"Allen, if you go in there, I'm going, too," she cried, her eyes blazing. "Do you suppose I'm going to stand here, and see you get eaten up by a—a——"
"A what?" said Allen, putting his hands on her shoulders and laughing down at her.
"Well, whatever there is in the cave," she finished lamely. "Anyway, I'm going in with you."
"Betty, do be reasonable," he pleaded, but she flared up at that.
"Do you know, Allen, there is nothing a girl hates more than to have a boy ask her to be reasonable, when she knows she is? Anyway," her voice lowered and she pleaded her turn. "Anyway, it's lots worse to see anybody get hurt, anybody that you like, that is, than it is to get hurt yourself."
"You little soldier," Allen murmured. "But can't you see, Betty, that I am here to protect you from danger if there is any—not let you run right into it?"
"Then there is no reason why you should, either," she said obstinately.
"Will it make you feel any better if we get the others?" Allen asked, just a little exasperated, for he liked mysteries and hated to leave them unsolved. "We can get to them in five minutes if we run."
"Yes, that will be better," Betty agreed, seizing the suggestion eagerly. "But do you think we can find the cave again?"
"Easily," said Allen. "You see, we are pretty near the water right here and that bent old tree at the edge of the lake—see what I mean?—well, that's right on the line with the mouth of the cave. I guess it will be easy enough to find."