CHAPTER XX
SEEKING THE GHOST
They all stood still for a moment. The eerie noises gradually died away,and then they all became conscious of a strong smell of sulphur.
"What is that?" asked Betty, in an awed whisper. She was more impressedthan she had been.
"Smells as if some one had lighted old-fashioned brimstone matches,"answered Mr. Blackford.
"And it isn't the lightning, now," spoke Amy, looking at Mrs. Mackson."It's the--ghost."
"A very material ghost, in my opinion," said the young man, who had soprovidentially come along. "I'm going to find out who it is."
He started toward the passage that led to the mansion.
"Don't you dare leave us here alone!" cried Betty, half tragically. Mr.Blackford looked at her a moment, and then added quietly:
"Well, perhaps it will be better to postpone the investigation. Andthere is your missing friend. But I would like to know who has anobject in doing this. I think Mr. Lagg would like to know, also."
Once more the mysterious house was in silence, and with a last lookaround at the mildewed walls, the girls and Mrs. Mackson preceded Mr.Blackford out of it.
"I'll get your secret yet!" exclaimed the young man, as he turned tolook at the strange habitation. "Now, where did you leave the auto?"
Fortunately, Betty had a good sense of direction and could lead the way,flashing her lamp at intervals. Mr. Blackford had proposed that some ofthe girls wait while he drove one of them to the stalled car in hiscarriage, it holding but two. But the girls refused to consider this,wishing to stay together.
"And, too," said Betty, "we might miss poor Mollie on the way."
"That is so," he had agreed. So they tramped along the muddy road,making the turn on to the main highway, and then, when Betty was aboutto remark that they must be near the car, Grace cried out.
"Oh, what is it now?" demanded Betty, a trifle sharply, for her nerveswere fast giving way under the strain, though the Little Captain hadgood nerves, ordinarily.
"There's a light!" exclaimed Grace.
"Yes; and it's at the auto!" added Amy. "Oh, girls----"
"Perhaps it is Mollie," suggested Mrs. Mackson. "Call to her."
"Mollie! Mollie!" Betty cried, shrilly, and the others joined in with aschool call.
"Oh, are you there?" came back the answering hail. "Oh, I am so glad."
"That's Mollie!" said Betty, in great relief. "We are united again," andpresently the girls were clasping the lost one in their arms, and, letthe truth be told--weeping over her for very joy.
"But of all things--to see you!" exclaimed Mollie, to Mr. Blackford, asshe fastened her auto lamp on the bracket.
"Yes, and I was surprised to find your friends. But how did you gethere?"
Mollie told how she had come to her senses, and had lighted the lamp shehad with her. Then, when she was about to escape through the barredwindow she had heard the sound of a carriage approaching.
"That was mine," said Mr. Blackford.
"If I had known it I would not have been so frightened," remarkedMollie. "As it was, I put out my lamp, and then, when no one came forme, I decided to jump out. It was not far to the ground. Then I ran, andat first did not know what to do. Then I decided to try and find myauto. I must have blundered into the road, but I got here at last. I wasgoing to hide in the car, and I wanted to leave some sort of a light onit so no one would run into it in the dark."
"But didn't you hear us talking and calling?" asked Amy.
"No," answered Mollie. "You see the room is some distance from the frontof the house. And I was too frightened to know what I was doing.Besides, I fainted, at first, you know. And I thought you girls wouldrun when--when you saw that white thing that grabbed me. I wasdisappointed when you were not at the auto here."
"What was--what was it that grabbed you?" faltered Amy, in awed tones.
"You needn't be so mysterious about it," laughed Mollie. She could laughnow--the strain was over. "It was a man who grabbed me, I'm certain ofthat. And a man I have seen before!"
"Seen before!" cried Betty. "What do you mean? Who was he?"
"I don't know. But what I do know is that he had a queer scar on thehand that grabbed me. And somewhere--I can't recall now, I'm in such aflutter--I've seen that man and his scar before."
"Try to think," urged Mr. Blackford. "We must get at the bottom of thisoutrage, and if you can give us a clue it will help a lot."
"I can't think now," protested Mollie, weakly. "Maybe it will come to melater. Oh, what a night! If only our auto would work we could getto--some place."
"Suppose you let me have a look," suggested Mr. Blackford. "I knowsomething of the mechanism of a car."
"Oh, if you can only get this one to--mote!" sighed Mollie.
Mr. Blackford proved that he did know considerable about a car, for hesoon discovered that the trouble was a simple disarrangement of theignition system.
"There!" he exclaimed, when, by the light of a held-up lantern, he hadmade the necessary adjustment. "We will see if it won't go. Of courseyou can't use the self-starter, since your storage battery is out oforder, but we can crank up in the old-fashioned way."
"The car generates its own current when it is running," said Mollie."But to-day I have been running on an extra battery, as somethingseemed to be the matter with the other one. T must have it looked to."
Mr. Blackford whirled the crank, and at once there sounded the welcomethrob of the powerful motor.
"Oh, joy!" cried Betty. "Now we can go!"
The auto was indeed in running order again.
"What are your plans?" asked the young man.
"We'll go on to Wendell City, the next town, and stop there for thenight," said Mollie. "We are very damp and miserable, and need rest,and----"
"Food!" said Grace. "That little lunch we had was not very substantial."
"There were no chocolates for Grace," spoke Amy.
"I think I will drive on to the next town also, since it has stoppedraining," went on Mr. Blackford. "I will see you in the morning, andwe'll talk over this business some more. I want to lay that ghost if wecan. You'll get to the town ahead of me in your car."
"And we'll see you at the Lafayette House," suggested Mollie. "We aregoing to stop there."
Four weary and much exhausted girls, and a rather used-up chaperone,were soon enjoying the comforts of the hotel. They had 'phoned on aheadfor rooms that morning, but the proprietor had about given them up.However, it was only eleven o'clock.
"Wouldn't you think it was--next day?" asked Betty, as she noted thetime.
"A great deal happened in a short space," said Mrs. Mackson. "Oh, but itis good to be in a house again."
"One that isn't haunted," added Grace.
Morning, as Betty put it, "dawned clear and bright," and with it camerefreshment to the Outdoor Girls. They almost forgot the terrors of thenight, and when Mr. Blackford met them in the parlor, he having arrivedabout an hour after they did, he found a very different set of youngladies.
"Well, are you ready for the ghost hunt?" he asked, with a smile.
"I am!" declared Mollie. "I think that ought to be investigated. Theauthorities should be notified, not so much for what happened to me--toall of us--as because of what might happen to others. Then there's poorMr. Lagg--he'll lose what money he put into that property if the valuegoes down because of the ghosts. I say let's try to discover thesecret."
"I'm with you!" exclaimed Betty, and Amy and Grace gave rather haltingassents. Mrs. Mackson gamely agreed to do as the rest did.
"I did hope I could go with you to-day," said Mr. Blackford, "but I havereceived a telegram that calls me away. I wonder if you could postponeit?"
"Of course!" exclaimed Betty. "There is no great hurry, and besides, Ithink we will all be the better for a rest. Is your business prospering,Mr. Blackford?"
"Yes, indeed, thanks to the way you girls helped me out by finding myfive hundred dollar bill. But this is not busi
ness. I don't mind tellingyou that I am seeking for a long-lost relative--a sister--and I haveengaged a firm of private detectives to look for her. They just sent meword that they are on the track of a person who may be the one I havebeen looking for so long. So, under the circumstances----"
"Oh, of course, go by all means!" exclaimed Mollie. "We can meet youlater, anywhere you say."
"Then suppose we meet here, say a week from to-day, and try for theghost secret. By that time I may have found my sister, or have sufferedanother disappointment--and there have been many of late," and hesighed.
The week that followed was a busy one for the Outdoor Girls. Mollie hadher car put in perfect order, and they toured over many miles ofsplendid country. They had minor happenings and adventures, but nothingof moment, if we except a few punctures and a blowout. Oh, yes, they didrun over a dog, breaking the creature's leg. But it was the dog's fault,and Mollie steered out of the way so quickly that she nearly sent theauto into a tree.
At the appointed time Mr. Blackford was at the hotel.
"Well, are you ready to go ghost-hunting?" he asked.
"We are!" cried Mollie, and once more they set off for the "hauntedmansion," determined to discover its secret if at all possible.
"I wonder what we'll find?" said Betty, as the car raced on.