ut them."

The ruin of the Carter house stood upon a knoll, several great elms
sheltering it. The dooryard was covered with a heavy sod and the
ancient flower beds had run wild with weeds.

The place did have rather an eerie look. Most of the window panes were
broken and the steps and narrow porch before the kitchen door had
broken away, leaving traps for careless feet.

The thunder growled behind them. Amy quickened her steps. As she had
said, she shuddered at the tempest. What might be of a disturbing
nature in the old farmhouse could not, she thought, be as fearsome as
the approaching tempest.

CHAPTER VIII

CARTER'S GHOST

On the broken porch of the abandoned house Amy stopped and waited for
her chum to overtake her. When she looked back she cried out again.
Forked lightning blazed against the lurid clouds. It was so sharp a
display of electricity that Amy shut her eyes.

Jessie, still laughing, plunged up the steps and bumped right into the
sagging door. It swung inward, creakingly. Amy peered over her chum's
shoulder.

"O-oh!" she crooned. "Do--do you see anything?"

"Nothing alive. Not even a rat."

"Ghosts aren't alive."

"Nothing moving, then," and Jessie proceeded to march into the rather
dark kitchen. "Here's a table and some benches. You know, Miss
Allister's Sunday School class picnicked here last year."

"Oh, I've been here a dozen times," confessed Amy. "But always with a
crowd. You know, honey, you are no protection against ghosts."

"Don't be so ridiculous," laughed Jessie. She had put down the things
she had brought up from the lakeside, and now turned back to look out
of the open door. "Oh, Amy! It's coming!"

There was a crash of thunder and then the rain began drumming on the
roof of the porch. Jessie looked out. The clearing about the house had
darkened speedily. A sheet of rain came drifting across the lake
toward the hillock on which the house stood.

"Do shut the door, Jessie," begged Amy Drew.

"How ridiculous!" Jessie said again. "You can't shut the windows.
There!"

Another lightning flash blinded the girls and the thunder following
fairly deafened them for the moment. But Jessie did not leave her post
in the doorway. Something at the edge of the clearing--some rods away,
at the verge of the thick wood--had impressed itself on Jessie's sight
just as the lightning flashed.

"Come away! Come away, Jess Norwood!" shrieked Amy.

"Come here," commanded Jessie. "Lo