Bob made no reply, hoping that she would decide that her ears had deceived her and resume her seat. But evidently that was farthest from her intentions.
“Who’s there?” she asked again.
Then after waiting a moment for an answer she turned and ran toward the cabin.
Bob knew that there was no time to be lost and he was half way to the ground before she reached the porch. Just as he dropped from the lower limb he heard her calling for her father. Then he ran as fast as he could through the thick woods and did not stop until he had covered all of a hundred yards.
“Reckon I’m safe now,” he thought as he sat down on a fallen trunk and listened.
“You might as well come down now as later.”
The words came to him very faintly, but he had no trouble in recognizing Mr. Sleeper’s voice.
Forgetting his aversion to eavesdropping he cautiously crept a little nearer until he could hear them talking.
“There’s no one up there,” he heard Mr. Sleeper say.
“Well, there was,” Helen replied.