"No danger," and Cora glanced up from the tool box. "I fancy that gentleman is not of the type that runs into facts."
"Do you think he is a burglar?" asked Belle.
"Well, I wouldn't say just that. But he certainly is not straightforward. And that is a bad sign," replied Cora.
"And not a person in the house to help us," sighed Belle. "Oh, I don't see why mamma——"
"Now, Belle Robinson!" interrupted her sister. "You know perfectly well that mamma had to take Nellie and Rose over to Drifton. They have to get ready for school."
"Mamma fusses a lot over those two girls," continued Belle. "It seems to me a lucky thing they happened to run away—our way."
This remark was lost upon Bess and Cora. Bess was intent upon something—nothing definite—about the Flyaway, while Cora was working assiduously trying to adjust a leaky valve.
The prospect of dark coming on with no one but themselves about the cottage, and the late appearance of the strange man, kept each one busy thinking. Presently Belle exclaimed:
"Oh, here come the boys!" and without waiting for the young men to turn the corner, which marked the end of the Clover Cottage grounds, she ran along with the news.
Jack Kimball, Cora's brother, Walter Pennington, his chum, and Ed
Foster, the friend of both, sauntered along.