A flash of lightning, more brilliant than the first, lighted up the barn from end to end. By the light of the flash Harriet Burrell saw that which set her nerves to tingling and caused her to utter a suppressed gasp.
Below her on the barn floor stood a man. He was swarthy; his coal black hair hung down in long, glistening locks. His eyes, large and very black were gazing right up into the girl’s face. She shrank back trembling.
“Oh!” gasped the Meadow-Brook girl. “Oh! He saw me. Oh, what shall I do!”
The man began climbing the ladder on her side of the barn. Harriet could hear him plainly. She began crawling back into the mow on her hands and knees. Her first inclination, on reaching her blanket, was to burrow under the hay so as to be out of sight. But it occurred to her that her companions would still be in plain sight were another flash of lightning to illumine the mow. Harriet promptly decided to lie still and await developments. She knew that Miss Elting carried a revolver, and that the guardian was proficient in its use. This thought gave Harriet comfort. Besides, what was there to fear?
To add to the excitement a second man entered the barn at this juncture. But instead of climbing up after the other man he took the opposite ladder up which the woman had gone a few moments before. The man on the girls’ side was rapidly nearing the top. Harriet lay trembling, hoping there would be no more lightning. Suddenly a brilliant flash lighted up the barn from end to end. It revealed the man clinging to the ladder, his head on a level with the top of the mow, glancing over it keenly, searchingly. Harriet’s left hand stole toward Miss Elting who lay within easy reach. It was Harriet’s intention to awaken her as quietly as possible as soon as the light died away. But ere her hand descended on Miss Elting’s arm, something occurred that made this move on Harriet Burrell’s part, unnecessary.
CHAPTER II—THE RED EYE IN THE DARK
There was an ominous snapping sound; then the rung of the ladder gave way and the man fell backward to the floor.
“Oh! He has fallen!” gasped Harriet, in dismay, as she scrambled hastily toward the edge of the mow. “He must be seriously injured.”
“What ith that noithe?” demanded Grace.
“Sh-h-h!” warned Harriet softly.