“Oh, I have it!” cried Rose.  “I’m going to wish!”

And just then, all of a sudden, a loud, hollow groan sounded throughout the house.

CHAPTER XVII

RUSS MAKES SNOWSHOES

“There it goes!  There it goes again!” cried Rose, and, forgetting all about having gotten the larger end of the bone, so that she had the right to make a wish, she dropped it and ran toward the sitting-room.

The rest of the six little Bunkers and the father and mother, with Grandma and Grandpa Ford and their guests, were gathered in the sitting-room after the Thanksgiving dinner.

There was no doubt that they all heard the noise.  It was so loud, and it sounded through the whole house in such a way that every one heard it.  Only Mun Bun and Margy and Violet and Laddie did not pay much heed to it.  They were playing a game in one corner of the room.

“Did you hear it?” asked Russ, as Rose ran over and crouched down beside her mother.

“I heard a noise, yes,” answered Mrs. Bunker quietly.

“We all heard it—­and there it goes again!” exclaimed Grandpa Ford.

“O-u-g-h-m!” came the awful sound.

“It’s the wind,” said Grandma Ford.

“The wind isn’t blowing,” said Daddy Bunker.  “It must be something else.  There is no wind.”

There was a little, but not enough to blow the snow about.  It had been blustery—­so cold and blowy, in fact, that the six little Bunkers could not go out to play.  But now the sun had gone down, and, as often happens, the wind died down with it.  The night was going to be still and cold.

“No, I don’t believe it was the wind,” said Grandpa Ford.  “It’s the same noise we heard before.  We must try to find out what it is, Charles,” and he turned to Daddy Bunker.

“It’s the ghost!  That’s what it is!” exclaimed Russ.  “We tried to find it, Rose and I did—­but we couldn’t.  It’s the ghost!”

“Nonsense!  What do you know about ghosts?” said Mother Bunker, and she tried to laugh, but it did not sound very jolly.  “There aren’t any such things as ghosts,” she went on.

“Well, I got the big end of the wish-bone,” said Rose, “and I was just going to wish that I’d find the ghost when, all of a sudden, I heard it!”

“Now see here, you two!” exclaimed Daddy Bunker, speaking to Russ and Rose, while Laddie and Vi, with Mun Bun and Margy, were still at their game.  “You mustn’t be talking about such things as ghosts.  There isn’t any such thing, and you may scare the younger children.”

“How did you hear about a ghost at Great Hedge?” asked Grandpa Ford curiously.

Russ and Rose looked at each other.  The time had come to tell of their listening under the window, and they felt a little ashamed of it.  But they had been taught to tell the truth, no matter how much it hurt, and they must do it now.