one outside--they're walking around the cabin. I'm sure they're
trying to get in. Oh, please call Mr. Franklin, or the boys! I'm so
frightened!"

"Nonsense!" exclaimed Mollie. "Wait until I take a look. No use sounding
a false alarm."

Grace and Betty wakened at the sound of the others' voices, and asked
what was going on.

"I'll look out and see what it," volunteered Betty, her room being
nearest the window. She slipped from bed and a moment later called:

"Sillies! It's nothing but Mr. Franklin's dog keeping guard around the
house. He's walking like a sentinel. Go to sleep, all of you."

"Oh, I'm so relieved!" murmured Amy, but it was some time before she
closed her eyes again for an uninterrupted slumber.

Morning came, with no further alarms having been reported, and, after
some confusion, due to their new environment, the girls got their
breakfast. They sent over some hot pancakes to the boys, for they could
tell by the sounds coming from their cabin that the meal there was not
progressing favorably.

In spite of the fact that Mr. Franklin was not very encouraging about
the presence of bears, the boys determined to go off and see for
themselves. They each had a gun.

"Then we girls will go for a walk," decided Betty. "The woods must be
interesting at this time of year. And it isn't as cold as it was
yesterday."

They set out, comfortably equipped for a walk, with short skirts and
leggings, for the snow was rather deep. There were woodland trails and
logging roads and the girls alternated on them; seeing much to wonder at
and admire, for the woods in winter are more interesting than many
suppose who have never seen them except in Summer or Fall.

The girls went on for perhaps three miles, and were thinking of turning
back, for it was nearing noon, when a voice hailed them from a dense
growth of hemlock trees.

"I say, you folks will have to git away from there. You're on private
ground. Git off!" and there stepped into view a burly, roughly-dressed
man, accompanied by a bulldog. Master and dog looked equally savage.

"Go on!" ordered the man, "before I----"

CHAPTER XI

THE RIVALS

Grace clutched Mollie, and Amy made an equally effective seizure of
Betty. The two girls whose nerves were under better control than those
of their two chums stood their ground--if not sturdily, at least with
the appearance of it. They stared at the man, for want of something
better to do, as Mollie afterward a