It was decided that they separate into pairs—Allen and Betty, Frank and Mollie, Roy and Grace, and Amy and Will, advancing in different directions through the woods. They were to return to the camp in an hour or two and report what they had found—if anything.
“And we want to make it a point to cover as much distance as possible,” said Will, just before they started. “No stopping on the way, you know.”
“Speak for yourself, Will Ford,” Mollie retorted. “You needn’t worry about the rest of us.”
Then they parted, setting off briskly on their tour of inspection.
For quite a distance Betty and Allen were silent, occupied with their rather sober thoughts. Then Betty, realizing that they had not spoken for a long while, looked up at Allen teasingly.
“Don’t look so dreadfully black and cross,” she said. “Have I offended you, m’lord?”
“Heavens, no,” said Allen, adding with a deepening of the scowl on his forehead: “I want to find those tramps, Betty, and put them where they can’t cause you any more trouble. I can’t tell you how worried I am about leaving you here, alone and unprotected.”
“I’m not alone, the girls are with me,” Betty protested, with a maddening smile.
“Bosh!” retorted Allen impolitely, at which the Little Captain only chuckled.
There followed another long silence in which they conscientiously searched the surrounding woodland in an attempt to discover something that might give them a clew to the whereabouts of the tramps. Again it was Betty who broke the silence.