“Let’s ask the storekeeper and find out.”

“Those girls are twins,” said the proprietor of the establishment.

“Twins!” cried Rockley.  “They didn’t look it—­not by their difference in sizes.”

“But they did in looks,” said Pender.

“What are their names?”

“The tall one is Alice Staton and the other is Helen Staton.  Their father is the local constable, although he runs a big farm for a living.”

“Do they come here often?”

“Pretty often.  But they are very shy girls and don’t hardly speak to anybody.  They are both studying to be school-teachers.”

In the meantime Helen Staton and her sister Alice were hurrying down the main street of Oakville with flushed cheeks.

“I don’t think those cadets were very nice,” said Helen.

“Certainly they were not very good-looking,” replied Alice.  “And I thought they smelt a little of liquor.”

“The idea of their saying they would show us the way to the camp!  I guess papa can drive us there if we want to go.”

“I’d like to see it.  But I shouldn’t want to go with those boys,” went on Alice.

“Perhaps papa can take us,” said Helen.  “But come, we promised mamma we’d hurry back as soon as we could.”

To get home the two girls had to walk for a considerable distance along the road leading to Bass Lake.

On the way they passed the farm of one Isaac Klem, a man who took great pride in his poultry and his cattle.  Klem had forty cows, and two bulls which were worth a good deal of money.

One of the bulls, a black, vicious looking fellow, was tied up in a small lot at the corner of the farm.

The girls were just walking past this lot when Helen happened to glance over her shoulder and set up a cry of alarm.

“Oh, Alice, Mr. Klem’s black bull is loose!”

“Where, Helen?” queried her twin sister.

“There he is, at the fence.  See, he is trying to get over!”

The fence she mentioned was of stones piled loosely, one on top of the other.  The bull was striking at the stones with his front hoofs.  Soon some came down, and then the animal leaped out into the roadway.  Then he gave a snort and looked at the girls curiously.

Now as ill luck would have it, each of the twins wore a red shirt-waist.  This color enraged the bull, and with a wild snort, he lowered his horns and rushed at the pair, as if to gore them through and through.

CHAPTER XX

THE ROVER BOYS AND THE BULL

About an hour after Lew Flapp and his cronies left camp, Dick Rover and his brothers received permission to do likewise.

“Let us go to the village,” suggested Tom.  “I want to buy some cough drops.  My throat is raw from the wet weather.”

“And I want to get some reading matter,” added Sam.  “A good story of some sort would just suit me.”