Harriet did not speak. She was listening to what the others of her party had not noticed, a sudden sound of voices in the other mow, and the hasty clambering down the ladder of the two men she had seen go to the opposite mow. At least she believed it to be the two men. Evidently they had become alarmed, either by the lightning, the scream of the woman, or by the cries of the Meadow-Brook Girls. They ran out of the barn, making no attempt to go quietly. Once on the outside she heard one of them shout.
“I heard thome one!” exclaimed Tommy.
“So did I,” agreed Hazel.
“I thought I, too, heard some one cry out,” said Miss Elting. “Perhaps it was a night bird fleeing from the storm.”
“It was no night bird, Miss Elting,” said Harriet in a low tone. “Did you hear that scream? Some one is in trouble. There is a woman on the other side of the mow. What shall we do?”
“A woman?”
“Yes, yes. She climbed up to the mow a long time ago. Oh, look, look!”
A tiny red eye had suddenly appeared at the far end of the hay barn. It appeared to have risen out of the hay at the extreme end of the opposite mow. The girls gazed at it in silence. They did not understand the meaning of the strange dull red spot. Even Harriet was for the moment, puzzled. Then all at once she understood.
“Quick! Get down to the floor! Don’t waste a minute! Miss Elting please look after the girls. There’s a rung on the ladder broken. Watch that no one falls. I’m going.”
“Harriet! Harriet! What do you mean?”