sit down,” he said, so embarrassed that Billie took pity on him.

   “We don’t want to sit down,” she said, smiling at him. “We’re too nervous. Do you suppose the rain will ever stop?”

   The man shook out his clothing and sent a shower of spray all about him. He was soaking, drenching wet, and suddenly, looking at him, Billie had a dreadful thought.

   Suppose the man was not quite right in his mind? She had a horror of crazy people. But what sane man would build himself a cabin in the woods like this in the first place, and then go roaming around in the rain without any protection?

   A memory of the slow, measured steps they had heard approaching the cabin made her shudder, and instinctively she drew back a little and snuggled her hand into Laura’s.

   If he was not crazy he was probably a criminal of some sort, and neither thought made Billie feel very comfortable. Three girls alone in the woods with a crazy man or a criminal, with the darkness coming on——

   Something of what she was thinking occurred to Laura and Vi also, and they were beginning to look rather pale and scared.

   As for the man—he hardly seemed to know what to do next. He took off his dripping coat, threw it in a heap in one corner and turned back uncertainly to the girls.

   “No, I don’t think it will stop raining for some time,” he said, seeming to realize that Billie had asked a question which he had not answered. “And

   it is getting pretty dark outside. You say you are lost?”

   “Yes,” said Billie, wishing she had not told the man that part of their troubles; but then, what else could she do? “We were sent into the woods to find rare ferns——”

   “Ferns!” broke in the man, his deep eyes lighting up with sudden interest. “Ah, I could show you where the rarest and most beautiful ferns in the country grow.”

   “You could!” they cried, growing interested in their turn and coming closer to him.

   “Are you—a—naturalist?” asked Vi a little uncertainly, for she knew just enough about naturalists to be sure she was not one.

   “I guess you might call me that,” said the man. “I’ve had plenty of time to become one.”

   Again the girls had that strange 

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