anyway," he added, in a different tone, rising with alacrity and dusting
off his uniform. "Something tells me that lunch is waiting. Come, let us
eat!"

So ended all serious discussion for that day, and the girls and boys gave
themselves up to the delight of being together again. Only Betty's
thoughts seemed to wander at times and she had to be brought back by
sundry mischievous and significant remarks from the young folks.

Worn out with fun, the young soldiers slept like tops that night in their
improvised beds and rose the next morning professing to feel like "two
year olds" and ready for whatever new fun and adventure the day might
bring them.

And for the first night since their arrival at Wild Rose Lodge the girls
slept soundly without being bothered by the haunting fear of the "Thing"--
at least, so they said.

That day they wandered through the woods together, searching for some sign
of their strange visitor, but found not a trace of anything unusual and
alarming.

"I'm really beginning to believe that you girls have let your imaginations
run away from you," Will remarked, when they sat about the living-room
after a satisfying supper, just luxuriating in idleness.

"Or perhaps the gentleman has been frightened away by our coming," Roy
suggested in a superior tone that made the girls want to throw something
at him. "Perhaps he is afraid of the uniform of the U.S.A."