"Sure. But ain't it funny, kid, how it's all like it was in that dream he told us about?" "I'll say it's funny. It's like his dream so much that it gives me the creeps. Even to the part where he told us how he stood by the evergreen tree an' then sudden like when he's warnin' us to beat it, them arms reached out n' grabbed him an' he felt like he was chokin' to death. Gee whiz! If the two of us didn't hear him speak, I'd say there was sump'n spooky about it. We even heard the car!" "Sure, we did. An' we see somethin' dark like a guy's arms reach out from behind that tree, didn't we?" "I couldn't swear I did, Nickie. It chokes me when I think of it. Lissen, you don't think that was really Devlin--that he could really ki--kill Timmy?" "Kid, since I been here, I don't know what's real an' what ain't--see? All I know is I'll go nutty if there's any more goin's on like we see tonight." Skippy was of the same mind, but he didn't say so. He would have given much to know just how much was imagination and how much was stark reality. Timmy's empty cot, a vague shadow against the side wall, did much to keep these dreadful thoughts in his mind. Through wearying hours the scream of his dreams and his scream in the clearing seemed to echo mockingly through the storm. Skippy felt exhausted, yet all through the long night the question revolved in his mind. Was it a dream come true? CHAPTER XXII DEVLIN'S RETURN Nickie slept after a long time but Skippy was not so fortunate. Not until the storm settled down into a steady pattering rain with the early morning hours did he find himself dozing, yet always waking suddenly, trembling, and with his heart beating rapidly in his breast. During one of these quiet intervals in which he was dozing, he thought he dreamed that he heard the sound of a car. He did not wake at once, but kept listening for it again in a more or less semi-conscious state. Suddenly, however, he was sure that he heard footsteps down in the kitchen. For a moment he felt frozen with terror. Then he gathered himself together and shook Nickie firmly. "Don't speak, Nickie!" he whispered. "Just _lissen_!" Nickie was wide awake and alert, but he did not move a muscle. "I hear it, kid," he murmured. "Somebuddy in the kitchen." "Yep. I'm frozen like." "Me too. What'll we do, hah?" "Stay where we are when we ain't got a light." "Right. I forgot. Who d'you think tis?" "_Lissen!_" They listened intently. A muffled cough, the sound of something metallic falling, nothing escaped them. The footsteps were measured and heavy and seemed to circle the kitchen interminably. "Sounds like _him_, kid!" Nickie whispered fearfully. "I know them big feeta his'n. He's got the biggest dogs I ever seen. Ever notice?"