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Page 51
"Nonsense! Come on! Where DO you suppose the electric light key
is? Whoo! here we have it!"
A flood of light filled the room, and the girls saw they were in a
comfortable, pleasant library or sitting-room, evidently the home
of cultured, refined people.
CHAPTER XII
A WELCOME SHELTER
A piano stood open, and Daisy sat at it, striking a few chords of
"Home, Sweet Home."
This made them all laugh, but Farnsworth said, reprovingly, "Come
away from that, Daisy. We have to enter this house to shelter
ourselves, but we needn't spoil their belongings unnecessarily."
Daisy pouted, but she came away from the piano, having already
left many drops of water on its keys and shining rosewood case.
Patty smiled appreciatively at Bill's thoughtfulness, but said,
with growing alarm:
"Where DO you suppose the people are? They MUST have heard us come
in, even if they were sound asleep."
"It's pretty queer, I think," said Jack.
"Oh!" cried Daisy, "what do you mean? Do you think there's
anything WRONG?" and she began to cry, in sheer, hysterical fright
and discomfort.
"It IS queer," agreed Bill, looking out into the hall, and
listening.
Then Patty's practical good sense came to her aid.
"Nonsense!" she said. "You're an ungrateful bunch! Here you have
shelter from the storm, and you all begin to cry! Well, no," she
added, smiling, "you boys are not exactly crying,--but if you were
girls, you WOULD be! Now, behave yourselves, and brace up to this
occasion! First, there's a fireplace, and here's a full woodbox.
Build a roaring fire, and let's dry off a little. Meantime, I wish
you two men would go over the house, and find out who's in it.
Daisy and I will stay here."
"_I_ won't stay here alone with Patty," sobbed Daisy, who was
shaking with nervous fear.
"There, there, Daisy," said Bill, "don't cry. I'll fix it. Miss
Fairfield, you're a brick! Your ideas, as I shall amend them, are
fine! Pennington, you stay here with the girls, and build the
biggest fire you can make. I'll investigate this domicile, and see
if the family are really the Seven Sleepers, or if they're surely
afraid to come downstairs, for fear we're burglars."
Patty flashed a glance of admiration at the big fellow, but she
only said:
"Go along, Little Billee; but hurry back and dry yourself before
you catch pneumonia."
Bill went off whistling, and Jack and Patty built a rousing fire.
The woodbox was ample and well filled, and the fireplace, a wide
one, and the crackling flames felt most grateful to the wet
refugees. Jack wanted to go after Farnsworth, but Daisy wouldn't
hear of it, so he stayed with the girls. Soon Big Bill returned,
smiling all over his good-natured face.
"Not a soul in the whole house!" he reported. "I've been all over
it, from attic to cellar. Everything in good order; beds made up,
and so forth. But no food in the larder, so I assume the family
has gone away for a time."
"Well, of all funny situations!" exclaimed Patty. Cheered by the
warmth, her face was smiling and dimpling, and her drying hair was
curling in soft tendrils all over her head.
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