“So that’s the reason for your gloom,” Louise remarked wisely. “As a detective you don’t rate.”
“Something like that. Jerry met Mrs. Deline at the hotel today and he thought her a very charming lady.”
“Oh!” Louise laughed. “No wonder you’re all smashed to bits!”
Penny got up from the grass and began preparations for supper. She peeled a pan of potatoes and opened a can of corn.
“We need a bucket of water from the spring,” she said suggestively. “Want to help me carry it?”
“I will,” Louise agreed without enthusiasm.
The trail led up a steep path to a rocky ledge from which cool spring water gushed out of a steel pipe. Penny drank deeply and then hung her tin bucket over the outlet to fill.
“It’s starting to get dark,” she observed, noticing how shadowy the woods had grown. “I hope Dad returns to camp soon.”
“Someone’s coming now,” Louise remarked as her keen ears detected the sound of footsteps on the trail below.
“Probably one of the rangers.”