"
This challenge did a great deal toward bolstering up the girls'
courage and they hurried along the path more confidently,
Their pace slowed a bit, however, when they reached the cleared space
where the little cottage stood and they paused for a moment in the
shelter of the trees to discuss what to do next.
"Do you think we had all better go?" asked Grace nervously. "Perhaps
the four of us would frighten him----"
"No, we will all go together," said Betty decidedly. "There is nothing
to be gained by standing here talking about it. Come on, girls."
She started across the cleared space and the girls followed slowly.
The little cottage looked deserted and forlorn and the dreary aspect
of it served to increase the girls' uneasy sense of disaster.
Betty knocked gently on the door which had, upon that other occasion
not so very long ago, been hospitably opened to them. But, though they
waited breathlessly for a response, none came-- the house was as
silent as a tomb.
"Do it again, Betty. He might be asleep or something," suggested
Mollie, with a glance over her shoulder at the quiet woodland.
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