“Yes, that must be it. Half-past twelve, the signal says, she passed here. That is nearly an hour ago. Come, girls, let’s get over that fence in a hurry and be off. Once through the orchard, and they can’t see us,” urged Harriet Burrell.
“Wait; let’s be certain that we are right,” warned the guardian. She took a careful survey about them. Nothing of an alarming nature was to be seen. It was just an ordinary country scene, with the sun shining down overhead, the air warm and oppressive about them.
“Everything appears to be all right,” she decided finally. “Yes, go ahead, girls.” Miss Elting was the first to climb the roadside fence and drop down on the other side. She was quickly followed by the four girls of her party. “Keep on the alert, girls. If any of you catches sight of the boys drop down behind trees and don’t speak.” The guardian had entered into the spirit of the contest with an enthusiasm equal to that of the girls themselves. “I can’t believe that they have gotten ahead of us. It isn’t probable that that was what Jane meant when she marked the danger signal on the fence here.”
“Wait,” called Harriet. Springing back over the fence she wrote the letters “O. K.” underneath the broken arrow and the triangle. This was for the purpose of informing Jane that her message had been read and understood in case she were to return that way later on, as she was more than likely to do.
This done they started briskly in among the trees of the orchard. They had not gone far before Tommy, who was in the lead, uttered a shrill little scream of alarm. The girls had started to run toward her when they halted abruptly. Just ahead of them stood a great hulking bull with head lowered to the ground, his small eyes fixed menacingly on the girls. The bull uttered a deep, rumbling bellow.
“Thave me! Oh, thave me!” wailed Tommy.
“Run for your lives, girls,” shouted the guardian.
They turned and were about to flee for the road when they came to another abrupt stop. To the right and the left of them were two other bulls, each with lowered head, pawing the dirt with first one front foot then the other.
All at once the girls understood the meaning of Jane’s danger sign. She had seen the bulls in passing, and knowing that her companions would pass that way, had halted to leave a warning for them.
“Quick! Into the trees!” shouted Miss Elting. She grabbed the trembling Tommy and helped her up into a tree, Harriet in the meantime performing the same service for Margery and Hazel. Then the guardian and Harriet began scrambling up, but ere they had gotten off the ground the bulls charged them.