uth to tell, he rather preferred
the moving pictures now. It was easier, even if there was no audience
to applaud him.

Ruth and Alice soon reached the edge of the cool woods, and then they
strolled slowly along until they came to a little dell--a nook they
had discovered one day when out walking.

"Oh, this is delightful!" exclaimed Alice, as she sank down on a bed
of moss.

"Yes, it is very soothing to the nerves," agreed Ruth. "Oh, dear!"
she suddenly cried, leaping to her feet.

"What is it?" demanded Alice.

"A bug walked right over my shoe!"

"Oh, mercy me!" mocked her sister. "Are you so scared that even a bug
can't look at you, sister mine? Why, it's only a lady-bug--very
proper to have on one's shoes, I'm sure," she added, as she saw the
harmless insect.

"I don't care! I just hate bugs!" cried Ruth. "I wish I had a rug to
sit on."

"Oh, you were never meant for the country!" laughed Alice. "Come, sit
down, I'll keep the bugs away from you," and she pulled a big fern,
which she used as a fan.

The sisters sat and talked of many things, speculating on the
identity of the mysterious man and wondering if the Apgars would ever
discover Uncle Isaac's missing money and so save the farm.

The day was drawing to a close, and the girls felt that they must
soon return to the farmhouse.

"Hark! What's that?" asked Alice, suddenly, after a period of
silence. A distant rumble came to their ears.

"Wagon going over a bridge, I should say," replied Ruth.

"More like thunder," Alice went on. "It _is_ thunder," she said a
moment later, as a sharp clap reverberated through the still air.
"Come on, Ruth, or we'll be caught."

They scrambled up from the mossy bed, and hurried from the little
glen. But the storm came on apace, and before they were half-way out
of the woods there was a sudden flurry of wind, and then came a
deluge of rain, ushered in by vivid lightning, and loud thunder.

"Oh, Alice, we'll be drenched--and our new dresses!" cried Ruth.

"Let's get under a tree," suggested the younger girl. "That will
shelter us."

"And get struck by lightning! I guess not!" protested Ruth. "Trees
are always dangerous in a thunder storm."

"But we must find shelter!" said Alice, as they ran on.

They came to a little clearing in the woods, and pausing at the edge
saw a lonely cabin in the midst of it.

"Come on over there!" cried Alice. "They'll take us in, whoever they
are, until the shower is over."

S