“Guess you’re mistaken, Fred,” said Roy in a low tone. “You must have been dreaming.”
“I wasn’t dreaming,” asserted Sage positively; “I never was more wide awake in all my life. Keep still a little longer.”
For a long time they remained silent, gradually growing tired and cramped by the rigid tensity of their bodies.
“They’ve gone,” decided Sage at last.
“They?” questioned Roy. “Was there more than one?”
“Two, at least. I heard them talking.”
“Oh, say, Fred, you must be mistaken. Who would come prowling around in these black woods at this hour?”
“I haven’t an idea who it was, but I’ll stake my life on it that it was somebody. Nothing in the world could convince me that I was mistaken.”
“Oh, well, if you’re so positive——But it seems ridiculous, impossible, preposterous. It’s pitch dark, and no one would be wandering through these woods under such circumstances.”
Fred threw off his blanket and got up. “I don’t blame you for thinking so, and I would say the same if I had not heard them. What makes it all the more unaccountable is the fact that they were sneaking. They were using the utmost caution in their movements, Hooker, and when a person sneaks he’s up to something.”