er
of their own--in the sand!

CHAPTER V

AN EXPLORING PARTY

"Well!" was Leslie's first remark, "that proves _one_ thing beyond a
doubt."

"What?" demanded Phyllis.

"That it wasn't a _ghost_ around here. I never yet heard of a ghost who
made a footprint!"

The deduction somewhat staggered Phyllis in her pet belief. "I suppose
that's true," she had to admit. "I never did, either. But now the
question is, who did it and what did he want?"

But Leslie had been carefully examining the footprint. "You say, what did
'he' want. Have you noticed that this footprint doesn't look very much
like a _man's_?"

Phyllis stooped over it. "You're right! It's a woman's or a girl's.
Here's the deep imprint of the little French heel, and the narrow,
pointed toe. Must have a mighty small foot!" She measured her own beside
it. "Still, even mine would look much smaller in pumps or slippers
instead of these comfortable sneakers. Might be either a small woman or a
girl like ourselves."

"But why is there only _one_, I wonder?" mused Leslie.

"I think the answer to that is simple. She walked on this narrow
board-walk up from the back road, probably because it was easier, or,
even perhaps, so as not to make any footprints. And just at the doorstep
she may have stumbled, or stepped off by mistake in the darkness. Perhaps
she didn't even realize it."

Again Leslie had bent over the footprint. "She was coming in when she
made it. Do you notice that it points toward the door?"

Phyllis stared at her. "What a perfectly dandy detective you'd make!" she
exclaimed. "You simply take in everything!"

"You're just as good and even better!" laughed Leslie, secretly pleased,
however.

"Hurrah for us!" cried Phyllis. "We're just a pair of natural _Sherlock
Holmeses_! Now, here's what I propose. There's something mighty queer
going on here, I believe. And I'm willing to give up my ghost theory,
because it _does_ seem silly. But I want to investigate the thing pretty
thoroughly, and the only way to do it is to get into that bungalow and
see what has been going on inside."

"But Phyllis!" cried the shocked Leslie. "You wouldn't break into some
one else's bungalow, would you? And besides, how _could_ you?"

"Pooh!" declared Phyllis, in scorn. "As if I didn't know this bungalow as
well as our own, and the Danforths almost as well as my own family, too,
for that matter. I've b