“I’ll stay with Aunt Mattie, if I may,” Judy promptly volunteered.
“I’d like to myself,” added Ardeth. “While I’m there, I want to visit the cave again. If I could get one of those bats we heard about, we’d have a fine entry for the nature treasure chest.”
“The cave is out-of-bounds without a guide,” Miss Ward returned. “I talked to Miss Lubell about it. She thinks we may be able to arrange a tour for the entire camp later this week. The problem is to find a suitable guide. It seems that with the exception of Bart and Captain Hager, few persons go near the place.”
“Someone has been in there lately,” Judy said, reminding the teacher of the dead camp fire ashes they had seen at the cave entrance.
Shortly before two o’clock, the station wagon took Miss Ward, Judy and Ardeth to the village depot. A smoky haze hung over the mountainside, and the girls were somewhat disturbed to learn that a small forest fire had broken out across the river on Brady’s Ridge.
Enroute to the station they met a forest service truck and passed a ranger with a portable radio on his shoulder.
The driver of the station wagon pulled up, to ask the forest service man if the situation was considered at all serious.
“Everything’s under control,” the ranger assured him. “It’s a small brush fire. We’re keeping a close watch of the entire area though.”
“How did the fire start?” inquired Miss Ward.
The ranger shrugged. “Perhaps from a carelessly dropped cigarette. Or a motorist may have tossed a match out of a car window. The fire apparently started close to the road. You folks will be all right, if you don’t try to cross the river. Keep on this side.”