"Now, Harriet," urged Miss Elting in a half whisper.
"Yes. I will go around to the other side of the camp. That will be the most difficult position to get away from, so I am choosing it for myself. Jane, you will remain here, while Miss Elting and Hazel will take a position halfway between us. You see that will enable us practically to surround the camp. After you hear me, wait a moment, then give them a thriller."
Harriet, accompanied by the guardian and Hazel, stepped promptly away. After going on for some distance, the girl directed Miss Elting and Hazel to stop and remain where they were, except that they were to separate, yet keep within easy call of each other. This detail arranged, Harriet went on.
According to previous arrangement, Jane, Miss Elting and Hazel gradually crept nearer to the camp, continuing until they could make out the figures of the boys quite plainly. The latter were sitting about the campfire. Their attitude was one of dejection. They had been outwitted and they knew it.
"If we don't find those girls to-night, then to-morrow morning we'll get out of here," announced George. "They know that they have won and we'll let them come and tell us so rather than hunt all summer for them."
"What about that half-breed?" asked Sam. "I think we'd better find out who he is. I didn't like the looks of that fellow a little bit."
"Neither did I," agreed George. "Queer we never saw him around here before."
"You must remember this is a large lake," Billy informed them. "He probably is a fisherman who hangs out on the island, and who resented our encroaching upon his preserves. I think I saw the same fellow once in a canoe, but he was so far away that I don't think I would know him were we to meet face to face."
"There are too many mysterious things on this island," averred Larry Goheen, with emphasis. "I, for one, shall be glad to get away from it. I know there are spooks here."
"Spooks!" jeered George. "Who's afraid of spooks? Who—" George's voice trailed off almost into a whisper. "I heard something," he exclaimed.