"Oh, what is it now?" demanded Betty, a trifle sharply, for her nerves were fast giving way under the strain, though the Little Captain had good 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 a school 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," and presently the girls were clasping the lost one in their arms, and, let the truth be told—weeping over her for very joy.

"But of all things—to see you!" exclaimed Mollie, to Mr. Blackford, as she fastened her auto lamp on the bracket.

"Yes, and I was surprised to find your friends. But how did you get here?"

Mollie told how she had come to her senses, and had lighted the lamp she had with her. Then, when she was about to escape through the barred window 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," remarked Mollie. "As it was, I put out my lamp, and then, when no one came for me, I decided to jump out. It was not far to the ground. Then I ran, and at first did not know what to do. Then I decided to try and find my auto. I must have blundered into the road, but I got here at last. I was going to hide in the car, and I wanted to leave some sort of a light on it 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 front of 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 would run when—when you saw that white thing that grabbed me. I was disappointed 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 laugh now—the strain was over. "It was a man who grabbed me, I'm certain of that. 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 the hand that grabbed me. And somewhere—I can't recall now, I'm in such a flutter—I've seen that man and his scar before."

"Try to think," urged Mr. Blackford. "We must get at the bottom of this outrage, 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 me later. Oh, what a night! If only our auto would work we could get to—some place."

"Suppose you let me have a look," suggested Mr. Blackford. "I know something 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 he soon discovered that the trouble was a simple disarrangement of the ignition system.

"There!" he exclaimed, when, by the light of a held-up lantern, he had made the necessary adjustment. "We will see if it won't go. Of course you can't use the self-starter, since your storage battery is out of order, 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 something seemed 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 welcome throb 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 the night," 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 stopped raining," went on Mr. Blackford. "I will see you in the morning, and we'll talk over this business some more. I want to lay that ghost if we can. You'll get to the town ahead of me in your car."

"And we'll see you at the Lafayette House," suggested Mollie. "We are going 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 ahead for 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 the time.

"A great deal happened in a short space," said Mrs. Mackson. "Oh, but it is 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 came refreshment to the Outdoor Girls. They almost forgot the terrors of the night, and when Mr. Blackford met them in the parlor, he having arrived about an hour after they did, he found a very different set of young ladies.

"Well, are you ready for the ghost hunt?" he asked, with a smile.

"I am!" declared Mollie. "I think that ought to be investigated. The authorities should be notified, not so much for what happened to me—to all of us—as because of what might happen to others. Then there's poor Mr. Lagg—he'll lose what money he put into that property if the value goes down because of the ghosts. I say let's try to discover the secret."

"I'm with you!" exclaimed Betty, and Amy and Grace gave rather halting assents. 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 have received a telegram that calls me away. I wonder if you could postpone it?"

"Of course!" exclaimed Betty. "There is no great hurry, and besides, I think 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 my five hundred dollar bill. But this is not business. I don't mind telling you that I am seeking for a long-lost relative—a sister—and I have engaged a firm of private detectives to look for her. They just sent me word that they are on the track of a person who may be the one I have been looking for so long. So, under the circumstances——"

"Oh, of course, go by all means!" exclaimed Mollie. "We can meet you later, anywhere you say."

"Then suppose we meet here, say a week from to-day, and try for the ghost secret. By that time I may have found my sister, or have suffered another disappointment—and there have been many of late," and he sighed.

The week that followed was a busy one for the Outdoor Girls. Mollie had her car put in perfect order, and they toured over many miles of splendid country. They had minor happenings and adventures, but nothing of moment, if we except a few punctures and a blowout. Oh, yes, they did run 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 the auto 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 "haunted mansion," determined to discover its secret if at all possible.

"I wonder what we'll find?" said Betty, as the car raced on.



CHAPTER XXI

THE MISSING GIRL

"Who would ever think we could be frightened here?" asked Mollie.

"Yes, it's quiet enough now," replied Betty. "Not a sign of a ghost."

"Nor flashes of blue fire," added Grace.

"Nor hollow groans," remarked Amy.

The Outdoor Girls, with Mrs. Mackson and Mr. Blackford, had reached the so-called "haunted mansion." The day was a sunny one, perhaps that added to the lack of nervous fears they felt as they stopped the auto, and entered the place. This time they had gone to the mansion proper, having driven through what were once beautiful and extensive grounds. But they had long since fallen into a tangle of weeds and shrubbery.

They had decided to explore the mansion itself first, and go from there to the annex, as it might be called—the former abode of the housekeeper and staff of servants the rich Mr. Kenyon once kept.

During the week that had intervened, the keys of the place had been secured from Mr. Lagg. He was delighted that the girls had finally consented, through a chain of circumstances, to investigate the queer manifestations.

"You'll do better than the boys, I'm sure," said the storekeeper. "Anyhow, they've gone camping. Now find out what that ghost is, and—get it out of there. I have received word from the doctors who want to use the place as a sanitarium, that if I cannot, within a week, deliver them the property with a guarantee that there will be no disturbances, they will take another place."

"We will do all we can," promised Mollie.

They entered the old mansion. Truly it had been a magnificent place in its day, and even now the hand of decay had touched it but lightly. With a few repairs, some decorating, a cutting down of the trees that were too thick about the place, it could be made into a most cheerful sanitarium.

"And it's so big!" cried Grace, as she wandered about the spacious rooms. But she had hold of Amy's arm, it might be noticed, and both girls kept rather near to Mr. Blackford. He had come back unsuccessful in his search for his sister.

"Yes, it must have been fine here when the place was new," agreed Mollie. "Well, let's go at this search systematically."

"That is the only way," spoke Mr. Blackford. "We might start in at the top and work downward."

They did this, ascending by means of the grand staircase to the second floor, and thence to the third and fourth. The latter contained but few rooms, mostly for storage, it seemed, and it was soon evident that no ghost—of the human kind at least—had been at work here. The dust and grime of years had accumulated in the apartments.

The third floor offered no solution. This was rather larger in extent, and contained many guest-rooms. Some showed evidence of having been beautifully decorated, being paneled in tapestry that now hung in shabby strips—a relic of former beauty.

It was not until the second floor was reached that anything like a promising clue was found. Meanwhile many queer nooks and corners had been explored. Mr. Kenyon had evidently built the house after his own eccentric ideas, for it contained strange rooms, connecting with one another by little, unexpected passages, short flights of stairs, and many winding ways. Some of the rooms might well have been secret ones, so strangely were they tucked away.

But in two apartments on the second floor—two rooms that had evidently been choice guest chambers—the searchers came upon signs which indicated clearly that some one had been in them recently. There was less dust, and in one corner was a pile of bags and rags that seemed to indicate a bed. On the hearth—there were big fireplaces in each room—were ashes that had been hot not many days gone by.

"Tramps!" exclaimed Mr. Blackford. "To my way of thinking tramps have been sleeping here."

"Do you think the ghost was a tramp?" asked Mollie. "The one who caught me?"

"He may have been."

"But why was he all in white?"

"Probably to keep up the illusion. We haven't gotten to the bottom of this yet. Let's keep on."

But aside from the two rooms no others in the big mansion showed signs of habitation. All were gloomy and dust-encumbered. On the first floor nothing was discovered, and the cellar yielded no clues.

"Well, all we have established so far," said Mr. Blackford, "is that someone has been sleeping here. Now let's keep on to the annex, and see if we can establish a connection. It may be that the secret is there."

They found the passage that led from the mansion to the house in which so much had happened to them that stormy night. There was a room in the main house, whence the passage began, and this room, too, showed signs of having been used recently.

And when they came to the place where the girls had dined so unexpectedly they saw unmistakable signs that other meals than the one they had helped themselves to had been eaten there.

"Our friend, the ghost, has been here since," said Mr. Blackford. "Perhaps we shall have to set a trap for him."

They walked on, their footsteps echoing and re-echoing through the silent old house. They were in the annex now, but a search there revealed nothing.

The girls looked at one another, and then at Mr. Blackford. He shook his head.

"I confess I am baffled," he said. "I did hope to find something. But we haven't come across it. If there was a systematic effort to give the impression that this mansion was haunted, there would have been some evidences of it.

"I mean we would have some material evidence. There would have to be some way of producing that bluish light, that groaning sound and the clanking of metal. But, unless the apparatus is more cleverly hidden than I suspect, it isn't here."

"Then the only thing to do is to give it up, and confess ourselves beaten," suggested Betty.

"I don't like to do that," spoke Mollie.

"Well, we can go over the place again," remarked Mr. Blackford slowly, "but I don't see——"

He paused abruptly and seemed to be listening. The girls glanced at one another curiously.

Then there sounded through the house a cry as of fear, and it was followed by a heavy fall that jarred the floor.

Mr. Blackford sprang to the door, rushed down the hall, and a moment later cried:

"Girls, come here!"

"Have you—have you found the ghost?" asked Betty.

"No, it's a girl, and she seems to have fainted."

"A—a girl!" faltered Mollie.

They all ran to where Mr. Blackford's voice sounded. It was in the very room where Mollie had been held a prisoner. And there, in the center of the apartment, supported in Mr. Blackford's arms, was a girl. At the sight of her Betty cried:

"It is she! It is she! It is the girl who so strangely ran away from us. The one who fell out of the tree! Carrie Norton!"



CHAPTER XXII

A SWINDLED FARMER

Surprise at Betty's exclamation held her companions silent for a moment, and then Mollie cried:

"Are you sure, Betty? Are you sure? Can it be possible that we have found her again?"

"Of course I'm sure!" declared Betty, as she advanced to assist Mr. Blackford in caring for the girl, who lay white and senseless in his arms. "You'll be sure, too, as soon as you take a good look at her. Isn't that hair evidence enough?" and she let some of the girl's luxurious tresses, that had come unbound, slip through her fingers. "And see her face—and there's the scar she got when she fell from the tree. Of course it's the same girl!"

"I believe it is," murmured Grace. "But how came she here?"

"Another one of the mysteries to be explained," said Amy. "But hadn't we better see first if we can revive her?"

"An excellent idea," declared Mrs. Mackson. "If one of you will get some water, I'll use my smelling salts on her. And we must loosen her collar. It seems too tight."

Mr. Blackford had turned over the care of the girl to the others. He hurried to a spring they had discovered in the yard of the old house, and presently handed in a tin of water.

The strange girl opened her eyes, looked about in fear, and then, seeing herself surrounded by the friendly faces of our girls, on her own countenance there came a look of relief.

"What—what happened?" she gasped. "Oh, I remember. I fainted. I heard someone in the house, and I thought it was—I thought he was coming for me. Oh, he isn't here; is he?"

"We don't know who you mean," said Mollie, gently.

"My—the man who calls himself my guardian, but who has used me very cruelly," she said. "I ran away from him, and then I learned that there might be a way to escape him forever. I came back to get certain papers—but I heard noises in the old house, and——"

"I guess we made the noises," said Betty, with a smile. "We were looking for a—ghost!"

"A ghost!" cried the strange girl, starting up.

"There! I am sorry I said that!" exclaimed Betty, who thought, too late, of the effect it might have on the overwrought nerves of the stranger. "But really there isn't any ghost, you know."

The girl smiled weakly.

"Take some more water," urged Mrs. Mackson. "And smell these ammonia salts."

"I'll go get some of that cold chocolate in the vacuum bottle," volunteered Grace.

"No, please," said the girl. "I shall be all right presently. I can go on. I didn't find the papers I wanted. I was sure he had hidden them here."

"We hope you won't go until you have told us a little something about yourself," said Betty, with an inviting smile. "We don't want to pry into your private affairs," she went on, "but we would like to help you. And please don't disappear so mysteriously again. You are the girl who fell out of the branches of a tree; aren't you?"

"Yes," and she smiled faintly, "I am Carrie Norton. I knew you as soon as I saw you all again. Oh, please don't think harshly of me, but I have been so worried I did not know what I was doing. I have always regretted repaying your kindness so shabbily, but really——"

"Now don't worry a bit about that!" broke in Mollie. "Just rest yourself, and when you feel able, tell us all you wish to, and we'll do all we can for you. Do you feel better?"

"Oh, yes, much. I am not given to fainting. It was just fright that made me call out when I heard the noise you made, and then I went over—all got black before me. Oh, I am feeling stronger every minute."

She proved it by getting up, and the girls helped her arrange her dress, dusting it for her, and aiding her in coiling up her heavy hair.

"What lovely braids you have," observed Grace.

"Do you think so? They have made trouble enough for me."

"I suppose so much hair must be inconvenient in warm weather, but most of us would be willing to put up with it," spoke Amy.

"I didn't mean it that way. I will tell you soon. But I ought to be going."

"Then come with us," invited Betty. "We have plenty of room in the car, and we can take you to your friends, to a hotel, or anywhere you like to."

"And we can take you to our homes," added Mollie. "We have not far to go, and, as we are only touring for pleasure, we have no schedule to upset. Come with us. We have finished our ghost hunt."

"Then let us get away from here before my guardian happens to come back," suggested the girl. "I will explain all I can to you, though it is rather complicated."

"Would you mind explaining first," asked Betty with a smile, "why you were up that tree? We have all puzzled over that so much."

"I went up there to hide from my guardian, or the man who calls himself such," said the girl. "I suppose it seems strange, but really that was the only thing I could think of. And it was not hard to get up, for the branches were low. You see I had just run away from him, from this very house, when he brought me here, and said that it was to be our home."

"This place your home!" exclaimed Mollie. "Why I thought Mr. Lagg had bought it."

"I don't know Mr. Lagg," said the strange girl, with a shake of her head. "But I'll explain in sections, as it were. My name is Carrie Norton, and my guardian is Samuel Clark. At least, that is his right name. He goes by several, according to the nature of the business he is in."

"He must be a queer sort of man to change his name," suggested Mr. Blackford, who had rejoined the girls.

"He is queer," agreed Carrie Norton, "and not altogether honest, I fear. To be brief, when my parents died, several years ago, he assumed charge of me. He had been associated with my father in business, and he said the will provided that he was to be my guardian. I was too grief-stricken to question that, but I was shocked when, instead of having a comfortable fortune, as I supposed, there was little or nothing, and Mr. Clark said I must go about the country with him, helping him sell goods. He was a sort of commercial traveler, dealing in different things at different times."

"Yes," said the girls.

"Finally we came to this section, and one day he came to this house. He said he owned it, and that we were to live here. I saw that it was deserted, and I made up my mind I would not stay. The very next day, when he was making preparations to remain over night, I ran away. Oh, I was so lonely. I did not care what became of me. Then I thought I saw him coming down the road after me, and I went up in the tree.

"Perhaps I was foolish, but I scarcely knew what I was doing. I guess I must have fallen asleep, for I was in a comfortable position, and I had lost much rest of late. Then I heard an auto horn—I thought all sorts of things—I awoke with a start, and fell out."

"Then our auto did not strike you?" asked Mollie.

"No, I was just stunned by the fall. When I woke up, and found myself in that farm house bedroom, I did not know what to think. One idea possessed me, that I must get away—that I would not go back to him—my guardian. So I slipped away, and I have been wandering about ever since. I managed to get enough office work to help support me, for I am a business college graduate and I had a little money of my own with me. Sometimes I stopped at hotels, and again at boarding houses. My one idea was to keep away from that man."

"And you dropped part of a letter; did you not?" asked Grace. "The day you ran from the farm house."

"Yes," Carrie admitted. "I had written one I intended leaving for—for that man. Then I decided not to and I tore it up just before I got out of the window. I suppose I must have dropped a piece. It was a letter saying I would never come back to Shadow Valley."

"How did you happen to come back here?" asked Mollie. "We were certainly puzzled at your sudden departure."

"A little while ago," resumed Carrie, "I read something in a paper referring to my case. It was a legal notice asking for news of my whereabouts, and saying I would hear of something to my advantage by calling on certain lawyers with papers to prove my identity. At first I feared this was a trap on the part of my guardian, but I inquired and learned that the law firm was a reputable one. There is a Mr. Allen Washburn connected with it."

"In Deepdale?" cried Betty, her cheeks flaming.

"Yes. But how did you know?" asked Carrie.

"Oh, I am—slightly acquainted with Mr. Washburn," said Betty, hesitatingly.

"Slightly—is good," murmured Grace.

"So I decided I would go see those lawyers," went on Carrie. "But first I wanted the papers. My guardian had them, but I recalled that the day we came here he placed them on the mantle in this room. I came back to get them, but they were gone, and then I heard a noise—I fainted—and, well, here I am, and you are here too, I see."

"It is quite a mystery," said Betty. "Now, I have this to propose. You come home, with us, and we will take you to Mr. Washburn, or have him come to see you. Perhaps he can dispense with the papers."

"Oh, I hope so!" Carrie cried. "If only I could have a new guardian, I might be happy."

"Well, let's start on the road to happiness," said Mr. Blackford, with a smile. "We haven't found the ghost, but perhaps it is just as well."

"Did you ever see any queer manifestations while you were here?" asked Mollie of the girl.

"I was here only part of one day," she said. "I am glad it was not dark—I should have been afraid. Oh, it must have been terrible for you to have been caught by—by that man!" she said to Mollie. "Who could he have been?"

"I am just wondering if it could have been your guardian," said Mollie, a strange look on her face. "He said something about me having 'come back.' Girls, I'm sure that was it!" she cried. "He took me for Carrie, with my long hair——"

"We are coming on!" cried Mr. Blackford. "We will soon have this mystery solved."

"What sort of a looking man was the one who caught you?" asked Carrie.

"I could not see—he had on long white garments."

"Well, let us get under way. The lawyers will be the best ones to settle this affair," resumed Mr. Blackford, as he started for the waiting auto.

They left the strange mansion behind. Whether it was "haunted" or not they had failed to establish. But they had gotten on the trail of another mystery.

It was while autoing toward the town of Franklin, on their way to Deepdale, that the girls saw on the road a farmer standing beside a carriage with a broken axle. The man was ruefully contemplating the damage.

"Can we help you any?" asked Mollie, as she stopped her car. Mollie was always glad to help people.

"Wa'al," said the man slowly, "if you had a new axle it would be a help. But I know you haven't. What riles me most though, is that the rascal will get away from me."

"Are you after some one?" asked Mr. Blackford, catching at the man's words.

"Yes, I am; after as slick a swindler as has been around these parts in a long time. He done me out of a bunch of money not long ago, and only a little while ago I got word that the same man is peddling stuff in Franklin. I hitched up, as soon as I could, intending to go to Franklin and have him arrested. But this pesky axle had to break, and now I can't go on. It's the only rig I have, too. I heard that the fellow intends to go out on the noon train. Then I may never hear of him again."

"Can't you telephone?" asked Mr. Blackford.

"There's no 'phones around here, and if I did it would be hard work to hold him. There'd have to be a warrant, and I'd have to swear to a complaint. My mere word over the wire wouldn't be enough, I'm afraid. And it's near noon now. I don't know what to do."

Ruefully he gazed at his disabled carriage.

"I have it!" cried Mollie. "Come in the auto with us. We have room for one more, with a little crowding. We can get you there before noon, and perhaps you can have the man arrested."

"Good!" cried the swindled farmer. "I'll do it!"



CHAPTER XXIII

"THAT'S THE MAN!"

"What will you do with your horse and carriage?" asked Mr. Blackford, when the girls had made different seating arrangements to accommodate Mr. Bailey, the farmer. "It won't do to leave it on the road; will it?"

"No, I'll have to fix that some way. We can't very well take it along with us. But here comes Jim Bates. He'll look after my nag for me. Hi, Jim!" he called as a man came driving past in a dilapidated wagon, drawn by a bony horse, "Jim, jest look after my outfit; will you? Maybe you can leave it in Pierce's barn until I come back. That isn't far. Pierce is away, but his wife will let you, I guess."

"Where you goin'?" asked Jim. His horse had stopped of its own accord, it seemed.

"Goin' in to Franklin."

"In that there machine?"

"Yep."

"Gittin' sort of stylish; ain't ye?"

"Mebbe. But I had an accident, and these young ladies was kind enough to offer me a lift."

"In a hurry?"

"I sure am. I'm after that swindler. Heard he was in Franklin."

"Git out! Feller that sold you the interest in that patent soap?"

"Yep. That's how I was swindled," he explained to our friends. "This faker come along with a wonderful soap. It would take the spots out of everything—even the sun, he said. It did do good work when he manipulated it. Well, I was foolish enough to give up some of my hard-earned savings for the secret of how to make the soap. I bought the stuff he told me, but the soap was a failure. He swindled me. Now I'm after him."

"I hope you catch him," said Jim. "Go along in the buzz-wagon. I'll look after your rig until you git back. Good-luck!"

They started off, the farmer going into details of how he had been swindled. He was very thankful for the unexpected "lift" given him, and declared that he would not have known what to do had not the auto come along.

"We are only too glad to help you," said Mollie.



"We seem to be in the assisting business," remarked Betty, who sat beside Mollie. "We're helping two birds with one auto."

"You mean Carrie?"

"Yes."

"Poor girl! I do hope we can help her, and get someone to look after her so she won't worry. Mr. Washburn will know what to do."

"Yes, Allen is getting to be quite a lawyer," admitted Betty, with a blush.

They swung into Franklin.

"Where do you think would be a good place to look for your man?" asked Mr. Blackford of the farmer.

"I heard he was selling tooth powder in the public square. He has a stand, or something."

"Then suppose you head for there," suggested Mr. Blackford to Mollie. She nodded.

They saw a crowd of people in the square in front of the court house. In their midst stood a man on a raised platform—a platform gay with flags. His strident voice could be heard extoling the merits of his wares. The auto came nearer. The vendor's face could be plainly seen.

"There he is!" cried the farmer. "That's the man who swindled me!" He stood up in the machine. Those in the crowd gazed wonderingly at him.

A gasp from Carrie caused Grace to look at her. The girl's face was white.

"What is it?" asked Grace in alarm.

"That man—he—he is my guardian!" cried Carrie. "Oh, don't let him see me!" and she cowered behind Amy and Grace.



CHAPTER XXIV

THE FAKER CAUGHT

Several things happened at about the same time, and so quickly that the girls confessed afterward that they were fairly dizzy. Consequently they were not altogether sure of the sequence of events themselves.

But as that does not so much matter as does the ultimate effect, I will set down the various happenings in such order as will best indicate to the reader the proceedings.

Naturally the attention of Mr. Blackford, and the girls, was first drawn to Mr. Bailey, the farmer, who was shaking his fist at the man selling tooth powder on the platform. His announcement that this was the man he sought was sufficiently dramatic.

Then came Carrie's startled cry. Betty and Mollie turned around to look at her.

"Are you sure he is the man who called himself your guardian?" asked Mollie. "Don't make any mistake."

"I am not making a mistake," murmured Carrie, still holding herself behind Amy and Grace. "He is that horrid man! Oh, don't let him see me!"

"What, have you a case ag'in him, too?" asked Mr. Bailey.

"She thinks so," explained Mr. Blackford. "We've got to act quickly here. Go up a little closer, Mollie."

A lane was opened for the auto, amid the crowd. The faker stopped in the midst of the "patter" concerning his wonderful powder, which "would make the teeth like unto the milky pearls of the Orient."

The man on the platform turned pale, and then a sort of sickly green color spread over his face. He had caught sight of the farmer standing in the auto. Perhaps he also had had a glimpse of Carrie Norton. At any rate he said:

"And now, my dear people, I must leave you. This is the last chance you will have to purchase Tuckerman's Tooth Tester at this price. I thank you one and all for your attention, and for your patronage. I must leave at once. I have been summoned by telegraph to attend a conference of the International Dental Society, who wish to purchase the secret of my wonderful invention. I will bid you good-day," and he started to descend from his platform.

"No, you don't!" cried Mr. Bailey. "No, you don't get away like that! The dental society kin wait until you pay me back the money you swindled out of me on that soap deal! Hold him, somebody, until I kin swear out a warrant. I've caught you, old fellow!"

The faker kept his nerve. He came down from the platform carrying his valise. The crowd was around him.

"Good people, let me pass!" he cried, authoritatively.

Mr. Blackford sensed the danger. The man might get away after all.

"Here!" he called to a constable in the crowd. "That man is a swindler! He should be arrested."

"I haven't any warrant," answered the officer, weakly.

"You will have one in five minutes!" said Mr. Blackford. "I tell you to hold that man. Mr. Bailey, get to the nearest justice of the peace as soon as you can. Swear out a warrant and have it brought here. Officer, arrest that man!"

There was something more than disinterested authority in Mr. Blackford's tone. The constable worked his way through the crowd.

"Good people, let me pass! Let me pass!" the faker was saying. "I have to catch a train!"

"Not much you won't! If I have to hold you myself!" muttered Mr. Bailey, angrily.

"You get to that justice as fast as you can," directed Mr. Blackford. "We'll hold this man, if we have to chloroform him!"

The farmer jumped from the auto, and hurried off, a dozen hands pointing out the office he desired in the court house. The constable reached the tooth powder vendor.

"You're under arrest!" the officer said, laying a hand on the man's arm.

"Don't you touch me! Under arrest? On what charge?"

He shook himself loose, and stroked his beard nervously, also his luxurious hair, but this time it was black, instead of white—dyed obviously.

"On the charge—on the charge," began the constable nervously. "You're arrested on a charge that's soon to be here. Now don't make any fuss, but come along with me."

"I decline to go with you unless I know what I am charged with!" shouted the faker. "You let me go, or it will be the worse for you!"

Mollie arose in her place at the steering wheel.

"He's arrested on the charge of assault and battery!" she called in her fresh, strong voice. "I make the charge, Girls!" she exclaimed, turning to the others, "that's the man who thrust me into that room, and locked me there. That's the ghost. I recognize him by the scar on his thumb!"

The crowd was in an uproar as the constable caught hold of the man, and quickly snapped a pair of handcuffs on his wrists.

Then as the girls in the auto stood up, the better to see, Carrie was revealed. The faker, closely held by the constable who had arrested him, and by a brother officer who had hurried up, gave the strange girl one look. Then those who were near him heard him mutter:

"I guess the game is up!"



CHAPTER XXV

EXPLANATIONS

Betty furnished the next sensation. As the man in charge of the officers passed near the auto, poor Carrie cowering away from him, though he no longer had it in his power to harm her, the Little Captain exclaimed:

"Girls! Girls! He's the old hair doctor—the man we met with the gay wagon—Bennington's Restorer!"

"Who is?" demanded Amy.

"That man—the one they have arrested. He's the one we gave the bolt to."

"Ha! That settles it!" cried Mollie. "That was where I first saw the scarred thumb! It's all working out now! I didn't remember at first. His hair is black instead of white."

"Dye," murmured Grace. "It is he all right!"

The farmer came hurrying through the crowd with the justice to whom he had gone to make a complaint. Above his head he waved a paper, crying:

"I got it! I have the warrant. Now Mr. Faker, which ought to be your name, you'll spend the rest of the summer behind the bars, on this charge."

"Yes, and with another added to it, perhaps," said Mr. Blackford, with a glance at Carrie.

The faker, which it is easier to call him, as he went by many names, shrugged his shoulders philosophically. He saw that he was caught. Perhaps he had been in the toils of the law before this.

He was quickly taken to the court house, where he was held on the farmer's charge under such heavy bail that it was not produced. This insured him being retained in custody.

"And now to attend to your case, Miss Norton," said Mr. Blackford, when Allen Washburn had been telegraphed for, and promised to come. "So he was your guardian; eh?"

"Yes, and since the girls recognize him for what he was part of the time—a seller of hair tonic—I will explain a little further. He made me pose in his cart, before the crowds, as one whose hair had been restored and made long by his worthless stuff. Oh, it was shameful! That is why I ran away from him!"

"I don't blame you," said Mollie. "And did his stuff do your hair any good?"

"I never used a drop of it! Neither did he. It was trash! He used to make me shake down my hair before the crowd, and then he would tell how I used to have none at all, but by using his medicine it came. I always had nice hair, before I ever met him! Oh, I can't forget it!" and she sobbed a little.

"Never mind," said Betty, gently, "it is all over now."

And it was, as far as any further charge the faker had over Carrie Norton. Allen Washburn came on with the papers in the case. It seems that a distant relative of the girl, learned in a round about way that Clark, or Bennington, to use but two of his names, had forged certain documents in order to make it appear that he was her legal guardian. This gave him control of Carrie, and her money, a tidy sum left by her father. The girl he compelled to accompany him on his vending trips, but when he went into the making of worthless hair restorer and obliged her to pose as having benefited by it, she finally rebelled.

This distant relative, wishing to aid the girl, took the matter up with a law firm, happening to hit on the one where Allen Washburn was employed. The newspaper advertisement was inserted, and at last had its effect.

The facts in the case were presented to the court after the faker's arrest, and the judge lost no time in deposing him as Carrie's guardian. He was obliged to give up the money he had wrongfully retained, and Allen Washburn was, much to Carrie's delight, appointed to look after her affairs.

"You'll be all right now, my dear," said Mollie, when the court action was over.

"She will be, if Betty doesn't get jealous!" said Grace, with a laugh. "Oh, I didn't mean anything!" she added quickly, as she saw her chum frown. "Have a chocolate!"

Bennington, or Clark—the faker, to be brief—was thus held by the law. In view of the other charges against him, Mollie did not press hers.

"It would only bring you into unpleasant notoriety," said Mr. Washburn. "He will get a severe enough penalty as it is."

"He must have mistaken you for me," said Carrie, as they talked over the thrusting of Mollie into the room. "Seeing you in the house whence I had fled, and with your hair hanging down, he made a natural mistake, thinking I had come back to him."

"Except that my hair is nothing like as lovely as yours, my dear."

"Oh, yours is fine, I think. But the dim light might have deceived him."

"But why should he dress up all in white—like a ghost?" asked Grace.

"Probably to play that part," suggested Betty. "That is one point we haven't solved—how the ghostly manifestations were brought about. I wish we could have solved that for the sake of Mr. Lagg."

"I fancy it is solved," said Mr. Blackford, with a smile. "It was the faker, all the while."

"It was?" cried Mollie. "Did he do it on purpose?"

"No, he had no intention of being a spook, but he could not have done it better had he planned it. I have been talking to him," and Mr. Blackford nodded in the direction of the court house. "He made a clean breast of everything when Allen hinted that it might have a good effect when he came to be sentenced.

"It seems that he manufactured his hair-tonic in the haunted mansion. It was necessary to heat it in a sort of furnace, and this made the groaning sound you heard, it was caused by air pressure. Sometimes it groaned and again it shrieked as the hot air rushed from the ventilator."

"And the clank of the metal?" asked Grace, not without a look over her shoulder, though it was broad daylight.

"That was when he stirred the stuff in the brass mixing kettle."

"What about the queer blue light, and the smell of sulphur?" asked Cousin Jane.

"That was the burning of sulphur which he used in the preparation. Sulphur is often used in hair-tonics I believe, though I don't know that this man used it to any advantage. At any rate he burned it, making the ghostly flashes of blue fire, and the smell. The flashes were reflected from the room where he worked into the smaller house, by the big window panes."

"But why did he dress like a ghost?" asked Mollie.

"That was a big white garment he put on to avoid soiling his clothes when he made his hair-tonic mixture. And he really did mistake you for Carrie, Mollie. He admitted as much, and asked to be forgiven. It was his lunch you ate. He had prepared for a long stay in the house."

"Well, I guess we won't bother to pay for it," said Betty. "He's made trouble enough. Then the mansion isn't haunted, after all?"

"No, and never was. It was simply the making of his hair-tonic there nights that produced the effect. He says he never even knew that the doctors who were to buy the place were frightened away, and the night you girls stopped there he thought you had, as was the case, taken refuge from the storm. He did not know he had frightened you, but when he saw Mollie he made a rush for her, thinking she was his ward, come back. He locked her up, intending to come for her later, when he had taken off the furnace some of his boiling mixture."

"Then Mr. Lagg can sell his property after all!" exclaimed Grace. "I'm so glad!"

And so was the poetical store keeper himself, when he heard the news. He composed an eight-line verse on the subject, and insisted on rewarding the girls, saying it was due to their efforts that the "ghost was laid." He received a substantial sum for the old mansion, which was turned into a sanitarium.

"And, now that all the explanations are explained," said Mollie a day or so later, "we may as well resume our tour. What do you say, girls?"

"Fine!" cried Betty. "And we'll take Carrie with us. She needs a change, and traveling around will benefit her."

"Though I traveled considerable after I ran away from that horrid man," said the girl, with a smile at her new friends.

"There is one regret," spoke Grace, "and that is that Mr. Blackford didn't find his missing sister."

"I had some hopes that you might prove to be she," he said, looking at Carrie. "However, I have not yet given up the prospect of finding her. I am going to seek farther."

"Let's go for a long ride, anyhow, and then we can plan what to do for the rest of the summer," suggested Mollie, and the girls went off in the car.

And what occurred further to the chums may be learned by reading the next volume of this series, to be entitled "The Outdoor Girls in a Winter Camp; Or, Glorious Days on Skates and Ice Boats."

"And so there is no haunted mansion after all," remarked Betty, as they rode on.

"Are you sorry?" asked Grace. "I'm not."

"Well, a haunt is so—romantic," spoke Betty.

"But I suppose it is just as well."

Eventually the false guardian was sent to prison for a long term, on several charges. Mr. Bailey was not the only farmer he had swindled, it appeared. The fellow had unexpectedly come to the old mansion, and had boldly decided to use it for his purposes, learning that the title was in dispute. It just suited his needs, and the hair-tonic was not the only nostrum he made there after Carrie ran away. But the tonic was alone responsible for the queer sounds and manifestations. On leaving the mansion to go about peddling his wares, the man would take his apparatus with him in the wagon, so there were few signs of his occupancy.

Mr. Blackford bade the girls farewell a few days after the explanations had been made, saying he was going to look up a new clue regarding his sister. Carrie Norton was made welcome at the home of Betty, though she often stayed for weeks at a time with the other chums. She had income enough to support her now that her fortune was restored to her.

The girls completed their tour, having many good times which the boys and the twins shared, the latter never forgetting to ask, semi-occasionally:

"Has oo dot any tandy?"

And now that the Outdoor Girls have a prospect of "living happily ever after," we will take leave of them.

THE END.



This Isn't All!

Would you like to know what became of the good friends you have made in this book?

Would you like to read other stories continuing their adventures and experiences, or other books quite as entertaining by the same author?

On the reverse side of the wrapper which comes with this book, you will find a wonderful list of stories which you can buy at the same store where you got this book.

Don't throw away the Wrapper

Use it as a handy catalog of the books you want some day to have. But in case you do mislay it, write to the Publishers for a complete catalog.



THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES

By LAURA LEE HOPE

Author of the "Bobbsey Twins," "Bunny Brown" Series, Etc.

* * * * *

Uniform Style of Binding. Individual Colored Wrappers. Every Volume Complete in Itself.

* * * * *

These are the tales of the various adventures participated in by a group of bright, fun-loving, up-to-date girls who have a common bond in their fondness for outdoor life, camping, travel and adventure. They are clean and wholesome and free from sensationalism.

THE OUTDOOR GIRLS OF DEEPDALE THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT RAINBOW LAKE THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A MOTOR CAR THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A WINTER CAMP THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN FLORIDA THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT OCEAN VIEW THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN ARMY SERVICE THE OUTDOOR GIRLS ON PINE ISLAND THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT THE HOSTESS HOUSE THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT BLUFF POINT THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT WILD ROSE LODGE THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN THE SADDLE THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AROUND THE CAMPFIRE THE OUTDOOR GIRLS ON CAPE COD THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT FOAMING FALLS THE OUTDOOR GIRLS ALONG THE COAST THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT SPRING HILL FARM THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT NEW MOON RANCH THE OUTDOOR GIRLS ON A HIKE

* * * * *

GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK



THE BLYTHE GIRLS BOOKS

By LAURA LEE HOPE

* * * * *

Individual Colored Wrappers and Text Illustrations by THELMA GOOCH Every Volume Complete in Itself

* * * * *

The Blythe girls, three in number, were left alone in New York City. Helen, who went in for art and music, kept the little flat uptown, while Margy, just out of a business school, obtained a position as a private secretary and Rose, plain-spoken and business-like, took what she called a "job" in a department store.

THE BLYTHE GIRLS: HELEN, MARGY AND ROSE

A fascinating tale of real happenings in the great metropolis.

THE BLYTHE GIRLS: MARGY'S QUEER INHERITANCE

The Girls had a peculiar old aunt and when she died she left an unusual inheritance.

THE BLYTHE GIRLS: ROSE'S GREAT PROBLEM

Rose, still at work in the big department store, is one day faced with the greatest problem of her life.

THE BLYTHE GIRLS: HELEN'S STRANGE BOARDER

Helen goes to the assistance of a strange girl, whose real identity is a puzzle. Who the girl really was comes as a tremendous surprise.

THE BLYTHE GIRLS: THREE ON A VACATION

The girls go to the country for two weeks—and fall in with all sorts of curious and exciting happenings.

THE BLYTHE GIRLS: MARGY'S SECRET MISSION

Of course we cannot divulge the big secret, but nevertheless the girls as usual have many exciting experiences.

THE BLYTHE GIRLS: ROSE'S ODD DISCOVERY

A very interesting story, telling how Rose aided an old man in the almost hopeless search for his daughter.

THE BLYTHE GIRLS: THE DISAPPEARANCE OF HELEN

Helen calls on the art dealer on business and finds the old fellow has made a wonderful discovery.

THE BLYTHE GIRLS: SNOWBOUND IN CAMP

An absorbing tale of winter happenings, full of excitement.

* * * * *

GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK



CAROLYN WELLS BOOKS

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Attractively Bound. Illustrated. Colored Wrappers.

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THE MARJORIE BOOKS

Marjorie is a happy little girl of twelve, up to mischief, but full of goodness and sincerity. In her and her friends every girl reader will see much of her own love of fun, play and adventure.

MARJORIE'S VACATION MARJORIE'S BUSY DAYS MARJORIE'S NEW FRIEND MARJORIE IN COMMAND MARJORIE'S MAYTIME MARJORIE AT SEACOTE

* * * * *

THE TWO LITTLE WOMEN SERIES

Introducing Dorinda Fayre—a pretty blonde, sweet, serious, timid and a little slow, and Dorothy Rose—a sparkling brunette, quick, elf-like, high tempered, full of mischief and always getting into scrapes.

TWO LITTLE WOMEN TWO LITTLE WOMEN AND TREASURE HOUSE TWO LITTLE WOMEN ON A HOLIDAY

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THE DICK AND DOLLY BOOKS

Dick and Dolly are brother and sister, and their games, their pranks, their joys and sorrows, are told in a manner which makes the stories "really true" to young readers.

DICK AND DOLLY DICK AND DOLLY'S ADVENTURES

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GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK

* * * * *

Transcriber's Notes:

Obvious punctuation errors repaired.

Title page, extraneous word "in" removed. (Twins in the Country)

Table of Contents, "65" changed to "68".

Table of Contents, "Track" changed to "Trace". (Trace of the Girl)

Table of Contents, "Fakir" changed to "Faker". (The Faker Caught)

Page 11, "criuse" changed to "cruise". (on a cruise in)

Page 19, "grammer" changed to "grammar". (grammar school)

Page 19, "floppish" changed to "foppish". (rather foppish lad)

Page 19, "Deedpale" changed to "Deepdale". (Dear Deepdale)

Page 26, "unconscions" changed to "unconcious". (make her unconscious)

Pages 27, 28, 30, "bed room" changed to "bedroom".

Page 30, "pyhsician" changed to "physician". (the physician pushed)

Page 32, "outisde" changed to "outside". (must look outside)

Page 46, "follow" changed to "fellow". (little fellow had)

Page 68, "VII" changed to "VIII". (CHAPTER VIII)

Page 72, "others" changed to "other". (while other nights)

Page 76, "spot" changed to "spots". (muddy in spots)

Page 113, "carbureter" changed to "carburetor". (the carburetor slightly)

Page 140, "umistakable" changed to "unmistakable". (the unmistakable sound)

Page 134, "thurogh" changed to "through". (went through various)

Page 135, "releaved" changed "revealed". (was revealed)

Page 154, "suddently" changed to "suddenly". (so suddenly that)

Page 178, "unsucessful" changed to "unsuccessful". (back unsuccessful in)

Page 195, "by" changed to "my". (after my outfit)

Page 197, "bush" changed to "blush". (with a blush)

Page 197, "The" change to "They". (They swung into)

Page 201, extraneous "The" removed. (The crowd was)

Page 209, "colthes" changed to "clothes". (his clothes when)

Page 210, "an" changed to "on". (composed an eight-line)

THE END