CHAPTER III
FERNS AND MYSTERY
“Th-there’s nothing to put against the door,” stammered Billie nervously. “I might put out the light though.” She started for the candle, but Laura put out a hand and stopped her.
“No,” she said. “I’d rather see what’s after us, anyway. I hate the dark.”
The noise that Vi had heard was a slow measured step that sounded to the girls’ overwrought nerves more like the stealthy creeping of an animal than the tread of a man. But whoever or whatever it was, it was coming steadily toward the hut—that much was certain.
The girls drew close together for protection and watched the little door wide-eyed.
“It sounds like a bear,” whispered Vi hysterically.
“Silly,” Laura hissed back at her. “Don’t you know that bears don’t grow in this part of the country?”
“But if it was a man,” Vi argued, “he wouldn’t be walking so slowly—not in this kind of weather.”