“It’s Kit, an’ stane-boat stucken in t’ wa’!” said the first as she held up the light “But where’s team?  An’ hoo did you get here?  There’s nea road this way.”

Kit laughed.  “It’s lucky I left the horses at the top.  This is a new plan for bringing down the peat and it certainly works, although next time we must try to stop a little sooner.”

Mrs. Creighton asked him some questions before she understood what had happened.  He was in the light, because she had put the lantern on the wall, and although he could not see her companion’s face, he suspected from Janet’s quietness that she was studying him.

“Then you left the others on the moor,” the girl remarked.

“I did,” said Kit.  “We sent the stone-boat off by itself, and it was half-way down when I jumped on.”

“Then none of the men came with you?”

“No,” said Kit, who felt annoyed because he saw Janet suspected something.  “I went down to watch the sledge and see if we had hit the best track.”

“It’s strange!” said Janet.  “I thought there was somebody else when I first came out.  Still, of course, it was nearly dark.”

Kit was puzzled because he could not tell how much Janet had really seen, and thought the situation needed careful handling.  If she knew Miss Osborn had been with him, it would be a mistake to make the thing look significant by pretending that she had not; but it was possible that Janet did not know.  Then Grace had hinted that she did not want their adventure talked about.

“I don’t expect you could see very well if you had just come out from the light in the kitchen,” he replied.  “Anyhow, none of the men came with me and I must go back and tell them not to send off another lot.  We’ll see about mending your wall to-morrow, Mrs. Creighton.”

He went off to a gate that opened into the lonning.  This was the wisest plan, because he did not want to talk to Janet.  He was half afraid of her, but not because he thought she sympathized with her father’s plots; it was known that Bell and his daughter quarreled.  The girl was a dangerous coquette and had tactfully hinted that she rather approved Kit.  This had alarmed Kit, who knew she was clever and resolute.

When he reached the lane he stopped abruptly as he remembered something, and took out his pipe, although he did not mean to smoke.  He must be cautious, since he was not sure if Janet had gone in.  Striking a match, he held it between his hands as if he were going to light his pipe and stooped in the shelter of a wall.

The light shone on the ground and he knitted his brows as he saw sharp footsteps in the snow.  The farm people did not wear boots that would leave marks like these; moreover, the footsteps would lead anybody who thought it worth while to follow them to the spot where the sledge upset.  Kit threw down the match, and frowned as he went on again.

CHAPTER X