“Oh, you are here safe and sound; what has happened? I am so glad,” said both in a breath. Each child flung her arms round him and kissed him.
“You will pull my head off if you are not careful,” he said, laughing.
“Oh, you did give us a terrible fright,” exclaimed Aline.
“Yes, we came and found the room empty,” said Audry, “and we hunted all down the passage to the cave room; and I wanted to go through, but Aline said, ‘No, there is evidently something wrong and it might not be safe, we had better come round outside.’”
“I am glad you were cautious,” Ian interposed.
“But first we went down the other passage and found nothing, and then we set out. Aline said we must be very careful in coming near the cave, so we crept round very slowly; and suddenly, what do you think we saw?”
“Well, what did you see?”
“We saw ‘Moll o’ the graves,’” said Aline, “and we stooped down at once and then ran away. She did not see us, as the back of her head was turned our way.”
“I’m thankful for that,” said Ian, and then recounted his experiences. He omitted the bone incident, but concluded by saying,—“We must be careful about that birch twig. She evidently set it as a trap.”