When
they reached the barn they found it was an old building, built very
close to the brook and quite empty.
"It must have been the hay barn," said Sunny Boy, who remembered what
he had learned when he visited Grandpa Horton's farm. "Sometimes hay
barns are built out in the fields so it won't be so far to haul the
hay. I wonder how far off the house is?"
The house had burned down years ago, but Sunny Boy did not know that.
The boys were only too thankful to have a dry floor to stand on, and
they huddled in one corner out of the keen March wind that blew in
through the windows, for every pane of glass in the barn was broken.
Every few minutes they could hear the crash of a chunk of ice against
the building, and once or twice Sunny Boy thought he felt something
move. The third time he saw Jimmie Butterworth looking at him.
"The barn _is_ moving!" said Sunny Boy loud.
And it was. The force of the water and the ice, driving against the
poor worn out foundations, had loosened them, and the old barn was
actually sailing. The boys ran to the door. All around them was
water, water and ice. The barn began to rock and to lean to one side a
little.
"It will tip over!" cried Carleton. "We'll be drowned."
"If we shout, some one will hear us and come and get us," suggested
Sunny Boy. "We'll have to yell!"
And yell they did, shouting with all the strength and power of their
lungs. They had almost given up hope of making any one hear when
suddenly there came an answering shout and down in one corner of the
field they saw something moving.
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