“Over a hundred,” said Laura, thinking she should say something.
“And quite a few teachers, too?”
“Oh, yes.”
Then the man asked quite a lot of other questions and the girls answered him as best they could. The man continued to look at them so queerly that Billie was convinced that there was something wrong with him. But what was it? Oh, if only the storm would let up, so they could start back to the school!
But even when the rain stopped, how could they get back? They were lost, and at night the way would be even harder to find than in the daytime.
No, they were completely in this man’s power. If he put them on the right path to Three Towers all well and good. If not——But she refused to think of that.
“I’m sure it isn’t raining hard any more,” Laura broke in on her thoughts. “Don’t you think we could go now?”
“Even if it hasn’t stopped raining we don’t mind,” added Vi eagerly. “We’re wet now, and we won’t mind being a little bit wetter.”
For an answer the man opened the door and crawled out into the open. In a moment he was back with what seemed to the girls the best news they had ever heard.
“The rain is over,” he said, “but the foliage is still dripping. If you really don’t mind getting wet——”