“I believe Natalie is right,” declared Mrs. Bonnell. “It will be better to eat now. We can go back a way in the woods and have our lunch. They haven’t discovered us. The wind is blowing away from the camp, and the dogs haven’t detected us.”
“It’s just like some of Jack’s books!” exclaimed Marie. “The enemy hasn’t winded us yet.”
“Well, there’s no reason why Camp Fire Girls can’t have as many adventures as boys have,” insisted Alice.
Screened by the bushes they peered down on the Gypsy camp that lay a little below them in a small, grassy glade. It looked picturesque enough in the sunlight, and, as Mrs. Bonnell had said, their presence was not yet discovered. The dogs appeared to be at the far side of the camp, barking among themselves or perhaps at some wild animal they had treed. Until the beasts scented them they were not likely to come that way.
“And, anyhow,” observed Mabel, “there must be lots of people who go to the camp to have their fortunes told. The dogs must be used to them. I don’t believe they’ll harm us.”
“After all, though, it will be safer to save a part of a sandwich each, for the dogs,” insisted Mrs. Bonnell. “That will take their attention if they come out at us by mistake.”
They laughed at her, but decided to do as she had suggested. Then they cautiously made their way back into a thicker part of the forest, and, sitting about a little spring, that bubbled from the side of a hill, they ate part of their lunch, saving some for late afternoon, in case they lost their way again, which did not seem likely, however.
Then came a little period of rest, and Marie proposed:
“Let’s go down now, and have it over with.”
“You’d think she was going to the dentist,” suggested Alice.