The guardian halted sharply and faced her companion. She knew Harriet Burrell too well not to understand that the girl’s question was significant.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I saw some one not far from camp when we were eating our supper,” was Harriet’s quiet announcement.
“You are sure of that?”
“Yes; it was just beyond the woods there. At first I thought it a fence post; then all at once the post moved. I saw it was a person.”
“What was the person doing, Harriet?”
“The person appeared to be watching us. I also discovered something else. The person was a woman.”
Miss Elting threw back her head and laughed merrily.
“I don’t think we need to be very much alarmed at that. So long as it wasn’t a tramp you saw, we won’t disturb ourselves.”
“She was a strange looking creature,” continued Harriet. “I couldn’t make her out very well. All at once she disappeared in the most mysterious fashion. You said something. I glanced up, then back to the place where the woman had been standing and she had gone. It happened in less than half a dozen seconds. She would have to be a pretty lively person to get out of sight in that time, wouldn’t she, Miss Elting?”