What had we better do? I'm afraid----"

"And so am I afraid--but I'm more afraid of this thunder and
lightning, to say nothing of the rain, than I am of what may be in
that cabin, now that the man has so kindly left it to us. I'm going
in there, Ruth, and stay until the storm is over."

With that, picking up her skirts, Alice sped across the open space,
leaving Ruth to do as she pleased. And, naturally, Ruth would not
stay there to be drenched alone.

"Wait for me, Alice--wait!" she pleaded. But there was no need for
Alice to delay, since she would only get the wetter, and Ruth was in
no danger.

"Come along," called Alice over her shoulder, and Ruth came. The
sisters reached the cabin just as a brilliant flash of lightning,
with almost simultaneous thunder, seemed to open the clouds, and the
rain came down in a veritable flood.

"Just in time!" cried Alice. "We would have been drowned if we had
stayed out there. That man has some good qualities about him, at any
rate. He was nice enough to give us the use of this place."

"And maybe we're wronging him," panted Ruth, out of breath after her
little run, and her hair all awry. "He may be all right, and it is
foolish to suspect him of something we know nothing about."

"Perhaps," admitted Alice. "But there is a look in his face I do not
like. I can't explain why, but he looks, somehow--oh, I can't explain
it, but he looks as if he had been in prison--or some place like
that."

"What a strange idea," responded Ruth. "I can't say I think that of
him, but I agree with you that there is something repulsive about
him. And that seems a mean thing to say, after he has given us the
use of the cabin."

"How do we know it was his?" asked Alice. "It doesn't appear to me to
belong to anybody. Certainly it isn't very sumptuously furnished!"
and she looked about the place in considerable curiosity.

It was devoid of anything in the way of furniture, and only a few
rough boxes were scattered about. On a stone hearth were the gray
and blackened embers of a fire, and in one corner was a broken
chair.

"It seems to have been deserted a long time," said Alice. "I guess
that man was passing and took shelter in here, just as we intended
to. But there's another room. We may as well inspect that, and
there's another upstairs. That may be a little better. We'll look,
Ruth."

"We'll do nothing of the kind!" exclaimed Ruth. "We'll just stay
right by the door where we can run, in c