“What was it, Virg, and why didn’t you shoot it?” she inquired.
“It was only a small lion,” the western girl replied, “and it was more afraid of us than we were of it.” Margaret doubted this statement, but said nothing.
Then Virginia added. “My brother Malcolm does wish me to shoot them whenever I see them because they prey upon our young calves, but I didn’t this time because I do not wish anyone who might be near to know of our presence.”
This was not very reassuring to the eastern girl, for it suggested that Virginia believed that someone might be lurking near whose closer acquaintance they would not wish to make. This was truer than either of the girls dreamed.
CHAPTER XXII—NIGHT IN THE MOUNTAINS.
The sun was nearing the western horizon when at last the two girls swung from their ponies and entered the log cabin which did indeed look deserted and desolate standing alone so high on a mountain surrounded only by stunted pines.
Margaret glanced around fearfully thinking that the wild creature they had met might have selected this cabin as a safe retreat, but the place was empty.
“Good,” Virginia exclaimed brightly. “Malcolm has left us plenty to eat. Here is cold fried rabbit enough for our supper and I certainly am hungry. There are good beds for us, too. The pine boughs are fresh under the blankets. You will be surprised to find what comfortable beds Malcolm can make with boughs. He knows just how to place them one on another to make a mattress both soft and springy. Megsy, suppose you get out the sandwiches that we brought and spread them on this rustic table while I feed the ponies, and too, I’ll bring some water from a spring just above here.”
Margaret was on the verge of saying that she hoped the spring wasn’t far away, as she dreaded being left alone even for a moment, but instead she said: “Very well, Virg, I’m hungry too, and we’ll have a fine feast when you return.”
Margaret had begged Virginia to permit her to come to the mountains and so the eastern girl determined to appear brave if she succumbed in the attempt. She wondered what Babs and the other girls in boarding school would think if they could see her at that moment, and the thought so amused her that she almost laughed aloud, when suddenly, something crashed behind her and with a cry of terror she whirled about, sure that she would behold the mountain lion crouched to spring upon her, but instead she saw a small box lying on the floor beneath the open window. Believing that it had been blown from the ledge by a breeze that was rising, Margaret, with a sigh of relief, went to pick it up when she saw, fastened to it, a piece of yellow wrapping paper on which a message was scrawled in a language unknown to her. Again she was frightened. What if the rumored outlaw had reached in and had left that message as some sort of a warning for the girls.