Cindy had spent hours on her knees, planting corn, melons, onions, everything that could be eaten and would grow. Alec and his father had planted a sizable potato patch. For the first time, Pete, Alec, and Mr. Simpson had quit work before darkness forced them to stop. Alec had wandered away somewhere, but Pete and Mr. Simpson were waiting for their supper. [Illustration] "We can go into Plains City and record tomorrow," Mr. Simpson said happily. "The next day we can bring the other wagon and our folks up! I'll certainly be glad to see them!" "I will, too," Pete said. "Can Alec and I go with you?" Cindy asked. "Wouldn't have it any other way," her father said. He jumped suddenly. "What the blazes is that?" The hideous, wailing noise, when it arose, made the hair on the back of Cindy's neck prickle. It was a mournful sound, as though a condemned spirit had escaped and was wandering about to cry its torment. Pete's and Mr. Simpson's hands went to their guns. A moment later, dangling something on a string, Alec appeared in the oak grove. When he swung the thing around his head, the noise sounded again. "Alec!" his father gasped. "What the dickens!" "Did I scare you?" Alec grinned. "What in tarnation is that thing?" his father demanded. "A bull-roarer," said Alec. "Gramps showed me how to make it." He showed them an oak stick whose ends were whittled to thin blades that slanted in different directions. When he whirled it around his head, the thin blades made the unearthly noise. "Shall I show you how it works?" Alec asked. "Put your toy away," Cindy said loftily. "_We're_ going to Plains City tomorrow." CHAPTER TWELVE _Plains City_ Pete and Jed were asleep in the wagon. Completely enchanted by the night, Alec and Cindy sat outside. A big round moon hung so low in the sky that it seemed to roll like a wagon wheel right across the tops of the hillocks. There couldn't possibly be such a moon anywhere except in Oklahoma. It shed so much light that Cindy thought she could count every hair on the picketed horses and mules. She could see the grass plainly, and had she had a book, she would have been able to read it. But, though it was almost as light as day, it was wholly different. The moon's was a ghost light, and it was easy to imagine that witches and elves were abroad in it. Cindy shivered and hugged her knees. "Do you know what I'd do if we weren't going to Plains City tomorrow?" she asked Alec. "What would you do?" "I'd go on a ghost hunt!" Cindy exclaimed. "It would be fun," Alec agreed, "but we are going, and we'd better get some sleep." "I couldn't possibly sleep!" But she slept the instant she drew the blanket around her, and when she woke the sun was shining and Pete was cooking breakfast. Plains City was only two miles away, it would take just a short time to record the claims, and there was no need to get up before daylight. Cindy jumped out of the wagon, and Alec grinned at her. "Thought you couldn't sleep?"