get the wish I'll wish we could find the
ghost."

"So'll I," said Rose.

After dinner the children played games in the house, as it blew up cold
and blustery and was not nice to go out in the snow. Rose had put the
wish-bone over the kitchen stove to dry, and, late in the afternoon, she
and Russ went out to get it to break, and wish over it. The one who held
the larger part could make a wish.

"Snap!" went the wish-bone.

"Oh, I have it!" cried Rose. "I'm going to wish!"

And just then, all of a sudden, a loud, hollow groan sounded throughout
the house.

CHAPTER XVII

RUSS MAKES SNOWSHOES

"There it goes! There it goes again!" cried Rose, and, forgetting all
about having gotten the larger end of the bone, so that she had the
right to make a wish, she dropped it and ran toward the sitting-room.

The rest of the six little Bunkers and the father and mother, with
Grandma and Grandpa Ford and their guests, were gathered in the
sitting-room after the Thanksgiving dinner.

There was no doubt that they all heard the noise. It was so loud, and it
sounded through the whole house in such a way that every one heard it.
Only Mun Bun and Margy and Violet and Laddie did not pay much heed to
it. They were playing a game in one corner of the room.

"Did you hear it?" asked Russ, as Rose ran over and crouched down
beside her mother.

"I heard a noise, yes," answered Mrs. Bunker quietly.

"We all heard it--and there it goes again!" exclaimed Grandpa Ford.

"O-u-g-h-m!" came the awful sound.

"It's the wind," said Grandma Ford.

"The wind isn't blowing," said Daddy Bunker. "It must be something else.
There is no wind."

There was a little, but not enough to blow the snow about. It had been
blustery--so cold and blowy, in fact, that the six little Bunkers could
not go out to play. But now the sun had gone down, and, as often
happens, the wind died down with it. The night was going to be still and
cold.

"No, I don't believe it was the wind," said Grandpa Ford. "It's the same
noise we heard before. We must try to find out what it is, Charles," and
he turned to Daddy Bunker.

"It's the ghost! That's what it is!" exclaimed Russ. "We tried to find
it, Rose and I did--but we couldn't. It's the ghost!"

"Nonsense! What do you know about ghosts?" said Mother Bunker, and she
tried to laugh, but it did not sound very jolly. "There aren't any such
things as ghosts," she went on.

"Well, I got the big end of the