“And scare away the——­” began Amy.

“Indeed, I wasn’t thinking a thing about it!” insisted Mollie, with emphasis.  “And I’ll thank you to——­ "

She began in that impetuous style, that usually presaged a burst of temper, and Betty looked distressed.  But Mollie corrected her fault almost before she had committed it.

“Excuse me, Amy,” she said, contritely.  “I know what you mean.  Will you come, Grace?”

“Of course.  I’ll be glad of some extra coverings myself.”

The two girls were back in remarkably short time.

“You didn’t stay long,” commented Betty, drily. “it’s only a step to the dock,” answered Mollie, as she and Grace deposited their arm-loads of blankets on the cots.

Then after the talk and laughter had died away, quiet gradually settled down in the camp tent.  The Outdoor Girls were trying to go to sleep, but one and all, afterward, even Aunt Kate, complained that it was difficult.  Whether it was the change from the boat, or the talk of the ghost, none could say.  At any rate there were uneasy turnings from side to side, and as each cot squeaked in a different key, and as one or the other was constantly “singing,” the result may be imagined.

“Oh, dear!” exclaimed Grace, impatiently, after a half-hour of comparative quiet, “I know I’ll never get to sleep.  Do you girls mind if I sit up and read a little?  That always makes me drowsy, and I’ve got a book that needs finishing.”  Only Aunt Kate was slumbering.

“Got any chocolates that need eating?” asked Mollie, with a laugh, in which they all joined, half-hysterically.

“Yes, I have!” with emphasis.  “But, just for that you won’t get any.”

“I don’t want them!  You couldn’t hire me to eat candy at night,” and again Mollie flared up.

“Girls, girls!” besought Betty.  “This will never do!  We will all be rags in the morning.”

“Polishing rags then, I hope,” murmured Amy.  “My hands are black from the oil stove—­ it smoked, and I’ll need a cake of sand-soap to get clean again.”

“Well, I can’t stand this—­ I’m too fidgety!” declared Grace.  “I’m going to sit up a little while, and read.  I’m going to eat a chocolate, too.  I’ll give you some, Mollie, if you like.  I bought a fresh box of Mr. Lagg.

  “Chocolates they are nice and sweet,
   Good for man and beast to eat.”

“Give me a young lady-like brand,” suggested Amy.

“Why don’t we all of us sit up a while, and—­ I have it—­ we’ll make a pot of chocolate,” exclaimed Mollie.  “That will make us all sleep, and warm us—­ it is getting real chilly already.”

“Perhaps that will be best,” agreed Betty, as she donned her heavy dressing gown and warm slippers, for the tent was cool even in July.

Soon there was the aroma of chocolate in the little cooking shelter, and the girls sat around, in various picturesque and comfortable attitudes, sipping the warm beverage and nibbling the crisp crackers.