“I—I think I should have screamed too if a mouse had—how do you know it was a mouse, Tommy?”
“It ran right over my fathe. I gueth I know what it wath. I gueth I will thleep thanding up. May I, Miss Elting?”
“If you prefer to do so. I am going back to bed. I must insist on the others doing the same, or at least keeping quiet. We shall be in no shape to go on with our journey in the morning at this rate.”
Tommy decided that she, too, would lie down and soon their regular breathing told the guardian that most, if not all, of the Meadow-Brook Girls were sound asleep. Harriet, however, now that she had been awakened, found it difficult to go to sleep again. She lay staring up into the darkness for some time.
A sound down on the barn floor put her instantly on the alert. At first she thought some farm animal had wandered into the barn; then the distinct sound of human footsteps, reached her ears.
Harriet Burrell listened intently, as yet unafraid. She crawled cautiously to the edge of the mow and peered over. A human form was faintly outlined down there. The figure was groping along the edge of the mow and muttering. The listener was unable to make out the words. At last the intruder uttered a sharp little exclamation of satisfaction, then began to climb the ladder on the opposite side of the barn floor.
“It’s a woman!” gasped Harriet. “Who can it be, and what does she want here?” With straining ears and closed eyes the Meadow-Brook girl listened. She heard the woman reach the top of the ladder and step off into the hay. A few moments later Harriet heard her mumbling at the far side of the mow, over near the opposite end of the hay barn. “How strange!” muttered the girl.
A low, distant rumble of thunder attracted her attention in another direction. A moment later a faint flash of lightning dispelled the gloom a little.
“The storm is coming. I hope the girls won’t wake up.” The darkness now seemed to be more intense than before. Harriet was unable to distinguish one object from another. She crawled back toward her bed and was about to wrap herself in her blanket again when a second time she heard footsteps on the barn floor. This time she scrambled back to the edge more hastily than before. At first she thought the woman had climbed down and was going away from the mow. The girl leaned far over. She could see no one this time, but she plainly heard some one climbing up the opposite ladder again. Harriet wondered if it were tramps; then she recalled that the first visitor, being a woman, would be unlikely to be a tramp.
“It must be some one seeking shelter from the coming storm,” Harriet finally decided, now wondering if it would not be advisable to wake up Miss Elting. Upon second thought the girl decided not to do so. Instead, she leaned farther out over the edge of the mow and peered down anxiously.