"Steady all, or we'll upset!"

"Oh!" screamed Ruth. "Never! Do be quiet, Alice!"

"I'm not moving; it's you!"

"Quiet, girls," called Mrs. Maguire, softly. She had really been sleeping
soundly, and the sudden awakening rather confused her. "What's it all
about?" she asked.

"Oh, didn't you hear it?" gasped Ruth. "Such a horrible cry!"

"Maybe it was some one calling to us--some of the searching party from
the _Magnolia_," suggested Paul.

"Let's give an answer, then," came from Russ.

"_Magnolia_ ahoy!" cried Paul, and the young moving picture operator
joined in with his powerful voice.

There was no answer for a moment, and all about in the black woods was
silence. Off on shore glowed the faint sparks of the smudge-fire.

"They didn't hear you," said Alice, softly.

And then, vibrating on the night, and echoing through the trees, came
that dreadful cry again; weird, long-drawn-out, a howl--a fiendish laugh,
ending in a choking giggle and then a shrill whine.

"Oh--oh!" gasped Ruth, and she and Alice clung together, leaning on Mrs.