“There surely are some malicious mischief makers in this vicinity,” Helen Nash observed. “I suppose the person who did that was the one who threw a stone into our bonfire and hooted our watchword so hideously.”
“What shall we do?” Violet Munday questioned. “We can’t let this sort of thing go on indefinitely.”
“We must complain to the authorities,” Ernestine Johanson suggested.
“Do you suppose they would do anything?” Estelle Adler asked. “I understand it’s very hard to get these country officials busy on anything except a murder or a robbery.”
“Then we must organize a series of relief watches and take the law into our own hands,” Katherine proposed.
“Spoken like a true soldier,” commented Miss Ladd approvingly. “I was going to suggest something of the same sort, although not quite so much like anarchy.”
“Where do you suppose they hid that rope?” Marion Stanlock inquired.
“Somebody probably needed a clothesline.”
“Here come some people who may be able to throw some light on the situation,” said Marion.
All looked up and saw two girls apparently in their “upper teens,” dressed more suitably for an afternoon tea than a rustic outing. The latter were descending the wooded hill-shore, and had just emerged from a thick arboreal growth into a comparatively clear area a hundred yards away.