"Then tell me something I've long wanted to know," cried Bobby, her eyes dancing.
"And what is that?"
"What really is the cause of the crow's caws?"
"A bone in his throat, I expect, my dear," replied the teacher, amid the laughter of the other girls. "But this is a botanical expedition, not ornithological. What was your question about the anemone, Nellie?"
They passed the farm and mounted the hillside toward the upper plateau above the caverns at Boulder Head. From this point they could see from end to end of Luna Lake, and the greater part of the island itself. But just below them, on the shore at the foot of the rugged cliff, it was not so easy to see; and, when Laura Belding and Jess, walking with arms around each other's waists, on the very verge of the cliff, heard a sound which startled them below, they could not at first see what caused it.
"It was a human voice!" gasped Jess.
"Somebody groaning," admitted Laura.
"I—I bet it is a ghost, after all," giggled Jess. "Otto Sitz won't want to come here again if we tell him——"
"Hush!" commanded Laura. "There is somebody below—in trouble. Wait! Cling to my belt, Jess—and to that sapling with your other hand. Now, don't let me fall."
"Go ahead," said Jess, between her teeth, as Laura swung her body out over the brink of the hundred-foot drop. "I can hold you."