Judy.Stumbling, falling, picking themselves up and hurrying on, they wereout of sight while she was still struggling to get through the fence.
------------------------------------------------------------------------