With that stranger our story has at present nothing more to do. It is necessary now that we follow the Banded Seven. For some two or three minutes later the Seven were destined to find themselves involved in a most delightful adventure indeed.
It was a very curious coincidence the plebes, as we know, were just then on the warpath for some yearlings, fully persuaded that some yearlings had had the temerity to enter their private cave and actually try to scare its owners away. Well, the coincidence was that at that very moment a party of yearlings was taking a walk through those woods.
That was where the fun came in.
Our friend Texas had gotten a chair and climbed up preparatory to squirming his way through the hole. He peered out just once and then popped back, fairly gasping with excitement.
“Wow!” he whispered. “They’re there!”
“They!” echoed the rest in amazement. “Who?”
Texas answered, and then turned to stare again. It is needless to say that the rest wanted to see as well as he, and that chairs and tables were hastily dragged up. A minute later seven eager heads were peering out through the bushes at the forest beyond. Sure enough, there were some yearlings, and over a dozen of them at that.
Now our plebe friends were no fools. If they had been they would never have had the fun they did. As we know, those yearlings knew nothing whatever about the existence of the cave. The plebes thought otherwise, but they speedily discovered their mistake.
In the first place Bull and his gang were the only ones who knew of the cave, and they were not in the crowd. These yearlings were none of them friendly to the Seven—all yearlings hated “Mallory’s gang.” But theirs was not the malignant anger that Bull had chosen. In the second place they were walking along, laughing and talking, as if nothing were farther from their minds than the thought that the high cliff which towered above them contained a dark and mysterious cave.
Mark turned suddenly and stared at his companions.