"I should think you would, with not a bit of air in your room!"
"I wuck up, as I say, kinder smotherin' like an' then I hears the English hant as plain as day. Bzzzz! Bzzzz! Brrrr! Brrrr! 'My Gawd,' says I, 'pertect me.' I tun over in the baid an' then the buzzin' sounded lak the rushin' of mighty water. 'Mebbe he will pass on by me an' go to Uncle Oscar,' thinks I. 'He was the one what scoffed at Josh's tellin' of the tale.' I kivered my haid an' then that hant got me by the toe."
"But, Susan," laughed Douglas, "of course you know it was a hornet that had you by the toe."
"You mought think it, Miss Douglas, but hants is powerful slick the way they kin change theysefs ter natural things. That debble jes' changed ter hornesses ter mysterfy all of you white folks. He was a debble hant up ter the physological moment all of you appeared. I knows lots about hants from my books."
"Well, I know a lot about hornets from experience," said Helen, trying to reach the stung place between her shoulders.
"Me, too," drawled Nan. "My finger is twice its natural size."
"Well, let's all of us go to sleep now," said Douglas. "You are not afraid in here, are you, Susan?"
"No'm----" and the girl was off asleep in less time than it had taken her to arouse most of the campers.
"Helen," whispered Douglas, "I am afraid Josh is responsible for the hornets. It sounds as though he had prepared his way to scare Susan by telling the ghost story first."
"I am afraid it is so. We will have to see to that youngster."
"I think Lewis can handle him. I'll ask him in the morning. In the meantime, I will tell Susan not to mention the 'hants' and maybe Josh will give himself away with curiosity."
It was a hard task her young mistresses had set Susan.
"Thain't nothin' 'tall ter hants if you cyarn't tell about 'em," she grumbled.
"Well, just wait a day, Susan, and then you can tell all you've a mind to."
At breakfast that morning Miss Somerville complained that her rest had been very much broken but that she had slept much better than she had ever expected to.
"I am at best a light sleeper," she remarked. "The smallest thing disturbs me. Now I distinctly heard Mr. Tinsley laugh, although he must have been in his own tent."