“Don't, Jim!” Mary cried, shivering. “You'll frighten her to death.”
“I hope so.”
“Go up and speak to her—and knock on the door.”
He waited again in silence, scrambled out of the car, and fumbled his way through the shadows to the dark outlines of the cabin. He found the porch on which the front door opened.
His light foot touched the log with sure step, and he walked softly to the cabin wall. The door was not yet visible in the pitch darkness. His auto lights were turned the other way and threw their concentrated rays far down into the deep woods.
He listened intently for a moment and caught the cat-like tread of the old woman inside.
“I say—hello, in there!” he called.
Again the sound of her quick, furtive step told him that she was on the alert and determined to defend her castle against all comers. What if she should slip an old rifle through a crack and blow his head off?
She might do it, too!
He must make her open the door.