ted "daguerreotype saloon" would be a cosy place
to camp in.

Theodora did not like the idea very well, for the region was wild and
lonely, and Halstead thought he ought to return to the farm.

"Why, this old saloon is just as good as a house!" Catherine said. "We
can fasten the door, and then nothing can get in. And we have plenty of
lunch left for our supper."

At last Theodora reluctantly agreed to stay. Promising to return for
them by noon the next day, Halstead then started for home. After he had
gone, the girls gathered a quart or more of raspberries, to eat with
their supper. When they had finished the meal, they made, with the sacks
of herbs, a couch on the floor of the "saloon," and Catherine fastened
the door securely by leaning a narrow plank from the floor of the old
barn against it.

For a while the girls lay and talked in low tones. Outside everything
was very quiet, and scarcely a sound came to their ears. All nature
seemed to have gone to rest; not a whippoorwill chanted nor an owl
hooted about the old buildings. Before long Catherine fell peacefully
asleep. Theodora, however, who was rather ill at ease in these wild
surroundings, had determined to stay awake, and lay listening to the
crickets in the grass under the "saloon." But crickets make drowsy
music, and at last she, too, dropped asleep.

Not very much later something bumped lightly against the front end of
the "saloon" outside; the noise was repeated several times. Oddly
enough, it was not Theodora who waked, but Catherine. She sat up and,
remembering instantly where she was, listened without stirring or
speaking. Her first thought was that a deer had come round and was
rubbing itself against the "saloon."

"It will soon go away," she said to herself, and did not rouse her
companion.

The queer, bumping, jarring sounds continued, however, and presently
were followed by a heavy jolt. Then for some moments Catherine heard
footsteps in the weeds outside, and told herself that there must be two
or three deer. She was not alarmed, for she knew that the animals would
not harm them; but she hoped that they would not waken Theodora, who
might be needlessly frightened.

But presently she heard a sound that she could not explain; it was like
the jingling of a small chain. Rising quietly, she peeped out of one of
the little side windows, and then out of the other. The clouds had
cleared away, and bright moonlight flooded the place, but she could n