AN EERIE TWIN-TOWERED CASTLE of white stone on an ice-bound island on a frozen winter lake, a nearby English manor house haunted by a flute playing ghost who roams the halls at night accompanied by a wolf, and a mysterious kidnapped girl from the p...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The Dana Girls and their chum ice skate right into danger on Indian Lake!
"I feel as if I can skate right into the sunset. Don't you?" asked impetuous fair-haired Jean Dana as she did a spin on the ice, the skirt of her stylish skating suit twirling out about her.
Her older sister Louise, whose dark hair and sedate expression gave indication of a more serious personality, was skating right behind her. "It's several miles to the hills across the lake," she said, a slight smile quirking her lips. "To catch that sunset you'll surely have to put some speed on!"
"Six miles, to be exact," agreed the Dana girls' friend Evelyn Starr, who was ice skating with them on frozen Indian Lake. "The sun will have set and gone by the time we shall get there."
The three girls were on a winter outing in early January, enjoying an afternoon away from their studies at Starhurst School for Girls, located near Penfield. The beautiful lake, situated in the hills just north of the school, was a popular resort area in the summer months, but it seemed isolated and remote now in the chill of winter. They had changed into their skates and left their boots on the verandah of Forest Lodge, where there had been evidence of a few guests in residence, but no one else was in sight now as they executed their spins and turns on the smoothly frozen bay.
"I don't think we shall actually go clear to the far shore," Jean laughed gaily, stopping her spin with the toe of a skate. "But what say we skate out to that island?"
She pointed to a wooded island perhaps a half mile ahead where the bay opened up into the lake. Already it was beginning to look like a black silhouette against the red and purple sky.
Evelyn look startled. "That's Spirit Island! Goodness, no one dares to go there."
Louise sent her a curious glance. "Why ever not? What could possibly keep people away from such a lovely island?"
"It's said to be haunted," Evelyn said plainly. "You have never heard the legends?"
Jean shook her head. "No, we haven't. Remember that Louise and I have only been in the region since we've been attending Starhurst. We did not grow up here as you have."
Evelyn nodded. It was true that she had lived near Penfield all her life. Starhurst School for Girls had been her family home. Through a series of misfortunes her parents had been forced to sell the old mansion and its sprawling grounds. Professor and Mrs. Crandall, the school's headmistress, had purchased the property and turned it into the exclusive academy. Evelyn had been able to stay on at Starhurst as a student thanks to the Dana girls' effort in finding a cache of missing family jewels, which had restored good fortune to the girl and her brother after their parents' deaths.
"Haunted?" Louise said with a laugh, grabbing her companions' hands and pulling them along with her. "Come, let's skate a little closer and you can tell us all about it."
