looking at each other, too mystified for speech. Brian read the note,
again, aloud, speaking every word with slow distinctness. "Well, I'll
be hanged!" he ejaculated, at the close of the remarkable communication,
staring at Betty Jo.

"It wouldn't in the least surprise me if we were both hanged before
night," returned Betty Jo. "After this from Auntie Sue, I am prepared
for anything. What on earth DO you suppose has happened?"

Brian shook his head: "It is too much for me!"

Together they went to the house, and the place seemed strangely
deserted. Every possible explanation that suggested itself, they
discussed and rejected.

"One thing we can depend upon," said Brian, at last, when they had
exhausted the resources of their combined imaginations: "Auntie Sue
knows exactly what she is doing, and she is doing exactly the right
thing. I suppose we will know all about it when she returns."

Betty Jo looked again at the note: "'I will be back in a few days,'" she
read slowly. "'Be good children, and take care of things.'"

Again, they regarded each other wonderingly.

Then Betty Jo broke the silence with an odd little laugh: "I feel like
we were cast away on some desert island, don't you?"

"Something like that," Brian returned. Then, to relieve the strain of
the situation, he added: "I suppose 'Bess' will have to be milked and