CHAPTER XVI
THE DESERTED HOUSE
The girls screamed in concert, and whose voice was the loudest was amatter that was in doubt. Not that the Little Captain and her chumslingered long to determine. The bear stopped short in the middle of theroad, standing on its hind legs, waving its huge forepaws, and lollingits head from side to side in a sort of Comical amazement.
"Run! Run!" screamed Betty. "To the woods!"
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" That seemed the extent of Mollie's vocabulary just then.
"Climb a tree," was the advice of Grace.
"Is he coming? Is it coming after us?" Amy wanted to know.
She glanced over her shoulder as she put the question, and therenearly followed an accident, for Amy was running, and the look backcaused her to stumble. Betty, who was racing beside her, just managedto save her chum from a bad fall. All the girls were running--runningas though their lives depended on their speed. Luckily they woreshort, walking skirts, which did not hinder free movement, and theyreally made good speed.
THE BEAR STOPPED SHORT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD.]
They crossed the road and plunged into the underbrush, crashing throughit in very terror. They clung to their small suitcases instinctively.Then suddenly, as they ran on, there came the clear notes of a bugle inan army call. Betty recalled something.
"Stop, girls!" she cried.
"What, with that bear after us?" wailed Grace. "Never!"
"It's all right--I tell you it's all right!" went on Betty.
"Oh, she's lost her mind! She's so frightened she doesn't know what sheis saying!" exclaimed Mollie. "Oh, poor Betty!"
"Silly! Stop, I tell you. That bear--"
Again came the notes of the bugle, and then the girls, looking throughthe fringe of trees at the road, saw a man with a red jacket, and wearinga hat in which was a long feather, come along, and grasp a chain thatdangled from the leather muzzle which they had failed to notice on thebear's nose.
"It's a tame bear!" cried Betty. "That's what I meant. He won't harm us.Come on back to the road! Oh, I've torn my skirt!" and she gazed ruefullyat a rent in the garment.
The girls hesitated a moment, and then, understanding the situation, andbeing encouraged by the fact that the man now had his bear in charge,also seeing another man, evidently the mate of the first, approachingwith a second bear, they all went back to the highway. The bugle blewagain, and one of the bears, at a command from the man, turned a clumsysomersault.
Grace burst into hysterical laughter, in which she was joined bythe others.
"Weren't we silly!" exclaimed Mollie.
"Oh, but it looked just like a real bear!" gasped Amy in self-defense.
"Listen to her," said Betty. "A real bear--why, of course it is. Did youthink it was the Teddy variety?"
"Oh, you know what I mean," spoke Amy, "I thought it was a wild bear."
"It probably was--once," remarked Grace.
They were all out in the road now, and the two men, with the bears, wereslowly approaching. Evidently the foremost man had seen the precipitateflight of the girls, so, taking off his hat, and bowing with foreignpoliteness, he said:
"Excuse--please. Juno him get away from me--I chase after--I catch.Excuse, please."
"That's all right," said Betty, pleasantly. "We were frightened fora minute."
"Verra sorry. Juno made the dance for the ladies!"
He blew some notes on a battered brass horn, and began some foreignwords in a sing-song tone, at which the bear moved clumsily about on itshind feet.
"Juno--kiss!" the man cried.
The great shaggy creature extended its muzzle toward the man's face,touching his cheek.
"Excuse--please," said the bear-trainer, smiling.
"Come on girls," suggested Amy. The place was rather a lonely one, thoughthere were houses just beyond, and the two men, in spite of their bows,did not seem very prepossessing.
With hearts that beat rapidly from their recent flight and excitement,the girls passed the bears, the men both taking off their hats andbowing. Then the strange company was lost to sight down a turn in theroad, the notes of the bugles coming faintly to the girls.
"Gracious! That _was_ an adventure!" exclaimed Mollie.
"I thought I should faint," breathed Amy.
"Have a chocolate--do," urged Grace.
"They're nourishing," and she held out some.
"Girls, we must hurry," spoke Betty, "or we'll never get to Broxtonbefore the rain. Hurry along!"
They walked fast, passing through the little village of Chanceford,where they attracted considerable attention. It was not every daythat four such pretty, and smartly-attired, girls were seen on thevillage main street--the only thoroughfare, by the way. Then theycame to the open country again. They had been going along at a goodpace, and were practically certain of reaching Grace's sister's housein time for supper.
"It's raining!" suddenly exclaimed Betty, holding up her hand tomake sure.
A drop splashed on it. Then another. Amy looked up into the cloudsoverhead.
"Oh!" she cried. "A drop fell in my eye."
Then with a suddenness that was surprising, the shower came down hard.Little dark spots mottled the white dust of the road.
"Run!" cried Mollie. "There's a house. We can stay on the porch until therain passes. The people won't mind."
A little in advance, enclosed with a neat red fence, and setting backsome distance from the road was a large, white house, with greenshutters. The windows in front were open, as was the front door, andfrom one casement a lace curtain flapped in the wind.
"Run! Run! We'll be drenched!" cried Grace, thinking of her new walkingsuit. Without more ado the girls hurried through the gate, up the gravelwalk and got to the porch just as the rain reached its maximum. It wascoming down now in a veritable torrent.
"Queer the people here don't shut their door," remarked Betty.
"And see, the rain is coming in the parlor window," added Amy.
"Maybe they don't know it," suggested Grace. "Oh, the wind is blowing therain right in on us!" she cried.
"I wonder if it would be impertinent to walk in?" suggested Mollie.
"We at least can knock and ask--they won't refuse," said Betty. "Andreally, with the wind this way, the porch is no protection at all."
She rapped on the open door. There was no response and she tappedagain--louder, to make it heard above the noise of the storm.
"That's queer--maybe no one is at home," said Grace.
"They would hardly go off and leave the house all open, when it looked somuch like rain," declared Amy. "Suppose we call to them? Maybe they areupstairs."
The girls were now getting so wet that they decided not to stand onceremony. They went into the hall, through the front door. There was aparlor on one side, and evidently a sitting room on the other side of thecentral hall.
"See that rain coming in on the curtains and carpets!" cried Betty."Girls, we must close the windows," and she darted into the parlor.The others followed her example, and soon the house was closed againstthe elements.
Breathless the girls waited for some sign or evidence of life in thehouse. There was none. The place was silent, the only sound being thepatter of the rain and the sighing of the wind. The girls looked at eachother. Then Betty spoke:
"I don't believe there's a soul here!" she exclaimed. "Not a soul! Thehouse is deserted!"