Stooping to pick up a pebble, the old lady hurled it contemptuously toward the bridge. Her aim though carelessly taken was surprisingly good. The stone fell with a loud, resounding thud on the bridge planks.
“Let ’em wonder where that came from!” the old lady chuckled gleefully. “Let ’em wonder.”
Wrapping her black coat about her, she quickly retreated into the woods.
CHAPTER
16
A FRUITLESS SEARCH
“We’ll give Mrs. Lear a little start and then follow,” Penny instructed. “Undoubtedly she’ll return to the brook to meet the Headless Horseman.”
“Then you believe she’s been behind the scheme from the first?” Louise asked, backing away from the cliff’s crumbling edge. Below, on the grounds of Sleepy Hollow, men roved about with lighted lanterns. Apparently no very vigorous effort was being made to pursue the mysterious rider into the woods.
“Who else?” Penny countered. “At least she’s been a party to it.”
“But she’s not actually the rider. We know that.”
“She certainly knows the identity of the man,” Penny said with conviction. “And we should too before the night’s over. Come on!”
Fearful lest Mrs. Lear get too much of a start, the girls set off in pursuit. However, they had not gone far before they realized that the old lady was not returning to the brook. Instead she seemed to be heading for home.