“No, don’t,” begged Luke. “I’ll be all right in the morning.”
“It seems silly, I suppose, but I’m almost afraid to go to bed,” said Nalbro, with a little shiver.
“Nonsense!” exclaimed Ruth. “All danger is over now, even danger from the storm. And we have the boys here.”
“We’ll stay up on guard,” offered Hal.
“There will be no need,” decided Ruth.
“But with the telephone out of order—” began Nalbro.
“Perhaps it’s all right now,” suggested Neale. “I’ll try it.”
Somewhat to the surprise of all of them, Central answered promptly, asking Neale “what number?”
“I just wanted to see if the machine would go,” he explained, talking rather as if it were an automobile instead of a telephone. “It was out of order a little while ago,” he added.
“Yes, a number were, on account of the storm,” the operator explained.