"Do you have an idea?" her brother asked.
"Yes," said Cindy. "If there were any men with guns, I'd take them with us. But all the men who aren't in Plains City waiting to record are off hunting Mindy, and there's no time to lose. Get your bull-roarer."
Alec got his bull-roarer from the wagon. Cindy sprang on Sparkle. Alec mounted Sunshine, and they raced away. With the ponies running so fast, it took less than an hour to reach the little trees and tie their mounts. Cindy turned to her brother.
"When I raise my hand, start your bull-roarer!" she said.
Alec said, "Count on it."
They wriggled back through the trees, bumping trunks here and there because, though it was almost as bright as day in the open country, it was black night among the trees. But the blackness had its advantages. The little opening they had crossed earlier in the day, where Alec would have room to swing his bull-roarer, was moon-sprayed and easy to find. Cindy whispered to Alec, "Stay right here until I raise my hand. Then give us as much noise as you can."
"Sure thing," Alec whispered back.
Cindy crawled through the final fringe of trees, looked down on the cave, and saw three men in it now. They were cooking around a small fire. Back of them, standing all by herself, was Mindy.
"Better eat something, girl," called the man who had been with Tom LaMott.
"Eat it yourself, you big baboon!" Mindy said fiercely.