Part 11 (1/2)

As they neared the fort Catherine ran to her sister's side and whispered in her ear. After that they kept close together, walking a little way ahead of Faith. At the entrance to the fort Faith was somewhat alarmed to find a tall soldier, musket in hand. But he saluted the little girls, and Faith followed her companions along the narrow pa.s.sageway. She wondered to herself what she had done to offend them, for they responded very stiffly to whatever she had to say. The narrow pa.s.sage led into a large open square, surrounded by high walls.

Faith looked about with wondering eyes. There were big cannons, stacks of musketry, and many strange things whose name or use she could not imagine. There were little groups of soldiers in red coats strolling about.

”Where is your father, Catherine?” she asked, and then looked about half fearfully; for both her companions had vanished.

None of the soldiers seemed to notice Faith For a moment she looked about with anxious eyes, and then decided that her friends must have turned back to the entrance for some reason.

”And they probably think that I am right behind them,” she thought, running toward an arched pa.s.sageway which she believed was the one by which she had entered the fort. But it seemed much longer than when she came in a moment before. She began running, expecting to see the sisters at every step. Suddenly she found that she was facing a heavy door at the end of the pa.s.sage, and realized that she had mistaken her way. But Faith was not frightened. ”All I have to do is to run back,”

she thought, and turned to retrace her steps. But there were two pa.s.sageways opening behind her at right angles. For an instant she hesitated, and then ran along the one to the right.

”I'm sure this is the way I came,” she said aloud. But as she went on the pa.s.sageway seemed to curve and twist, and to go on and on in an unfamiliar way. It grew more shadowy too. Faith found that she could not see very far ahead of her, and looking back it seemed even darker.

She began to feel very tired.

”I'm sure Caroline and Catherine will come and find me,” she thought, leaning against the damp wall of the pa.s.sage. ”I'll just rest a minute, and then I'll call so they will know which way to turn to find me.”

CHAPTER XI

A DAY OF ADVENTURE

”Caroline! Caroline!” called Faith, and the call echoed back to her astonished ears from the shadowy pa.s.sage. ”I'd better go back! I'm sure the other was the right way,” she finally decided; and very slowly she retraced her steps, stopping now and then to call the names of the girls who had deserted her.

It seemed a long time to Faith before she was back to where the big solid door had blocked the first pa.s.sage. She was sure now that the other way would lead her back to the square where she had last seen her companions. But as she stood looking at the door she could see that it was not closed. It swung a little, and Faith wondered to herself if this door, after all, might not open near the entrance so that she could find her way to the road, and so back to Aunt Prissy.

She could just reach a big iron ring that swung from the center of the door; and she seized this and pulled with all her might. As the door slowly opened, letting in the clear October sunlight, Faith heard steps coming down the pa.s.sage. The half-opened door nearly hid her from sight, and she looked back expecting to see either Caroline or Catherine, and, in the comfort of the hope of seeing them, quite ready to accept any excuse they might offer. But before she could call out she heard a voice, which was vaguely familiar, say: ”I did leave that door open. Lucky I came back,” and Nathan Beaman, the Sh.o.r.eham boy, was close beside her.

When he saw a little girl still grasping the iron ring, he seemed too surprised to speak.

”I'm lost!” Faith whispered. ”I'm so glad you came. Major Young's little girls asked me to come to the fort, and then ran away and left me,” and Faith told of her endeavors to find her companions.

”Lucky I came back,” said Nathan again, but this time his voice had an angry tone. ”It was a mean trick. Those girls----” Then Nathan stopped suddenly. ”Well, they're Tories,” he concluded.

”I was afraid it was night,” said Faith.

”No, but you might have wandered about in these pa.s.sageways until you were tired out. Or you might have fallen from that door. Look out, but hold close to the door,” said Nathan.

Faith came to the doorway and found herself looking straight down the face of a high cliff to the blue waters of the lake. Lifting her eyes she could look across and see the distant wooded hills of the Green Mountains, and could hear the ”Chiming Waters” of the falls.

”It's lovely. But what do they have a door here for?” Faith asked.

And then Nathan explained what forts were for. That a door like that gave the soldiers who held the fort a chance to look up and down the lake in order to see the approach of an enemy by water. ”And gives them a chance to scramble down the cliff and get away if the enemy captures the fort from the other side.” Then he showed Faith the two big cannon that commanded the lake and any approach by the cliff.

”But come on. I must take you home,” he declared, moving as if to close the door.

”Could we get out any other way than by going back through that pa.s.sage?” asked Faith, who thought that she never wanted to see the two sisters again, and now feared they might be waiting for her.

”Certainly we could. That is, if you are a good climber,” replied Nathan. ”I'll tell you something, that is, if you'll never tell,” he added.

”I won't,” Faith declared earnestly.