She said,
quite as fearfully:
"Maybe this is a wolf, Russ."
"Of course not," declared the boy trying to speak bravely. "There aren't
any wolves in this part of the country. I asked Frane, Junior."
But there was evidently a savage creature here that Russ Bunker had
known nothing about, for now it cried out again! Its long, quavering
note echoed through the woods and made the boy and girl stand again and
shiver.
"I--I guess it isn't any animal after all," said Rose suddenly, and
speaking with some relief. "That's a woman. Of course it is. But she
must be lost, or something bad has happened to her. Oh, Russ!" she
added, suddenly seizing her brother once more. "I know what it must be.
And they are almost always ladies, so Phillis says."
"What's that?" demanded Russ, puzzled.
"It's a ha'nt! It's a lady ha'nt! I do believe it must be!"
"Aw, Rose, what you talking about?" demanded her brother, yet secretly
quite as much troubled by the strange, eerie sound as she was. "You know
that haunts are only make-believe."
"We-ell!" sighed Rose, "maybe that's only a make-believe sound we hear.
But--but I don't like it. There!"
For a third time the screech was repeated. It seemed nearer. Russ could
not be confident that it was "make-believe." The strange sound seemed
very real indeed.
CHAPTER XXIII
A FOUR-LEGGED GHOST
"I don't like that noise a bit," whispered Rose, standing close to her
brother.
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