CHAPTER XVI--WHERE IS LAURA?

Launcelot Darby was rather impatient with Jess Morse. He would have shaken her had not Chet interfered.

"Hold on! hold on!" said Laura's brother, yet quite as anxious as his chum. "You tell us your own way, Jess. But _do_ hurry. We're dreadfully anxious."

"I--I mean to tell you," sobbed Jess. "Something dreadful has happened--and I ran away and left her."

"Ran away and left who--Laura?" gasped Lance.

"Yes."

"Where?"

"Up in Robinson's Woods."

"At the picnic place?"

"No."

"Back in the woods, then?" demanded Chet.

"Up on the side of the mountain. You--you know that--that old house----"

"The haunted house!" exclaimed Lance.

"The old Robinson house?" cried Chet.

"Yes."

"What under the sun were you doing there?"

"I--I can't tell you. It--it was something about the initiation----"

"Those blessed Mary O'Rourkes!" cried Lance, smiting his hands together.

"The M. O. R.'s," said Chet. "You girls were all up there?"

"Ye--es."

"In the dark?"

"We had a campfire."

"And what happened?"

"Well, Laura and two other girls and I had to go into the house."

"That old wreck!" ejaculated Lance again.

"Ye--es."

"Weren't you afraid?" demanded Chet.

"That--that's the trouble. We were frightened."

"Somebody played a trick on you," declared Chet.

"No, they didn't!" gasped Jess. "It was a real ghost."

At that both boys chuckled, and Chet said:

"Aw, say, now, Jess. How could there be a _real_ ghost?"

"Never mind. That's not the point," Lance interposed, eagerly. "We want to know what's become of Laura."

"So we do," admitted Chet.

"Was she scared, too?" asked Lance.

"Of course she was. _You'd_ have been----"

"Wouldn't either!" snapped Lance. "No ghost would ever scare me. Some of the other girls played a trick on you."

"Of course, that's it," said Chet. "But that don't explain why Laura----"

"That's it!" interrupted Lance. "Tell us where she is."

"She must be there," declared Jess, in an awestruck voice.

"Where?"

"In the house."

"In Robinson's old house?" gasped Chet.

"That's where we left her. I thought she got out ahead of us. But she didn't."

"And none of you were brave enough to go back and look for her?" demanded Lance, with scorn.

"We thought she was ahead. All the girls ran----"

"What made you run?" asked Chet, trying to soothe her.

"The light."

"You saw a ghost light, eh?" demanded Chet. "I bet you'd been hearing that old story they tell about the Robinsons."

Jess nodded.

"And the ghost lantern appeared?"

"Yes. It _did_. It was really there, Chetwood."

"All right. I didn't think Laura would fall for a thing like that," scoffed the absent girl's brother.

"Say!" demanded Lance, who admired Laura greatly and would not let even her brother laugh at her. "All those other girls ran, didn't they? Jess ran. Why should Laura be any braver than the rest of the bunch?"

"Well! she ought to be," grunted her brother. Then he turned again to Jess, who was fast recovering her composure now. "And you didn't see Laura leave the house after your scare?"

"No."

"How many of you girls were in the house?"

"Only four of us."

"And three got away?"

"Yes."

"Supposedly, then, the ghost got Laura?"

"She didn't come out, Chet. You needn't laugh. Something bad has happened to her."

"Of course, if you are sure she didn't come out of the house----?"

"Just as sure as I stand here!" declared the girl, emphatically. "I didn't think so until just now. It seemed as though she must have run ahead and taken one of the regular cars to town. But now I know that wouldn't have been Laura's way, whether she was scared or not."

"I should say not," said Lance, in disgust. "You girls are all alike--all but Laura! She wouldn't have left you in such a mess."

"Now, stop that!" commanded Chet. "Such talk won't lead to anything but angry feelings. Jess thought Laura was ahead. Now we'll go back and find her."

"Oh, Chet! if you only would," begged Jess, too miserable to even be offended at Lance.

"We'll get out the car. Father won't mind. And I got my license to run it only last month."

"Bully!" ejaculated Lance.

"I'm going, too," said Jess, wiping her eyes vigorously.

"Had you better?" returned Chet, doubtfully. "You're all strung up yourself over this, you know."

"I won't cry any more, Chet--don't you fear," declared the girl. "Let me go."

"Just as you say, only I thought you wouldn't go back to that house again."

"I'll go with you boys."

"Ghosts and all?"

"If it's a ghost it's gone by now."

"All right," said Chet. "But it's half after nine already. What will your mother say?"

"She's at the Academic Club, and won't be home for ever so long," declared Jess. "Let me go with you to the garage."

She followed the two boys to the rear of the Belding premises. Chet unlocked and slid back the garage doors. The touring car which his father owned was ready at a moment's notice to be taken out. They kept no chauffeur, for both Mr. Belding and Chet could manage the machine, and had she been old enough to take out a license Laura could herself have spun the car over the roads about Centerport.

"Hop in, Jess," said Chet, kindly. "That is, if you are sure you won't be frightened. I'm going to drive her some."

"I'm never scared when you are driving, Chet," returned the girl.

"I guess I'll get you to the inn at the picnic grounds in safety, at least," and the boy laughed. "You can wait there for us."

"No!" cried Jess.

"No?"

"I'm not going to be left there to watch the car while you boys hunt for Laura."

"But we may have to get a party of neighbors there and beat up the woods."

"But I believe now she was left behind in the old house," declared Jess.

"Not likely," said Lance. "She ran out some other door. Got turned around in those woods. That's what happened."

"You may be right," Jess admitted. "But I have a feeling that it isn't so. Something happened to Laura right there in the haunted house."

"You feel that way because you were so frightened there yourself," said Chet.

"I don't know why I feel so; but it is a fact," said Jess, confidently.

"Come on!" cried Lance, who was already in the front seat.

Chet helped Jess into the tonneau and closed the door. Then he hopped in beside Lance, tried his various levers, and started the car. It slid quietly out of the garage and they left the door open. The big car began to purr almost at once, and running smoothly, soon left the hill section and raced out along Market Street, now quiet save for the electric cars and other automobiles at this hour of the evening.

It was not long after ten when the car turned into the quiet road, with its few electric lights, leading to Robinson's Woods. There were a few other cars at the inn, and some people on the porch. Chet went at once to the manager and told him of the absence of his sister.

"I saw those girls all going to the car; but they never said anything about one of their number being lost," said the gentleman.

"They didn't know it then. They don't all know it now, in fact. But when Laura didn't come home her chum was sure that she was left behind. And she thinks she is in the old house up yonder," explained Chet.

"In the haunted house?"

"Yes."

"Nice place for girls to go!" exclaimed the man. "What did they want to go into that old ruin for?"

"Well, that isn't just the point," said Chet. "I'd like to get all the men you can raise to help us beat up the woods. She _may_ have wandered into the wood at the back of the house----"

"But she'd know she was going the wrong way then, wouldn't she?" returned the manager of the hotel. "For it's uphill, you know."

"I suppose that's so," said Chet. "But something has happened to her and we're worried."

"Don't blame you. I'll go with you myself. And there are some other men here who will accompany us," said the manager, and he bustled away.

In five minutes the party was ready, with lanterns and clubs--though why the clubs, Chet could not imagine. Ghosts were not to be laid with such carnal weapons!

Jess insisted upon going along. "I left her alone, and I am ashamed," she told Chet. "I want to hunt for Laura, too."

She and Chet walked straight up the path to the plateau, Chet carrying one of the car lanterns. The others, including Lance, beat up through the wood, halloaing to each other, and shouting Laura's name. The lost girl's brother and her chum came first to the haunted house, however.

"If you're afraid to go in you stay here," advised Chet, when they came to the place.

"I'm not afraid to go anywhere with you, Chet," declared the girl, warmly.

That made Chet feel even more bold than before. He started right up the steps, with Jess clinging slily to his coat-tail.

They entered the house. The lamp light was flashed into the east room. It was empty!

Not quite empty, after all. On the floor was a three-cornered bit of cloth--a piece of Laura's skirt--nailed to the boards.