Accordingly, Elmer stepped forward a pace.
"No hurt," he said, in the gentlest tone he could muster; "friends—boys—no soldiers."
"She don't savvy worth a cent, Elmer," said Lil Artha, in disgust.
"And her eyes keep following your movements with the knife, as if she thought you meant to strike her," observed Mark.
Elmer himself saw that this was a fact. Plainly, then, the woman could not understand English, and in her present state of fright she seemed incapable of reading his reassuring gestures. What he meant to be a sign of friendliness she interpreted as a symbol of hostility.
"Seems to me we ought first of all to get her foot free from that nasty tangle," he remarked.
"Sure, and I guess the only way to do it is to cut the plagued old vine," said Lil Artha. "But I guess I hadn't ought to run the thing down, because it served us a mighty good turn just now."
"Step in and cut the vine, Elmer," suggested Mark.
When, however, the young scout master had taken a step or two forward, knife in hand, the woman's fears were once more aroused.
She threw herself forward, struggling violently to release her trapped foot. But the vine proved as strong as a new clothesline, and held tenaciously.