"I'll show you. Take hold of my feet and don't you dare let go. I surely shall break my neck if you do." Harriet crawled over the edge, Jane grasping her by the ankles to prevent her from falling. Then Harriet tied one end of the rope to a root of a tree that stood on the brink. "Look out below!" she warned, at the same time dropping the coil through the foliage and shaking the rope until the coil finally dropped into the stream. "Please draw the rope up to the boat," she called. "That's it. Now pull me back, Jane."
Jane McCarthy did so with some assistance from Harriet, who clawed at the roots of the tree and pushed with her hands until she finally got to the top once more. Reaching there she got up and surveyed the work with approval.
"Can you see the rope, Jane?"
Miss McCarthy shook her head.
"If you have to go down it be careful that you don't fall before you get to the rope. Now do you understand?"
"Do I? This is going to be great fun. Won't the boys be surprised when we play our great trick on them?"
"Provided they do not surprise us first," answered Harriet.
"Where are you going?"
"To follow George Baker's trail for a time. I can't tell beyond that what I shall do. It will depend upon circumstances. Remember the signal. I'm off now."
Jane watched Harriet slip away. There was undisguised admiration in the eyes of Jane McCarthy. Not a sound could she hear from her companion, so silently did the latter move away. After Harriet had gone, Jane called down to her friends that she was going to move from the spot and that they should keep quiet.