"Oh, please don't go alone!" pleaded Dorothy, holding her cousin back by
the arm. "I--I saw--him--it--too. The awfullest-looking--"

"Ghost!" finished Ned with a laugh. "Well, I'm not afraid of anything,
from ghosts to--gillies!"

At this he lightly shook off Dorothy's detaining hand, and started down
the long hall toward the closet. Nat and the other boys were in the hall
now, and in spite of her terror Dorothy noticed that they were all
dressed, though it was supposed they had all retired--especially Roger and
Joe, who should have been asleep long ago.

"Now, come on out, whoever you are!" exclaimed Ned as he strode up to the
open closet. "Where is he?" he asked, poking through the garments hanging
on the rear hooks. "Nothing doing here."

"Then he has hidden himself in some other part of the house," declared
Tavia.

But at this Joe and Roger could hold back their laughter no longer. The
others also joined in. But Tavia would not be convinced.

"I certainly saw--him--it," she insisted. "It did not look like anything
human!"

"Come and see if it's here now," invited Ned, who could not seem to find a
trace of whatever it was that had frightened the girls.

"Never! never!" cried Tavia. "I had enough in that one look! Didn't you,