"And you see she's awfully afraid of fire, even now," said Tom.
They rattled on over the logs of the road; here and there they
came to bad places, where the water had not gone down; and the
horses were very careful in putting their hoofs down upon the
shaking logs. However, it was not much over an hour after
leaving the island that they spied the lights of Pine Camp from
the top of the easy rise leading out of the tamarack swamp.
They met Rafe with a lantern half way down the hill. Uncle Henry
was away and Aunt Kate had sent Rafe out to look for Nan,
although she supposed that the girl had remained at the
Vanderwillers' until the rain was over, and that Toby would bring
her home.
There was but one other incident of note before the three of them
reached the rambling house Uncle Henry had built on the outskirts
of Pine Camp. As they turned off the swamp road through the lane
that ran past the Llewellen cottage, Rafe suddenly threw the ray
of his lantern into a hollow tree beside the roadway. A small
figure was there, and it darted back out of sight.
"There!" shouted Rafe. "I knew you were there, you little
nuisance. What did you run out of the house and follow me for,
Mar'gret Llewellen?"
He jumped in and seized the child, dragging her forth from the
hollow of the big tree.
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