"You are the new girls, are you not?" asked the guardian, turning abruptly to Harriet and Grace.

"Yes, we are the Meadow-Brook Girls," answered Harriet.

"What appears to be the trouble?"

"Something startled my friend. What was it, Grace, dear?"

"Thome--thomething growled perfectly awful. It wath right by the head of my bed. It thounded like a wild animal," explained Grace wide-eyed. "Yeth, and I could hear it'th teeth thnap. It wath going to bite me."

"Nonsense, child. You were dreaming. Did you have a late supper?"

"We ate supper, after midnight," explained Harriet.

"That accounts for it. Get back into bed, at once, girls. I am Miss Partridge, your guardian."

"I am Harriet Burrell. This is Grace Thompson," introduced Harriet, as she slipped back into her cot.

"Now that I understand I shall not be alarmed again," said the guardian.

"I trust you will be quiet, Miss Thompson. Remember you are disturbing others when you permit yourself to raise your voice."

"Yeth'm," answered Tommy. The guardian tucked her into bed, then left the tent.

"Don't you dare to jump on me again," warned Cora in a low voice.

"She didn't mean to," answered Harriet. "I am sure Grace is sorry that she disturbed you."

"Yeth. Beg your pardon," said Grace. "But what wath it that growled at me?"

"I tell you, you're haunted," answered Cora. Tommy snuggled down trembling. She had begun to believe that she was haunted. After this interruption the girls slept soundly until late in the night, when all those in that part of the camp were again aroused by a series of piercing screams and cries for help. The cries sounded from the tent occupied by Harriet and Tommy. Not only Miss Partridge, but the Chief Guardian came running to the scene.

The interior of the tent was in an uproar, but as the guardians neared the scene they were alarmed to discover that the cries came from without rather than from within the tent.

Then a further startling discovery was made. A little white clad figure crouched on the ground a few feet outside the entrance to the tent She was screaming with terror. Beside her was Harriet Burrell, shaking the screaming Tommy.

"Stop it! Stop it!" commanded Harriet.

"Yes, please do. You will have the camp in an uproar," commanded Mrs.

Livingston. "Come inside at once. Miss Burrell, will you kindly assist your friend in? Miss Partridge tells me this young woman raised a disturbance once before this evening. I fear the late supper was too much for her. Now, my dear," added the Chief Guardian kindly. "Tell me all about it."

Tommy sat terror-stricken on the edge of her cot. Patricia Scott and Cora Kidder likewise were sitting on the edges of their cots. They did not appear to be frightened. They looked bored and disgusted.

"It wath the motht terrible thing," breathed Grace.

"You must have been dreaming. But tell me, what you think you saw," urged Mrs. Livingston.

"I didn't think I thaw it. I did thee it," declared Tommy firmly.

"You were dreaming, Tommy. You know you were," said Harriet, but Tommy shook her head with emphasis.

"It wath a big pink elephant. I thaw him. He walked right in at that door.

Then--then--then--he thtepped up on the cot and walked on me with hith feet. He wath jutht going to thtep on my face when I cried out."

"Nightmare," smiled Miss Partridge.

"It wath not," protested Grace. "Wait! When I cried out the pink elephant put hith trunk right around my neck. Look! You'll thee the mark of the trunk on my neck now."

"Nonsense! There is no mark there, dear," soothed Harriet.

"I gueth I know! It ith my neck. Then the pink elephant lifted me right up. He wath growling jutht like a bear all the time. Then he carried me right out doorth and dropped me on the ground. I heard thome thrange thingth too. I heard feet and wingth in the air. I thaw thome awful thingth, and----"

"My dear, you have a wonderful imagination," declared Mrs. Livingston, laughing. "And what is more and worse still, you have eaten too heavily. I shall see to it that you do not indulge in any late repasts after this."

"Then pleathe tell me, how did I get out doorth?" demanded Tommy triumphantly. This was something of a poser. Harriet said Grace did not appear to be fully awake when she reached her little companion.

"What do you know about this?" questioned the guardian, turning to Patricia Scott.

"Nothing, whatever," replied Patricia.

"Neither do I," answered Cora Kidder. "I was awakened by a great uproar for the second time to-night. The noise at first sounded right here in the tent, then when I had sat up on my cot I discovered that it was outside. I hurried out thinking I might be needed. I found that young woman shaking the little one. That is all I know about it, Miss Partridge."

"I am sorry that you have been so disturbed," said Mrs. Livingston kindly.

"I do not think Miss Thompson will have any further attacks of nightmare to-night. If she does, of course we shall have to remove her to some other tent where she will not disturb any one except possibly a guardian. Now get back to bed, girls."

The two guardians waited until quiet had once more been restored in the tent, then retired leaving the girls again in darkness. Tommy was still trembling, but the keen edge of her fright had worn away.

Harriet lay wide awake for some time. She heard faint whispers being exchanged between Patricia and Cora. Harriet recalled a swift look that passed between the two girls when Tommy was telling her exciting story.

"Those girls have had something to do with this," declared Harriet to herself. "But surely, they were not to blame for Tommy's having had the nightmare. Tommy had only herself to blame for that. Still, how did she get outside? That is what I should like to know. I think Miss Patricia Scott and Miss Cora Kidder could explain something of that if they were to tell the truth."

Having reached this conclusion, Harriet Burrell went to sleep and slept until morning without further interruption. She was awakened by the morning bell. Patricia and Cora had already dressed and gone out. Tommy was asleep, deaf to the jangling morning bell.

"Tommy, Tommy! Get up," called Harriet. Tommy muttered. Harriet went over and shook her until she was wide awake. "You have only fifteen minutes to dress, dear."

"I don't want to dreth. I want to thleep," objected Tommy. Harriet pulled her out of bed, causing Tommy to sit down heavily on the floor. Muttering and scolding, Grace dragged herself about wearily and began making her morning toilet. But she protested with every move she made. Just before the fifteen minute time allowance had expired, the two girls stepped out into a glorious forest morning. Great trees towered above them, the forest birds were raising their voices in a melodious chorus, fresh, pungent odors from spruce and hemlock trees filled the air and somewhere near at hand, a stream splashed and rippled musically.

"Glorious!" breathed Harriet. "Oh, isn't it wonderful, Grace, dear?"

Grace Thompson's eyes lighted up appreciatively, then they danced merrily.

All at once, Grace raised her voice shrilly in the yell of the Meadow-Brook Girls:

"Rah, rah, rah, Rah, rah, rah!

Meadow-Brook, Meadow-Brook, Thithboom ah!"

"Tommy, Tommy, you shouldn't have done that," rebuked Harriet.

Fully a dozen girls sprang from their tents attracted by the new cry; then they began laughing when they saw Harriet in her torn skirt and had gotten a good look at Tommy Thompson's impish face.

"Young ladies, do you know what day this is?" reminded one girl who seemed older than any of the others outside.