For answer Harriet sprang up and ran toward the tent. She did not reach it. She halted sharply as a man stepped in front of her. He was a typical follower of the road, dirty, unkempt and evil looking.
“What do you want here?” demanded Harriet, with a calmness that she was far from feeling.
“Not much. We want some money and something to eat,” leered the intruder.
“You will get neither here. What were you doing in that tent? You came here to rob us. Go away before we give you something you won’t like.”
Miss Elting and Hazel sprang up, scattering the tin dishes far and wide as they ran to Harriet’s assistance, when three other men stepped into view from the far side of the tent.
“If you folks will hand out your valuables, and make no racket about it, we won’t hurt you,” announced one of the newcomers. “What we want is a little help, that’s all. We’re poor fellows in distress. We ain’t the kind that rob women. We ask for assistance.”
Miss Elting’s revolver was in the tent where she could not reach it now. Had she had it with her she would have assisted the men in a way that they would not have liked. What to do under the circumstances she did not know. Neither Tommy nor Margery appeared able to do anything. They were frightened nearly out of their wits.
“You have a peculiar way of asking for assistance. Had you come to us in the proper manner we should have been glad to give you something to eat. Now we shall not. Neither have we money for you. I order you to go away from here. If you refuse the consequences will be on your own heads. We are not quite so defenseless as you might think. Will you go?”
The spokesman laughed. The spirit of the girls appeared to amuse him. The fellow had not the least idea that there was any other person about. He, with his companions, had seen the Meadow-Brook Girls come into the camp alone. Not another person so far as they knew, was within some miles of the place. They had watched the camp and waited until dark to carry out their plan of robbing the five women.
“Can you get it, do you think, Harriet?” questioned Miss Elting in a low tone.