CHAPTER EIGHT
WHAT HAPPENED DURING A THUNDER STORM
No further remarks were made to Nita, but every one wondered if she realised the importance of the written law which had been pinned to her pillow where she must have seen it.
For the next hour the Band was very busy preparing dinner and then removing its traces. Nita did not join them and no one felt inclined to go and coax her out of her sulks.
The food was placed in the cupboard and Miss Miller made two propositions: A walk to Baldy Pate on a Nature Quest, or a swimming lesson. As both could be enjoyed, it remained for the girls to say which should be first.
Zan explained. "If we go on a hike we'll be warm on our return and a swim will feel good and cool us off."
The others agreed, so Hilda was sent for the whittling knife and Zan for the hatchet. Miss Miller went to her tent and took a small bottle of chloroform and several layers of absorbent cotton, besides a few specimen boxes and a butter-fly net. Jane had a note-book in case they wished to enter any items. Nita had not appeared, so the Band started without paying any attention to her, knowing it to be the kindest procedure in the end.
They had not gone a hundred yards when Miss Miller suggested that each one go a different direction through the woods and meet on the top of Baldy to rest and relate experiences.
The idea met with approval and each one started alone to find a new and adventurous way leading to the mountaintop.