“Oh, dear! they can eat us here just as well as anywhere,” groaned Grace.
“Now be quiet!” said Wynifred, in some heat. “We’ve all been foolish enough. Those were not bears.”
“Cows, maybe, Wynnie?” asked Mrs. Havel. “But I am quite as afraid of cows—”
“Nor cows, either. I guess you wouldn’t have been fooled for a minute if you had seen them,” said Wyn.
“What do you mean, Wyn?” cried Frank. “I tell you I saw them with my own eyes—”
“Of course you did. So did I,” admitted Wyn. “But we did not see them right. They are not bears, walking on their hind legs; they are just boys walking on the only legs they’ve got!”
“The Busters!” ejaculated Frank.
“Oh, Wyn! do you think so?” asked Mina, hopefully.
“Look ahead,” commanded Wyn. “There are the boys’ canoes. They paddled over here this morning and dressed up in those old moth-eaten buffalo robes they had over there, on the island, and managed to frighten us nicely.”
“That’s it! They played a joke on us,” began Frank, laughing.