Once inside the old house, Eleanor was as much interested as her chums.
There was no furniture in the place, but a few faded pictures were
tacked up on the walls, and the corners of the room were thick with
mysterious and inviting shadows.

As they clustered in a group under an old magazine picture of a darkey
with a fiddle in his hand there was an unexpected sound just outside
the door, and the big room grew suddenly darker.

The four girls turned simultaneously.

The heavy door through which they had entered the cabin, and which was
the only entrance, had been shut fast. At the same instant there was
the sound of a heavy, sliding bolt, then the rush of flying feet.

For the moment no one of the girls realized the seriousness of what had
happened.

"Some one must have locked us in for a joke," declared Phil stoutly.

Madge ran to the door and shook it with all her strength. It was built
of heavy logs, and, though the girls could see the daylight through the
cracks between the timbers, the door showed no sign of opening.

"Don't work so hard, Madge," remonstrated Phil. "Whoever shut us in
will come back in a moment to unfasten the bolt."

The girls waited a long time. No one returned.

"Perhaps the person who closed the door did not know there was any one
in the cabin," suggested Eleanor faintly.

"But we were all talking, Nellie. No one but a deaf person could have
failed to hear us," Lillian insisted.

Eleanor realized the truth of the words.

"Don't be frightened, Nellie," begged Madge remorsefully. "Let's all
push against the door at the same time. I am sure we shall be able to
break the bolt. One, two, three! Now--all together!"

The four girls shoved with all their might, until their arms ached and
their faces perspired from the exertion. Still the old door resisted
them. Perhaps Eleanor was right and the log house had been built as a
prison.

"I think we had better call for help," was Phil's practical suggestion.
"If we all scream together, we ought to make considerable noise. I am
afraid Miss Jones may become worried about us before any one comes to
let us out."

The girls called and called, until their voices were hoarse, but no one
answered them. Each girl remembered that she had not met a single
person in her journey through the woods.

Then the prisoners made a trip around the big room, poking and peering
about to see if there were any other possible method of escape.

"I