"Oh!" screamed Ruth, startling the others into wakefulness. "What was that?" The cry was repeated--a cry that brought a chill to the heart. CHAPTER XXII ASHORE The boat rocked and trembled under the impulse of the moving bodies--swayed so and tilted, that Russ sharply called: "Steady all, or we'll upset!" "Oh!" screamed Ruth. "Never! Do be quiet, Alice!" "I'm not moving; it's you!" "Quiet, girls," called Mrs. Maguire, softly. She had really been sleeping soundly, and the sudden awakening rather confused her. "What's it all about?" she asked. "Oh, didn't you hear it?" gasped Ruth. "Such a horrible cry!" "Maybe it was some one calling to us--some of the searching party from the _Magnolia_," suggested Paul. "Let's give an answer, then," came from Russ. "_Magnolia_ ahoy!" cried Paul, and the young moving picture operator joined in with his powerful voice. There was no answer for a moment, and all about in the black woods was silence. Off on shore glowed the faint sparks of the smudge-fire. "They didn't hear you," said Alice, softly. And then, vibrating on the night, and echoing through the trees, came that dreadful cry again; weird, long-drawn-out, a howl--a fiendish laugh, ending in a choking giggle and then a shrill whine. "Oh--oh!" gasped Ruth, and she and Alice clung together, leaning on Mrs. Maguire. "It's like the wail of a lost soul," whispered Alice. "Sure, and it must be an Irish banshee!" murmured Mrs. Maguire. "I've heard my mother tell of 'em!" "It's a wild beast, that's all," said Paul, though his voice was not steady as usual. For the cry, coming out of the darkness, perhaps from a spot where some animal crouched, ready to spring down on them, was not reassuring. "That's it--some animal," added Russ. "Hand me that gun, Paul, I'll try--" "Oh, you're not going after it--in the dark, are you?" interrupted Ruth. "Not much, little girl!" he exclaimed with a laugh, which showed that his nerves were steadying. "I'm only going to try a shot to frighten it. I don't want to be kept awake all night." "As if one could close an eye with that horrid creature loose in the woods," remarked Alice. Again came the weird cry, seemingly nearer than before. "We ought to have a fire," whispered Paul. "Wild animals are afraid of fire." "It's too damp to build one," remarked Russ. "The lantern will have to answer." The beast kept up its howling longer than usual this time. Then Russ, who had a good ear for sound, and a fine sense of location, raised the gun and fired into the darkness. A jagged streak of flame lit up the blackness for a second, and following close after the echoes of the shot there sounded a howl that was unmistakably one of pain. "You winged him, Russ!" cried Paul. The howling continued. The girls screamed. Mrs. Maguire tried to calm them.