Page:Cornelia Meigs-The Pirate of Jasper Peak.djvu/148

 Hulda without assistance than of anything he had ever before achieved; he did wish that Oscar  would come home to see. He stood a minute by the cabin door, trying with vain eyes to peer  through the darkness. Nothing was visible, hardly even the hand he held before his face,  nothing would pierce that heavy blackness but the  rushing of the flooded stream and the calling of  the wind. With a great sigh he turned at last, fumbled for the latch of the door and stepped  inside.

The fire had burned up during his absence, making the room look warm and cozy, a welcome  sight after the storm and rain without. He lit the lamp upon the table, then looked up uneasily  at the clock on the wall. Its hands pointed to nine. He carried the lamp to the window, drew back the curtains and set it on the sill.

“I wish Oscar would come,” he said aloud.

So busy had he been that he had not had his supper yet. His unaccustomed hands and his great hunger both served to make the process a  lengthy one, so that when he had finished and set