“And they always were,” answered Jack. “If they come and annoy you again tell them that you know all about them and that you will have them placed under arrest and that the folks at Valley Brook Farm will appear against them. I’ll warrant that will make them clear out in a hurry.”
A little later the boys continued in the direction of the place where they intended to spend the night. A part of the road was rough and they had covered less than a mile when Fred called a halt.
“I’ve got something in my shoe and I want to find out what it is,” he announced.
The spot was close to a road that ran through the woods and over a small hill. Looking around, Randy spied several squirrels running up and down a tree trunk and went in that direction to take several snapshots of them.
“I don’t like to discourage you fellows,” announced Spouter presently. “But if I am any sort of weather prophet, we’re going to have a storm, and that very soon.”
“The sky certainly does begin to look queer,” answered Jack after a long look around. “But the storm may pass off to the westward of us.”
“I hope we don’t get it—at least, not if it’s a thunderstorm,” came from Spouter. “You all know how dangerous those are.”
“You bet we do!” cried Andy. “All of us have been caught out in them more than once.”
Having cleared his shoes of the stone which in some way had gotten into it, Fred announced that he was ready to go on and all took up their loads again and marched to the top of the hill, a distance of less than a quarter of a mile. By this time a brisk breeze had sprung up, rustling the bushes and the boughs of the trees, and now the gathering clouds spread over the face of the sun, making the outlook much darker.
“That storm is coming, all right enough,” declared Randy.