Having read the warning message, Penny whirled around to gaze toward the bushes on the left side of the path. All now was still, with not the slightest movement of leaves to reveal the presence of the one who had shot the arrow.
“It’s that man who talked so unpleasantly to me from the mansion window!” she thought. “Why, he might have struck me with the arrow! I’ll put an end to his target practice!”
Acting impulsively, she made a sudden dive for the bushes, jerking them apart to expose the one who had followed her. No one was there.
The grass, however, was trampled, and some distance away, she heard a scurry of footsteps.
“Trying to get away!” she thought grimly. “Not if I can prevent it! I’ll have it out with him and learn why he’s warning me my life is endangered!”
The footsteps fast were dying away. Listening intently, Penny decided that the person who had shot the arrow was stealing through the bushes toward the river path.
Seeking the intersection of the two paths, the girl stole noiselessly down the cindered trail sloping toward the beach. She had guessed correctly. In a moment she heard an agitation in the bushes nearby and knew that the person she sought was struggling through a tangle of underbrush.
Soon the bushes parted and a thin girl in blue shirt and slacks stepped out onto the cindered path. In one hand she carried an Indian bow with a quiver of arrows, while with the other, she brushed dry leaves from her long, dark hair.
Having expected to see a man, Penny was startled. As she opened her lips to speak, the girl saw her and was brought up short. She gasped in dismay, turned, and with astonishing speed darted down the path leading to the beach.
“Wait!” called Penny.