so forward. She and that McCarthy girl make an excellent team. One is as
tiresome as the other."

"I have heard," continued the ghost, "that this great and powerful banshee
came to America to look for the descendants of the banshees who made her
become one of them. It has even been hinted that she has been seen in the
Pocono Woods."

"Oh, my gracious!" exclaimed Hazel, glancing about her apprehensively.
"What if we should see her? I'd die of fright, I know I should."

"Fiddle! Who ith afraid of a banthhee?" jeered Grace. "Now if I thaw that
banthhee I'd jutht thtep on her with my heel, tho!" She dug her little
heel into the ground to show how she would crush the banshee.

Harriet might have been observed to gaze off into the forest almost
apprehensively herself now and then. There was a quizzical smile on her
face, but it was hidden by the white mask she wore.

Suddenly she cried out: "Oh, girls! girls!" Then pointed directly over
their heads into the forest. "The banshee! The banshee! Look! Oh, look!"

Tommy sat shivering, not daring to turn her head. A few girls mustered up
sufficient courage to look behind them. Then a series of wild screams rent
the air. There was a mad rush for the protection of the tents, in which
even the guardians--or nearly all of them--joined. What they had seen had
sent a thrill of terror through every girl that had gazed upon the
terrifying sight.

Tommy Thompson rose and stood trembling. "Thave me!" moaned Tommy. "I'm
tho thcared!"

[Illustration: "It's the Banshee!"]

CHAPTER XVI

THE LAYING OF A SPOOK

"It's the banshee! It's the banshee!" screamed a score of voices.

What they had seen had been enough to startle the bravest person. A figure
had suddenly appeared out of the gloom, a huge towering figure that looked
to the startled girls to be almost as high as the trees themselves,
though it was not more than eight feet tall. The figure was clad in long,
flowing white robes that hung gracefully to its feet. Two arms almost as
long as the figure was high, were waving frantically in the air. The face
was small and as white as the garb of the strange weird creature. It did,
indeed, look as though it might be the fabled banshee from the moors of
County Mooreland.

"Woo-oo-oo," wailed the apparition.

"Come back, girls!" cried Mrs. Livingston. "Come back, I tell you!" The
Chief Guardian had herself been startled at first. Standing their ground
were half a dozen other gi