“Yes,” was the reply.  “I am amazed that Mrs. Livingston allows her to be 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 girls, among them was Hazel Holland.  Patricia Scott and Cora Kidder had long since retired to a safe distance from the apparition.

The words of the Guardian somehow seemed to reassure the trembling Tommy.  Then, too, she saw that Harriet did not run.  Harriet had thrown herself upon the ground and was sitting with her head in hands, her shoulders shaking.  What Tommy did not know was that Harriet was not shaking with fear, but with laughter.