“Well, make up your minds, and we’ll all go together,” urged Cora. “We can go up in the motor boat as far as possible, and take buckboards the rest of the way. We’d like to have you boys on hand when we begin the investigation of Camp Surprise.”
“Oh, ho! Afraid?” laughed Walter. “I thought there was a mouse in the woodpile somewhere, Jack, my boy!”
“Nothing of the sort!” came from Cora. “Besides, you’re thinking of the mouse and the lion. It is an African gentleman of color who makes the woodpile his habitation.”
“That’s right,” admitted Walter. “I never was very good at dates anyhow.”
“Fig paste is more to your liking. Have a chocolate,” urged Bess.
“We want you along to bear testimony when we have routed out the mischief-makers,” said Cora, after the laughter had subsided. “Your bungalow is near ours, and we can call to you to come and hold the disturbers when we capture them.”
“Is that what you’re going to do?” asked Jack.
“Certainly,” returned Belle, as if the girls had never hesitated.
“Well, it would be a pity to disappoint you,” Walter declared. “We’ll go when they do, Jack. But—whisper—they’ll be more than a week yet. I know girls.”
“You only think you do,” mocked Cora. “We’ll be ready before you are.”