“Now that we have a fairly good idea that he’ll visit us, we’ll prepare for him,” explained Ted. “I guess that after the surprise attack on him the other night he won’t come any too near the camp in his white sheet, though he must be going to show himself, or why bother with a sheet at all? He may plan to reveal himself on a rock as he did with the black horse that time, but whichever way he plans it, I guess we can be sure that he is coming sooner or later. Now, if we’re going to be in the camp we won’t have much chance to cope with him, but we won’t be in camp!”
“Won’t be in the camp!” Buck echoed. “Where will we be?”
“We’ll be outside of camp and hidden in a clump of bushes, watching the camp to see what happens. You know our tents back up against the hill where the springs are and that will be an advantage. My idea is for us to lift the backs of the tents, creep out and along the slope until we reach that bunch of maples on the east side of the camp. Those trees are pretty close together and there is a fine screen of bushes, where we can lie in wait and watch the camp.”
“Oh, I see! Then if he gets to fooling around back of the camp we can see him better than we could if we were down in the camp.”
“Yes, and not only that, but I think the sight of an empty camp will lure him on. If he has no evil intentions toward the camp I think that sheer curiosity will draw him into it. Then, from our watching post on the hill we can figure out a plan to swoop down on him and surround him. How does that sound to you?”
“All right,” approved Buck, enthusiastically. “But we’ll have to be regular Indians to crawl from the tents to the maples!”
“That is all right, we’ll be able to do it. Of course, if he ever sees us at it, everything is over, but we’ll just have to be so careful that he won’t see us. If anyone is to do the seeing, we’re the ones to do it. I’d like to catch him red-handed prowling around the camp and then we’ll have a clear case against him.”
“Yes. But don’t forget that he must have a helper. Things have happened in such a way that he can’t possibly be doing them all by himself.”
“I realize that, and I don’t know whether they’ll work in pairs or not, but I think if we can get him we’ll have no trouble in getting his friend, whoever he is. We’ll concentrate on getting him and that will probably clear up the atmosphere quite a bit.”
They arrived at the camp, to find the other boys anxiously awaiting them, though they had not been idle. Preparations had been made for supper and everything was ready to put on the fire when they got back. The boys were at first disappointed because they had not brought a prisoner back with them, but Ted soon explained his plan to them and they fell in with it whole-heartedly.