Under the heavy trees it was almost like night, and it was not an easy task to distinguish one bush from another, especially as Roland kept hurrying everybody, in his anxiety to be on time at the dinner party.

Joe and Roger secured some fine branches of the spruces that Dorothy had wished for, Ned got quite a supply of pine branches, which he declared, “could go up just as they were,” while the other boys devoted themselves to the laurel hunt.  Finally a large hedge of this all-winter green shrub was discovered, and in a short time the Fire Bird was loaded up with a splendid supply of Christmas evergreens.

“I guess that will do,” announced Nat, as the little boys piled in their armfuls.  “We have to sit some place, you know.”

“What’s that?” asked Ned as something rustled along the path.

“A lady!” almost whispered Roland, as if fearful that they might be blamed for their pillaging.

At that instant a small woman hurried down the other branch of the path, and called lightly to some one on the roadway.

She evidently did not see the Fire Bird party, for she was on an opposite path, with a deep hedge between them and her.

“The ghost!” whispered Roger, all eager for some new excitement.

[Illustration:  “She called lightly to some one on the roadway.”—­Page 108.]

“Sure as you live!” answered Nat.  “That’s not human—­it’s too flimsy and—­flighty.”

It did seem that the person flitted about in a strange sort of way, first calling, then whistling.

But there was some one waiting.

“There’s a carriage,” said Joe, crawling under a bush to get a better view of the other path.

The boys held their breath.  What if this might be the owner of the park, who would object to their taking the evergreens?

It was well the automobile had been left in a secluded spot.  Perhaps the woman would go off without discovering them.

A light carriage entered the driveway.  The woman stopped to give some directions.  The driver seemed to hesitate.  She was urging him to go toward the castle, and he evidently wanted to go out on the main road.

“That driver’s old Abe,” declared Roger, “the fellow from the station.”

“It sure is,” answered Ned; “but don’t speak so loud.”

“And he wants to go to the station, which I wish he would do promptly,” observed Roland, in some suspense.

“But she wants him to drive up to the house.  See, she points that way,” said Nat.

The woman climbed into the carriage, and the driver turned toward the castle.  The boys prepared to make their escape.

“They’ll go out the back way,” ventured Nat.  “Now’s our time!”

At that instant a shrill scream rent the air.  It was the same, only much louder, that had startled the party before.