emerged into open country,
and were climbing a winding road which extended before them uphill; on
their left the land descended gradually to a valley below them, where in
the distance, they could see the scattered houses nestled among the
fields of fertile farm-land.

"The nearest village is about a mile down the valley," the Captain
informed them. "When the haunted house was built it was the farthest
away from the village, but since that time a number of others have
sprung up all around here."

Mounting to the top of the hill, they found that the road, instead of
dipping suddenly down again, was level; and that to the right of it
there started a high stone wall which followed the irregularities of the
road for a considerable distance. It was covered with lichen and moss,
and showed gaps here and there where the mortar had crumbled away and
the stones fallen in a heap upon the ground; while in other places, the
tangled growth of ivy vines almost entirely obscured the stonework.

The Scouts kept to the road until they came to a break in the wall which
formed the gateway. Wide open and sagging inward, two massive gates of
iron grill-work had rusted and settled upon their hinges until they were
firmly imbedded and immovable in the ground. The girls stopped and were
examining the intricacy and beauty of the design in the wrought
iron-work, when an old woman came hobbling along the road towards them.
Doris shivered; in fact, all of the girls trembled in spite of
themselves: for the creature, thin, tattered, and old, reminded them of
a ghost herself.

"I wouldn't go in there, if I was you girls," she warned them, holding
up her bony hand. "There was a strange-lookin' figer there last week or
so! Nobody seen her come, and nobody seen her go--only once or twice
some of us that lives near-by saw her through the winder. Some said she
were a human, out of her mind, some says she were a spirit--only but for
the boat she brung with her, and went away in again!"

"The boat!" repeated Marjorie, breathlessly. "Was it a canoe?"

But the old woman shook her head; she did not know any distinction among
varieties of boats.

"She must 'a come by the stream at the back of the house, and vanished
the same way," muttered the stranger; "but whoever she was, she wan't no
good! What with her, and the old ghost that some says shrieks around the
house o' nights nobody'd get me inside! I wish you wouldn't go in!"

"Oh, nothing will hurt us