here, Captain?" asked Marjorie.

"That was when I was a student at Miss Allen's," answered Miss Phillips.

"A student at Miss Allen's?" echoed the girls, in surprise.

"I never knew that," said Marjorie. "You never told us before, Captain,"
she added reproachfully.

"Didn't I?" laughed their leader. "Well, I did go to Miss Allen's; and
I liked it so well that I did not want to leave; so when I finished
college, I went back as teacher."

"No wonder you seem so much like one of us," remarked Marjorie.

"Do I?" said the other, rather flattered by the suggestion, in the
girl's remark, of the place she held in their affections. "Perhaps that
is because I feel like one of you."

"Captain, won't you tell us the story of the haunted house?" begged
Doris, who, while she was the most timid girl among them, was always the
most eager to hear about ghosts, as if she really enjoyed the creepy
feeling that it gave her.

"Oh, it's too long to tell now, Doris. But I may tell you some other
time; perhaps if I told you now, some of you would not want to visit the
place."

"Captain! I've got a chestnut!" cried Ruth, holding up a small, familiar
nut.

"Sure enough--there's the tree! Let's stop here a minute, and all get
some."

Most of the girls succeeded in gathering a handful, before they started
on. They proceeded at a leisurely pace, pausing now and then to hunt for
nuts or to examine other objects of interest to the student of nature.

"Why, there are some birds, and they're not sparrows, either!" said
Daisy Gravers, indicating several slate-colored birds about the size of
English sparrows. "I didn't know there were any other winter birds
around here!"

"They are Juncos, or Snowbirds," explained the Captain. "They are a
winter bird with us, and as soon as the warm weather comes they will fly
north. Don't forget to put them down in your notebooks, girls."

They had now reached the outskirts of the woods, through which they had
been walking for some time, and Miss Phillips called a halt and
suggested that they count their nuts. Ruth, who had been the most
diligent searcher, won the game, having found a greater number of
varieties than any of the other girls. The Scout Captain told them
something about each variety and the tree upon which it grew, before
they continued their walk.

"Only a short distance along this road, and we reach the haunted house,"
said Miss Phillips.

The girls walked closer around her. They had