trail and into Oscar’s cottage. Most eagerly, as they approached the house, did Hugh look for some sign of his friend’s return. But the door and the windows were closed, the chimney smokeless, there was no one there. Only Hulda greeted them with an impatient call and loud stampings on the floor of her shed, to signify her indignation at having been forgotten so long. Hugh did not stop for any vain wonderings.
“Can you get your brother to bed alone,” he asked Dick, “while I go back?”
“Go back!” exclaimed Dick. “What for?”
“For the things we had to leave behind,” Hugh answered, “and for Oscar’s rifle. I dropped it in the woods and Jake had picked it up. I would risk anything to get it back for him.”
“You should not go,” Dick insisted; “the pirates may come back any second now.”
But the door had already closed behind Hugh and he was speeding down the trail with Nicholas at his heels. They crossed the stream, even the dog being willing to use the bridge this time after his last experience with the wild current.
