away. It is sure to be caught by some larger animal if it is unable to
jump or run," said the Captain.

"This will make a dandy story to write down in our record book, Verny,
won't it?" asked Ruth, eagerly.

"Yes, but it will also show how inexperienced we are in wildwood
sounds,--to mistake the rabbit's cry for a child's wail."

"But it _did_ sound exactly like a baby, there's no denying that!"
exclaimed Julie, frowning as she realized how they all were caught
napping.

"This reminds me of a story Alec told us yesterday when we were waiting
at the campfire for you lost scouts," said Hester. "He and his Troop
went on a three days' hike in the country last year, and at night they
found an old abandoned barn where they decided to sleep. The floor was
in good condition, with a bit of hay piled up in one corner. But the
loft overhead was in such bad condition that in many places the flooring
was broken down completely. As there was no ladder or stairway to reach
it, the boys concluded there was no use in examining it--no one would be
up there!

"So they stretched out on the hay and were soon sound asleep. But some
time after that--no one knew how long they had been asleep--Ned nudged
Alec and whispered: 'Some one's in the loft!'

"Alec sat up and listened. Sure enough, he could hear a man snoring as
distinctly as he could hear Dick breathe.

"So he roused the other scouts, and they very quietly crept over to the
side where they could get a grip on the joists to help themselves up.
Each scout had armed himself in some way. One had an old pitchfork with
but one prong. Another had a rake handle, one found the curved handle of
a feed-grinder, and so on.

"When they got to the shaky, decayed floor above, the snoring had
stopped, so they knew the tramp was aware of their approach. They had to
be awfully careful, too, so as not to fall through any of the broken
places in the floor. But they each had their lanterns, and used them
before they took a step. Alec went first, and threw the light back and
forth to avoid a sudden surprise from the tramp.

"'There's something moving over on that pile of old burlap sacks!'
whispered Alec, the instant he saw a creeping movement there.

"Several of the boys then jumped and began beating up the sacks
violently. But as suddenly, a pair of wings flapped up in their faces
with a whirring sound, and a barn-owl began to screech madly as she
rose and flew through a hole in the roof."