The Motor Girls at Camp Surprise Part 18

"How do you like your quarters?" asked Cora of her brother.

"Couldn't be better. Not that we'll be in them much, though. We'll be over here or out-of-doors most of the time."

"You can't live here," Cora warned him.

"Oh, you'll be glad enough to have us when the ghost begins to walk,"

prophesied Walter.

"Has anything really strange happened here, Mrs. Floyd?" asked Cora, determined to get at the bottom of the matter.

"Well, I suppose you must have heard the stories about Camp Surprise,"

answered the chaperon. "It would be strange if you had not. And I must admit that there have been little happenings here that I can't explain."

"Such as--," hinted Bess.

"Oh, disturbances in the bungalow when we weren't here. Misplaced furniture, and once some silver was taken. But that might be the work of tramps. I don't set much store by that. However, don't let it worry you.

I don't believe anything will happen while you're here."

"I hope it does," Jack said. "We're going to lay the ghost."

Talk went on during the meal and toward the close Jack said:

"This sure is a fine place! You ought to see the waterfall."

"Is it nice?" asked Cora. They could hear the roar of it as they sat at table.

"It's great! I'm going to take some pictures of it," said Walter. "And the way to our bungalow is over a bridge just made for lovers to stand on and look down into the water."

"As long as they don't _fall_ down into the water they'll be all right,"

commented Paul. "But it sure is nice. Our shack is just across the stream."

"We'll be all ready to respond to the first alarm, girls," promised Walter, as the boys left the main bungalow later in the evening to repair to their own. "If the tables begin dancing, or the chairs do a jig, call us."

"It's a little far to shout," said Cora. "We'll have to put up some sort of telephone from one bungalow to the other."

It must be admitted that the girls were a little nervous when they went to bed that night. Tales of queer happenings, not easily explicable, are apt to get on the nerves of the best of us. But the young people were tired from their journey and lack of restful sleep the night before, so they had hopes of a good rest.

Cora was awakened by a shout under her window.

"I say! Sis! Cora! Stick out your head!" cried Jack.

Slipping on a robe Cora went to the cas.e.m.e.nt.

"Go on away, Jack!" she ordered. "Let the girls sleep."

"Sleep? Why, it's nine o'clock," he said. "Say, did the ghost walk?"

Cora yawned.

"Not even a creep," she said. "I didn't hear a sound."

"Well, if that isn't poor luck!" exclaimed Jack in disappointed tones.

"There we go and stay awake half the night, expecting a summons to capture a spirit, and nothing happens. Camp Surprise! Where's the surprise come in, I wonder."

But there was plenty of time, as Jack soon learned.

CHAPTER XIII-THAT NOISE

One after another the girls drifted lazily downstairs to the dainty breakfast Mrs. Floyd had prepared for them.

"I just couldn't bear to get up," confessed Bess, "though I knew it was a perfectly glorious day outside."

"It is wonderful," declared Cora.

"How do you know? Have you been out?" asked Hazel, with a questioning look at Cora's negligee.

"Peeped from the window-Jack called to me," explained his sister.

"I was _so_ tired," said Belle. "I thought I never would get enough sleep. I wouldn't have gotten up if a ghost had called me."

"Jack was a bit disappointed that we didn't call on them for help,"

remarked Cora, and she detailed her brother's morning salutation.

"I think it's all perfect nonsense," declared Belle. "Of course I don't mean you, Cora," she said, "for you only told us what you heard. But I don't believe a thing will happen."

"I hope nothing unpleasant does," remarked Bess, tucking back a rebellious lock of her pretty hair, and glancing at her pink nails which she kept, as Jack taunted her, "in a state of faultless repair."

"Did you sleep well?" asked Mrs. Floyd, coming in with more coffee.

"Fine," answered Cora. "And please don't think we are going to impose on you in this way every morning. We came up to help with the work, and we're going to do it. But this morning--"

"I know, my dear. You girls don't exactly need any beauty sleep," and she beamed at the four pretty faces that smiled back at her, "but you must have been tired after your trip. I don't in the least mind."

"You'll find us quite energetic after this," predicted Belle. "That is all but my sister, and you see she is--"

"Belle Robinson! If you talk about me that way I'll-I'll-- Oh! why do you all poke fun at me?" and Bess seemed quite distressed.

"I won't any more," promised Belle. "She is trying to 'reduce'" she added to Mrs. Floyd, "so let her do all the work she wants to. We shan't stop her."

"What's the program to-day?" asked Hazel, as the girls finished their coffee. "It is perfectly glorious outside. From my window I can see part of the fall. It's beautiful. I could sit and look at it forever."

"And not want anybody to share the view?" asked Cora, pinching her blushing cheek.

"The witness refuses to answer," mocked Belle. "But we mustn't dawdle here all day. Let's go and get dressed, and by then--"