After that there was utter silence broken only by an occasional bird twittering and the sighing of the wind in the trees. Now and then a small plop could be heard as something disappeared in the water.
“I don’t see anything, do you?” Holly whispered after what seemed an eternity of crouching among the ferns and waiting.
“Just ripples.”
Judy suspected that the beavers, swimming under water, made the ripples that kept appearing and disappearing on the surface of the pond. They looked exactly like the ripples that had appeared when Holly threw in the apple core. But nothing had fallen in so it must be something coming up from underneath the water. Judy had her camera ready, hoping one of the beavers would pop out and pose for a picture.
“I don’t believe there are any beavers in there,” Holly said at last.
Judy was beginning to agree with her. It was growing so dark she could no longer see the ripples, but she could still hear the plops. Once she thought she saw a beaver’s head and snapped a picture, but she couldn’t be sure she had photographed anything except an empty pond.
“Let’s go,” Holly urged when it was quite dark. “Peter didn’t get your message, and I told you Horace and Honey wouldn’t keep their appointment.”
“You told me a lot of things,” Judy retorted. “I changed my plans for the whole day because of what you told me, but I’m still hoping to prove you’re wrong about some things.”
“You mean about love? I hope you do.” Holly shivered suddenly. “Let’s go home,” she said. “These ferns are positively creepy. Snakes may be hiding in them.”
“It’s not very likely,” Judy told her.