“I heard several boys,” asserted Connie. “They were laughing!”
Drawn by a confused babble, the girls turned down an off-shoot path to try to discover what was wrong. Before they had gone many yards the voices became plainer.
“I can hear Mrs. Myles!” declared Veve. “She’s in trouble!”
“It does sound that way,” agreed Miss Gordon, moving ahead of the Brownies. “Hurry, girls! We must find out what is wrong.”
At a dog trot, they all hastened on, soon coming to a small clearing. As the trees opened up ahead, the girls plainly saw what was causing the commotion.
Mrs. Myles stood beneath the branches of a black walnut tree, hemmed in by four boys. On the ground beside her lay a sack half filled with nuts.
“Stealing walnuts—stealing walnuts!” the boys chanted.
One of the naughty lads picked up a nut from the ground and threw it at Mrs. Myles.
As she angrily started toward him, another darted in and quickly upset her sack of walnuts.
“Why, those mean boys!” exclaimed Connie. “Stop it!”