Nevertheless Elmer lifted his voice in warning:
"Look out, boys! She's got a knife, and is coming out at you! Take care there!"
Just then something happened.
The woman had not turned her head as Elmer thus gave tongue, as might a hound on the warm trail of the fox.
She kept straight on. The door was before her, and while she had drawn it shut after entering, it has been mentioned before that she made no attempt to fasten the same.
So now, when she hurled her whole weight against the barrier it flew outward with a jump.
As luck would have it, the two scouts had managed to reach the door at exactly the same time. And that second chanced to be the identical one when the frightened foreigner crashed into the door.
There could only be one result, and that filled with bitterness and woe to both Lil Artha and Mark. As the uncouth door was thrown suddenly outward, as if forced by a battering ram from within, it struck the scouts a tremendous blow.
They crumpled up and went over. A couple of ten-pins struck by a swiftly hurled ball could hardly have collapsed more ingloriously than did Lil Artha and his mate.
Indeed, the long-legged scout seemed to perform a complete revolution in the air, landing on his knees among the bushes.