"If the ghost of the old hermit was in the hut, it might hear you."
"Yes, and what would he say about your hunting for things that may have belonged to him?" said another, with a teasing laugh.
"Oh, I'm not afraid," was the careless answer.
"You're not?" jeered a laughing voice.
"I think we've poked around out here long enough without finding anything," said Jack Tiverton, "let's hunt inside the house."
"Wait a minute," called a boy who had not yet spoken, "just till I've looked into this hollow tree trunk."
"And then what?" asked a merry voice.
"Then hunt in the house, of course!" was the curt reply.
Floretta thought she saw a chance for fun.
Softly, yet quickly, she crept up the rickety little stairway, built close against the wall, and leading to the tiny loft.