Jane Allen, Junior Part 18

"I have my flash. Listen!"

"Oh," groaned Judith, clutching Jane's arm, for a rattling of something like chains was now distinctly audible.

"Hus.h.!.+" breathed Jane, laying her fingers lightly on the door k.n.o.b of the boxed in stairway. The next moment there was a crash and both girls darted up the stairs.

"It was over that way!" insisted Judith, but in the darkness, with nothing but Jane's flash to guide them, it was impossible to tread safely through the attic, which was stored with all sorts of discarded materials.

"Wait a minute," whispered Jane, her heart pounding and nerves almost jumping.

They stood breathless, but not a move answered the silence.

"Come down; do, Jane," begged Judith, s.h.i.+vering in actual fear.

"Wait a few minutes," insisted Jane. "Whatever it is they know we are here!"

"Jane!" breathed the other, "I am honestly ready--to faint."

"Nonsense, just a few minutes." Jane could feel her companion tremble as she clung to her arm.

But not a sound nor a move rewarded their brave defiance.

"If only this place had a light," Jane whispered. "I suppose there is a bulb somewhere." She remembered that the fireman found none, however, and tonight even the patch of moonlight was not there. It really would have been foolhardy to attempt to go further into the low-beamed room, at the risk of running into attack, and evidently the noise had not been heavy enough to arouse anyone else in the Hall, for no sound of moving about came from the lower floors.

"Do come down," begged Judith again, taking two steps herself on the stairs.

"No, I shan't," insisted Jane. "I can wait as long as they can."

As if that gave a cue for action a rope--surely it was a rope-- creaked and groaned and the rumbling heard first sounded again-- somewhere, it seemed from the very roof.

"There!" said Jane. "They're gone and they went by that rope. Come on down. We can't do anything in this darkness," and, now satisfied that the "ghost" had been scared off, she followed Judith's precipitous escape down, and into the lower hallway.

"What was it? Did you catch him? We heard it? Where is it?"

To the astonishment of the two juniors the halls were dotted with heads thrust out of half closed doors, and the alarmed freshmen opened this volley of questions before Jane and Judith had recovered their breath.

"No, we did not get it," replied Judith, "but we scared it off, and I have my opinion of a ghost afraid of two unarmed juniors." Judy was very brave now, and rather proud of it.

"Young ladies! Young ladies!" Miss Gifford was expostulating. "You promised to stay in your rooms tonight."

"Oh, they are very good girls, Miss Gifford," Jane attested, "and I can a.s.sure them that friend spook is a rank coward and has gone by way of a pulled rope. Any pulleys loose around this place?"

"No, we have looked for such things," declared the matron. "But please, girls, go back to bed, and if anything else happens I promise to call you." This was a rash promise for Miss Gifford to make, but she felt the urgency of getting those questioning heads back on their respective pillows and so was willing to make concessions.

"Come in my room," she said aside to Jane and Judith, and they both followed her to the open door.

"That certainly is a noise made by someone who gets up to that attic," insisted Jane without waiting for inquiries, "and I am sure the sounds are made by metal chains."

"That's the weird part of it," interposed Judith.

"Why are chains more formidable than ropes?" asked Jane. "And in an old place like this is it would not be hard to pick up a chain or two, and you know, Judy, one old chain could make a fearful noise."

"Yes--but--how does anyone get up there?" demanded Judith.

"That's the mystery," admitted the matron, who had insisted on the girls remaining while the students quieted down and were safe once more until daylight. "We have looked all over the place, of course, and have not been able to find any hidden way of making ascent to that attic."

"Airs.h.i.+p," suggested Judith foolishly.

"See how quickly the noise ceased," remarked Jane. "Someone recognized us, Judy, and has flown before our vengeance."

"Be that as it may," added Miss Gifford with a smile of a.s.surance, "I am convinced this thing is being done out of jealousy or even revenge. You see, I am a new matron here, and when I came I put into execution such rules as I have been trained to follow. That made changes in our staff and a few dismissals. Such action is sure to stir up the wrath of someone, but even with that as a basis, and with all the detective skill I have been able to operate, I must confess I am baffled. This very minute our janitor would be found in his quarters over the stables, for I have phoned him there. And for the past week I have gone over the ground with him personally, he and his wife when they lock up. She is one of the day workers here,"

explained Miss Gifford.

Jane felt urged to tell of the shadowy figure she and Dozia had seen creeping about the evergreens, but quickly decided the indefinite detail would add little actual explanation. Instead she said:

"We could do nothing in the dark, but just wait until daylight. I have to sleep, of course, we are getting ready for our midyear exams, but just wait until two-thirty tomorrow afternoon after logic. Then expect me over here with perhaps a shotgun if I can find such a weapon on the premises!"

"But what would you shoot in daylight?" asked Judith, half jokingly,

"Even suspicion," replied Jane, "but my chief concern would be to find the way friend spook gets up into that attic and where he comes from. Good night, Miss Gifford, we will follow the fres.h.i.+es now, and I'm so sleepy it would take more noise than that first bombardment made to arouse me."

"Good night, my dears, and thank you so much for your wonderful support," said Miss Gifford.

"Support!" repeated Judith, back again in the guest room. "I suppose she considers the ghost her opponent?"

"I don't," said Jane cryptically. "I consider it the opponent of all Wellington."

"And I suppose, Janie, you are blaming me for holding you back in the attic?" sleepily from Judith.

"No, I'm not, Judy. You have no idea what a coward I am at heart; but somehow you girls have taken a notion I should do things and I can't bear to disappoint you. I must admit this is fascinating. I like it better even than golf, and will also give up my canter on Firefly this afternoon to see it through."

"Oh Jane, don't do that!" objected Judith. "We were all going out to Big Rock and have the horses engaged."

"I'm sorry, Judy, but I've gotten into this thing and I have just got to get out of it or I'll begin to believe in real spooks. I simply can't let it drag me down another twenty-four hours." She brushed her wavy red gold hair viciously. "You may take Firefly. He knows your saddle and will behave, I'm sure. That will give someone else your horse."

"Maud Leslie is crazy to ride but has no habit here," commented Judith significantly.

"Help her to mine," responded Jane promptly. "She isn't far from my size."

"But I wouldn't want to go galloping for nuts while you stay here alone hunting for spooks," Judith said loyally. "Better let two girls take our places if you insist on staying out."

"Oh, no, dear. I'm only going to look around for some sort of trap entrance to Lenox. Besides, you know Dozia doesn't ride, and she'll be here."

"All right, love, I'll leave you with Dozia if you insist. She's big enough to take care of you at any rate. Do you imagine Miss Gifford has materialized some domestic enemy in her change of staff? And that this super-conscious fired janitor or furnace man is operating against her?"

"I don't know, Judy," sighed Jane. "Looks to me more loosely organized than that. Besides, even a fired furnace man would keep union hours at one fifty per. No, I think you'll find the eternal female back of that racket, it's too temperamental for masculine action."