Oh, but what a relief it was to step out on its hard, crusty firmness after the yielding depth of the snow in the field!
Then Nick Budd turned and addressed them for the first time since they had left the cave behind them.
“This here is the road thet leads to Three Towers,” he told them, evidently in a sullen mood again. “Jest foller straight and ye’ll git thar.” And before either Teddy or Billie had a chance to thank him he turned back without another word and started to retrace his steps through the heavy snow, leaving the two standing in the middle of the road staring after him.
Then Billie turned wonderingly to the boy.
“Teddy, isn’t he the queerest thing?” she breathed.
Teddy nodded.
“He sure is,” he said, soberly, adding slowly: “I’m just wondering what made him so afraid that we were going to put him in prison. He was scared almost to death until we told him why we had come.”
“But he’s a simpleton,” Billie pointed out. “Poor thing, I don’t suppose you could count on anything he says or does. People who aren’t ‘all there’ have moods, don’t they?”
“Is that why you act so funny sometimes?” asked Teddy with a grin, and Billie pouted most becomingly.
“I think you’re horrid,” she said, while Teddy’s grin became still wider. “Come on, let’s get back. I’m freezing to death. Don’t stand there grinning like an ape,” she commanded, with an impatient stamp of her foot. “You look silly.”