But no squirrel appeared at all, though we saw three blackbirds, and plenty of robins. When I got back to the summer-house Miss Carew and Mr. Dennett were both gone, although they had left the book behind. I searched and called, but could not find them any more than I had found the squirrel.
As I departed down Elm Street again on my velocipede, I thought the matter over at some length. Mr. Dennett had not left the premises, unless he had done so without his bicycle, for that remained where I had first seen it.
There was something singular about their behavior. Had they, perchance, picked all the ripe blackberries before I arrived, and had they been trying, with so much artifice, to conceal that fact from me?
That was the most reasonable explanation I could devise,—and, certainly, the circumstances demanded some kind of explanation.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE SIEGE OF AUNTIE MERRILL
It was Peter Bailey who organized the siege. We had long ago made up the quarrel that arose on the day of the Indian raid. He still maintained that Ed's and my conduct had been contrary to all rules of warfare, but we noticed that we were not expected, since that day, to impersonate the under dog in every combat.
Peter's reputation for generalship was a little tarnished, and for that reason he got up this grand military movement against the property and person of Auntie Merrill.