"Oh! What's that?" murmured Rose.
"It—it's maybe an owl," returned Russ, trying to think of the most harmless creature that made a noise at night.
"I never heard an owl howl like that," whispered his sister.
"Aw, Rose! owls don't howl. It's wolves that howl—or coyotes such as we saw at Cowboy Jack's. Don't you remember the coyote caught in the trap that you thought was a dog?"
Rose's mind would not be drawn from the thing in question. She said, quite as fearfully:
"Maybe this is a wolf, Russ."
"Of course not," declared the boy trying to speak bravely. "There aren't any wolves in this part of the country. I asked Frane, Junior."
But there was evidently a savage creature here that Russ Bunker had known nothing about, for now it cried out again! Its long, quavering note echoed through the woods and made the boy and girl stand again and shiver.
"I—I guess it isn't any animal after all," said Rose suddenly, and speaking with some relief. "That's a woman. Of course it is. But she must be lost, or something bad has happened to her. Oh, Russ!" she added, suddenly seizing her brother once more. "I know what it must be. And they are almost always ladies, so Phillis says."
"What's that?" demanded Russ, puzzled.