Ghost Beyond the Gate Part 1

Ghost Beyond the Gate.

by Mildred A. Wirt.

CHAPTER 1.

LOST ON A HILLTOP

The little iceboat, with two laughing, shouting girls clinging to it, sped over the frozen surface of Big Bear River.

"Penny, we're going too fast!" screamed Louise Sidell, ducking to protect her face from the biting wind.

"Only about forty an hour!" shrieked her companion gleefully.

At the tiller of the _Icicle_, Penelope Parker, in fur-lined parka, sheepskin coat and goggles, looked for all the world like a jolly Eskimo.

Always delighting in a new sport, she had built the iceboat herself--spars from a wood lot, the sail from an old tent.

"Slow down, Penny!" pleaded her chum.

"Can't," shouted Penny cheerfully. "Oh, we're going into a hike!"

As one runner raised off the ice, the boat tilted far over on its side.

Louise shrieked with terror, and held tight to prevent being thrown out.

Penny, hard pressed, sought to avert disaster by a snappy starting of the main sheet.

For a s.p.a.ce the boat rushed on, runners roaring. Then as a sudden puff of wind struck the sail, the steering runner leaped off the ice. Instantly the _Icicle_ went into a spin from which Penny could not straighten it.

"We're going over!" screamed Louise, scrambling to free her feet.

The next moment the boat capsized. Both girls went sliding on their backs across the ice. Penny landed in a snowdrift at the river bank, her parka awry, goggles hanging on one ear.

"Are you hurt, Lou?" she called, jumping to her feet.

Louise sprawled on the ice some distance away. Slowly she pulled herself to a sitting position and rubbed the back of her head.

"Maybe this is your idea of fun!" she complained. "As for me, give me bronco busting! It would be a mild sport in comparison."

Penny chuckled, dusting snow from her clothing. "Why, this is fun, Lou.

We have to expect these little upsets while we're learning."

The sail of the overturned iceboat was billowing like a parachute.

Slipping and sliding, Penny ran to pull it in.

"Take the old thing down!" urged Louise, hobbling after her. "I've had enough ice-boating for this afternoon!"

"Oh, just one more turn down the river and back," coaxed Penny.

"No! We're close to the club house now. If we sail off again, there's no telling where we'll land. Anyway, it's late and it's starting to snow."

Penny reluctantly acknowledged that Louise spoke pearls of wisdom. Large, damp snowflakes were drifting down, dotting her red mittens. The wind steadily was stiffening, and cold penetrated her sheepskin coat.

"It will be dark within an hour," added Louise. Uneasily she scanned the leaden sky. "We've been out here all afternoon."

"Guess it is time to go home," admitted Penny. "Oh, well, it won't take us long to get the _Icicle_ loaded onto the car trailer. Lucky we upset so close to the club house."

Setting to work with a will, the girls took down the flapping sail. After much tugging and pus.h.i.+ng, they righted the boat and pulled it toward the Riverview Yacht Club. Closed for the winter, the building looked cold and forlorn. Penny, however, had left her car in the snowy parking lot, which was convenient to the river.

"Wish we could get warm somewhere," Louise said, s.h.i.+vering. "It must be ten below zero."

Pulling the _Icicle_ behind them, the girls climbed the slippery river bank. Snow now swirled in clouds, half-curtaining the club house.

"I'll get the car and drive it down here," Penny offered, starting toward the parking lot. "No use dragging the boat any farther."

Abandoning the _Icicle_, Louise went with her chum. A dozen steps took the girls to a wind-swept corner of the deserted building. Rounding it, they both stopped short, staring.

On the snow-banked parking lot where the car had been left, there now stood only one vehicle, an unpainted, two-wheel trailer.

"Great fishes!" exclaimed Penny. "Where's the coupe?"

"Maybe you forgot to set the brake and it rolled into a ditch!"

"In that case, the trailer would have gone with it." Her face grim, Penny ran on toward the parking lot.

Reaching the trailer, the girls saw by tire tracks in the snow that the car had been detached and driven away.

"I knew it! I knew it!" Penny wailed, pounding her mittens together. "The coupe's been stolen!"

"What's that across the road?" Louise demanded. "It looks like an automobile to me. In the ditch, too!"

Taking new hope, Penny went to investigate the little ravine. Through a screen of bare tree branches and bushes, she glimpsed a blur of metal.

"It's the car!" she cried jubilantly. "But how did it get across the road?"

Penny's elation quickly died. Drawing nearer, she was dismayed to see that the coupe appeared to be lying on its stomach in the ditch. Four wheels and a spare had been removed.

"Stripped of every tire!" she exclaimed. "The thief ran the car out here on the road so we couldn't see him at work from the river!"

"What are we going to do?" Louise asked weakly. "We're miles from Riverview. No houses close by. We're half frozen and night is coming on."

Penny, her face very long, had no answer. She measured the gasoline tank with a stick. All of the fuel had been siphoned. She lifted the hood, expecting to find vital parts of the engine missing. However, everything appeared to be in place.

Seeking protection from the penetrating wind, the girls climbed into the car to discuss their situation.

"Can't we just wait here until someone comes along and gives us a lift to town?" suggested Louise.

"Yes, but we're on a side road and few cars travel this way during winter."

"Then why not go somewhere and telephone?"