"I don't care! I just hate bugs!" cried Ruth. "I wish I had a rug to sit on."
"Oh, you were never meant for the country!" laughed Alice. "Come, sit down, I'll keep the bugs away from you," and she pulled a big fern, which she used as a fan.
The sisters sat and talked of many things, speculating on the identity of the mysterious man and wondering if the Apgars would ever discover Uncle Isaac's missing money and so save the farm.
The day was drawing to a close, and the girls felt that they must soon return to the farmhouse.
"Hark! What's that?" asked Alice, suddenly, after a period of silence. A distant rumble came to their ears.
"Wagon going over a bridge, I should say," replied Ruth.
"More like thunder," Alice went on. "It is thunder," she said a moment later, as a sharp clap reverberated through the still air. "Come on, Ruth, or we'll be caught."
They scrambled up from the mossy bed, and hurried from the little glen. But the storm came on apace, and before they were half-way out of the woods there was a sudden flurry of wind, and then came a deluge of rain, ushered in by vivid lightning, and loud thunder.
