she fastened her auto lamp on the bracket.

"Yes, and I was surprised to find your friends. But how did you get
here?"

Mollie told how she had come to her senses, and had lighted the lamp she
had with her. Then, when she was about to escape through the barred
window she had heard the sound of a carriage approaching.

"That was mine," said Mr. Blackford.

"If I had known it I would not have been so frightened," remarked
Mollie. "As it was, I put out my lamp, and then, when no one came for
me, I decided to jump out. It was not far to the ground. Then I ran, and
at first did not know what to do. Then I decided to try and find my
auto. I must have blundered into the road, but I got here at last. I was
going to hide in the car, and I wanted to leave some sort of a light on
it so no one would run into it in the dark."

"But didn't you hear us talking and calling?" asked Amy.

"No," answered Mollie. "You see the room is some distance from the front
of the house. And I was too frightened to know what I was doing.
Besides, I fainted, at first, you know. And I thought you girls would
run when--when you saw that white thing that grabbed me. I was
disappointed when you were not at the auto here."

"What was--what was it that grabbed you?" faltered Amy, in awed tones.

"You needn't be so mysterious about it," laughed Mollie. She could laugh
now--the strain was over. "It was a man who grabbed me, I'm certain of
that. And a man I have seen before!"

"Seen before!" cried Betty. "What do you mean? Who was he?"

"I don't know. But what I do know is that he had a queer scar on the
hand that grabbed me. And somewhere--I can't recall now, I'm in such a
flutter--I've seen that man and his scar before."

"Try to think," urged Mr. Blackford. "We must get at the bottom of this
outrage, and if you can give us a clue it will help a lot."

"I can't think now," protested Mollie, weakly. "Maybe it will come to me
later. Oh, what a night! If only our auto would work we could get
to--some place."

"Suppose you let me have a look," suggested Mr. Blackford. "I know
something of the mechanism of a car."

"Oh, if you can only get this one to--mote!" sighed Mollie.

Mr. Blackford proved that he did know considerable about a car, for he
soon discovered that the trouble was a simple disarrangement of the
ignition system.

"There!" he exclaimed, when, by the light of a held-up lantern, he had
made the necessary adjustment. "We will see if