“I’d just as lief freeze as to break my leg walking over that humpy ground again,” retorted Margy, bitterly.
“Well, I’d rather stay here, too,” announced Jess. “You don’t know positively that that light is in a house. And if it is in a house, it may be miles and miles away. I’d rather stay here till morning.”
They were all so tired and cold that a quarrel might easily have developed, had not Polly proposed a plan.
“I tell you what let’s do,” she said good-temperedly. “Let Jess and Margy stay here and Ward and Artie take care of them; then I’ll go with you, Fred, and we’ll see if that light is in a house. Perhaps we’ll find the house that goes with this barn first, and that will be nearer.”
Ward and Artie wanted to go with Polly and Fred, but were finally persuaded to remain with the two girls.
“Don’t stay all night,” begged Artie, as Polly whispered to him to be good and not let Margy get frightened.
“Say, Polly, you’re all right,” Fred told her, striking off in the direction of the twinkling light. “I know you’re dead tired and cold, too, but you don’t grunt. Uh!” and Fred gave a grunt himself.
“What’s the matter?” cried Polly, anxiously. “What is it, Fred?”
“I walked into something,” said Fred. “Nearly knocked my teeth out. Don’t know what it is, but it feels like a tower of some sort.”
“I know,” cried Polly, feeling the “tower.” “It’s one of the brick foundations of a porch, Fred. Feel the loose bricks under the snow? This is probably where the house that goes with that old barn stood, and it either burned down or fell down.”