“We came along here about dark,” said Larry Reed, who was the oldest of the group, “and smelled smoke. Course, we investigated. The inn was gone. But the ashes were still smoldering, and there was smoke coming out from the bushes. So we ran over to Gays’ and to our house and got buckets and carried water from the river. It’s about out now.”
“You’re sure that’s the truth?” demanded Mr. Reed.
“On my honor, Dad!” replied the boy solemnly.
“Did you see anybody in the woods or around Shady Nook?” inquired Mrs. Flick.
“Yeah. A big guy who looked like a tramp from the woods—it was too dark to see his face—and a funny-looking woman in a gray dress with a big pitcher under her arm.”
“Together?” asked Mary Louise.
“No. The big guy was in the woods. And the woman was running along the road that leads to Four Corners.”
“Nothing but a made-up yarn!” denounced Mr. Flick.
But the fire was really out; there was nothing anybody could do. Frazier suggested that the Flicks and their guests come over to his hotel, and the latter accepted. But the Flicks, realizing that this was not a real invitation, that the hotelkeeper would present them with a bill later on, chose to stay with the Partridges. So at last the group dispersed for the night.
Mary Louise, however, was so exasperated with David McCall that she never even answered his pleasant “Good-night!”