Betty giggled at this, and then for a long time--or at least it seemed a
long time to their strained nerves--they went on in silence, following the
winding road wherever it led and getting deeper into the forest with every
moment.

Then suddenly something loomed up dark against the shadows only a few
hundred feet ahead of them, and with a great feeling of thankfulness they
realized that they had reached their destination. Directly ahead of them
stood Wild Rose Lodge. They had arrived!

But just as they were about to break into wild jubilation something
happened that tightened Betty's hand on the wheel and made Grace cry out
with dismay.

Out from the shadow of the lodge a second shadow detached itself, a
hunched up, bulky, fearful shadow that seemed neither beast nor man, but a
combination of both of them.

For a moment, while the girls watched, paralyzed with fright, the thing
seemed about to spring into the path of the moving car. But in another
instant it turned, wheeled, and disappeared into the thick bushes about
the house.

Then and only then did Betty recover presence of mind enough to stop the
car.

"Betty! Betty!" cried Grace in a horrified whisper, grasping Betty's hand
as it clung to the wheel. "What was it? Oh, what was it?"