answered," said Duncan, "for here we are at the
getting-off place. I never remember the name of it, so I always book
through to Morristown, and look out for that red barn over there."

The engine slackened its pace while the four friends hurriedly gathered
their things together and walked toward the car door. When the train
stopped they passed out and alighted on the deserted platform of a small
country station. The village consisted of three or four houses and a
barn, and the station was merely a covered shed and platform, without
the usual complement of station-master, baggageman, etc. It was of so
little importance that trains did not stop there except by signal or
request, and the Osgoods made use of it merely because it was nearer
their place than was Morristown. On this occasion, however, there was no
one there to meet the travelers, and it seemed to them that they had
been forgotten. The train had pulled out immediately, and they were left
to their own resources in a small, New Jersey hamlet, four miles from
their destination. There was no one in sight except the Simpson girls,
who had alighted at the other end of the platform, and the four men felt
it their duty to wander toward them and proffer such civilities as the
occasion demanded.

"We had no idea you were on the train," said Duncan, as they reached the
place where the girls were standing. "I suppose you are bound for the
Osgoods?"

"Yes," replied the elder Miss Simpson, "but we seem to be stranded here.
What shall we do?"

"Wait until we are rescued," said Van Vort. "I don't believe Osgood is
cruel enough to leave us here long."

"No, by Jove! for there are his leaders," interposed Waterman, as a team
of chestnuts and a smart char-a-bancs, driven by Harry Osgood himself,
with his wife on the box seat, swept rapidly around the corner of
Duncan's red barn. There were two girls sitting behind the Osgoods, whom
they recognized as Miss Warner and Miss Reine Merrit,--two of their
set,--and the men had just time to take off their hats before the trap
was driven up beside the platform.

"Been waiting long?" called Osgood, as he pulled up his team. "My near
leader picked up a stone, and I have the stage timed so close that any
delay makes me late."

"It will teach you to take more time, Harry," said his wife, as, without
accepting the proffered aid of a servant, she jumped to the ground. "How
do you do, everybody," she continued, when she lighted on the p