The simpleton stared at him suspiciously for a moment, then turned his back and led the way out of the cave. “Oh, Teddy, I’m scared to death,” whispered Billie, as the boy grabbed tight hold of her hand and started to follow Nick Budd. “You needn’t be,” he whispered back to her. “I could clean up that little shrimp with one finger.” Which observation, though extremely slangy, was very comforting to Billie. They found the sled outside where Teddy had dropped it when they entered the cave, and then there began a long, hard struggle with the snow and the wind that the boy and girl were to remember long afterward. They did not talk much, for they were too busy trying to keep up with Nick Budd as he floundered through the snow, and breath was precious. However, Billie did find a chance to ask the question that had been looming bigger and bigger with each second. “Teddy, what do you suppose the boys and girls will think of our disappearing like that?” she asked him. “I suppose they’ll think we went off in an aeroplane or something,” he answered, trying to be funny and not succeeding very well. “Well,” sighed Billie, “I only hope they won’t go and say anything about it at school—not till we get back and have a chance to explain, anyway.” Teddy glanced at her quickly. “Nobody would be mean enough to do that,” he said, decidedly. “No-o, I guess not,” agreed Billie, but in her heart she was not at all sure. She was thinking of Amanda Peabody. CHAPTER XII—THE ACCUSATION Nick Budd, plunging on in the snow ahead of the young folks, hardly once turned his head to look back. Evidently he had made this trip often and was used to wading through snow half-way to his waist, for he went so swiftly that Teddy was winded and Billie pretty nearly worn out when they at last reached the road. Oh, but what a relief it was to step out on its hard, crusty firmness after the yielding depth of the snow in the field! Then Nick Budd turned and addressed them for the first time since they had left the cave behind them. “This here is the road thet leads to Three Towers,” he told them, evidently in a sullen mood again. “Jest foller straight and ye’ll git thar.” And before either Teddy or Billie had a chance to thank him he turned back without another word and started to retrace his steps through the heavy snow, leaving the two standing in the middle of the road staring after him. Then Billie turned wonderingly to the boy. “Teddy, isn’t he the queerest thing?” she breathed. Teddy nodded. “He sure is,” he said, soberly, adding slowly: “I’m just wondering what made him so afraid that we were going to put him in prison. He was scared almost to death until we told him why we had come.” “But he’s a simpleton,” Billie pointed out. “Poor thing, I don’t suppose you could count on anything he says or does. People who aren’t ‘all there’ have moods, don’t they?” “Is that why you act so funny sometimes?” asked Teddy with a grin, and Billie pouted most becomingly.