As the girls groped about the room they came to a heavy iron chest, and sat down, realizing that all they could do was to wait until Mr. Freeman should discover them.
“Don’t be afraid, Anne,” said Rose, putting her arm about her little companion, and felt surprised when Anne answered in a hopeful voice:
“Rose, look! Right up on that wall there’s a window. I can see little edges of light.”
“So there is, but it’s too high to do us any good; we can’t reach it,” answered Rose.
“Well, I’m glad it’s there,” said Anne.
Now and then they heard the far-off roar of the thunder, but at last it seemed to die away, and little edges of light showed clearly around the shuttered window on the further wall. The girls watched it, and, their eyes becoming used to the shadowy room, they could now distinguish the pile of cannon-balls in the opposite corner, and behind them a small cannon and a keg. They could see, too, the outlines of the doorway.
“How long do you think we shall have to stay here?” whispered Anne, as the dreary fearful moments dragged by.
“I don’t know, dear,” answered the elder girl, “but we mustn’t be afraid.”
The hours went by and the little edge of light around the high shuttered window began to fade a little, and the girls knew that the long summer day was fading to twilight, and that it had been about noon when they came to the house. A great fear now took possession of Rose’s thoughts, the fear for her father’s safety. She was sure that unless some harm had befallen him he would have found them before this time.