For answer Betty stooped and began untying the cord that held the flap while Grace and Amy came over to see what was wrong. Before they could speak, Mollie motioned them to silence and they stood, frozen into immobility, fearing they knew not what.
Swift as thought, Betty flung back the flap of the tent, shading her eyes to see out into the dark. A wild gust of wind rushed viciously into the tent.
At the same moment out in the night two black figures flung into the woodland, crouched almost double, running. Over Betty’s shoulder Mollie had seen also, and now she clasped the Little Captain’s arm convulsively.
“Come inside, Betty, come inside!” she cried wildly, and dazedly Betty obeyed, letting fall the flap of the tent. It flung crazily back and forth, whipped by the savage wind, but the Little Captain never noticed. She was regarding the girls with dilated eyes.
“That time,” she whispered, “I saw for myself!”
CHAPTER XX
THE HOLD-UP
To say that the Outdoor Girls were thoroughly shaken by this experience would be to treat the matter lightly. They were filled with consternation.
It was certain now that there were tramps in the neighborhood, tramps who chose stormy dark nights to prowl and spy upon them.
“What can they want?” Amy demanded, half tearfully. “We haven’t a thing with us that would be worth their while to steal——”