Part 18 (2/2)

Having a little of this in her mind, Mollie gave voice to it at the breakfast table.

”I must say,” she began, b.u.t.tering a piece of bread energetically, ”that it isn't like us Outdoor Girls to let anything scare us into staying near the house. Why, I declare, I don't believe there is one of us who would dare poke her nose past that rose bush in front of the porch after sundown. That's a pretty state of affairs, isn't it?”

”Well, you needn't glare at me as if it were all my fault,” retorted Amy with spirit. ”I'm sure I didn't wish the horrible old thing on us.”

”I only wish I knew who did,” sighed Grace, adding, with a sudden burst of ferocity: ”I would wring his neck.”

”Suppose somebody suggests something we can do about it,” said Betty reasonably. ”I'm sure that after the other night n.o.body could blame us for being frightened.”

”No. But there is one thing I can blame you for,” said Mollie, glaring morosely at her chum. ”And that is for not letting the horrible old thing drown itself when it so very evidently wanted to. If that had happened all our worries would have been over.”

”Goodness, Mollie, what a horrible idea!” Betty protested.

”I don't think it was a horrible idea,” Grace put in. ”I think it was just about the finest idea I ever heard of.”

”Yes,” added Amy with a deceptive mildness, ”if you hadn't called out just then, Betty, the whole thing would have been over and the Thing would have been drowned. And then,” she added plaintively, ”we would have been able to enjoy our summer.”

”It really wasn't any of our business, you know,” Grace finished, moodily.

For a moment Betty sat and stared at them, undecided whether to be amused or indignant. However, the latter emotion won and she turned upon the girls with flas.h.i.+ng eyes.

”I think you are all perfectly horrid,” she said. ”And I would think you were worse if I weren't perfectly sure that you don't really mean what you say. Why, just suppose,” she went on earnestly, ”that we had willingly permitted that man to commit suicide? Why, we would have been just as guilty as if we had murdered him!”

”But he may have done it since anyway,” muttered Mollie stubbornly. ”He didn't have to wait to ask our permission, and there are plenty of times that he can commit suicide when we are not around--if he really wants to do it.”

”What he or anybody else does when we are not around, is not our business,” answered Betty. ”We can't help what happens in our absence.”

”You seem to take it for granted that it is a man,” Mollie continued, still stubbornly argumentative. ”But I am not so sure about that. The several times that we have seen the--the--Thing--it has looked as much animal as human to me.”

”Well, we won't argue that point,” said Betty, rising and beginning to clear away the dishes, ”because we don't know anything about it.”

”That is just exactly what I am getting at,” said Mollie earnestly, leaning forward and resting her elbows on the table while the girls watched her interestedly. ”We don't know anything about it, but that is no reason why we should sit back and twiddle our thumbs and start at shadows.”

”Well, for goodness' sake, tell us what's on your mind,” prompted Grace impatiently. ”We haven't sat back and twiddled our thumbs and started at shadows because we enjoyed it, you know.”

”Now my plan is this,” said Mollie, ignoring Grace, who shrugged her shoulders and reached for her candy box. ”Suppose we take a tramp through the woods to the head of the falls? It is a beautiful hike and the scenery at the falls is magnificent. But aside from that we will have a chance to find out something about this thing that will do away with the mystery.”

”If it doesn't do away with us at the same time,” said Amy so ruefully that they had to laugh at her.

”Well, what do you say?” asked Mollie, looking around the circle of thoughtful faces--her glance a dare.

For a moment it looked as if they all might refuse to go, but then their sporting blood came to the fore and they decided for the adventure.

But when they told Mrs. Irving about their project and begged her to say yes to it, she looked very doubtful and only consented at last on the proviso that she was to go with them. This they were only too glad to have, and a few minutes later the lodge hummed with excitement and preparation once more. To the Outdoor Girls, active and fun-loving by nature, to be quiet for a few days was nothing short of torture. So now, even though there was still more than a little fear of the ”Thing” in their hearts, they found relief in the promise of adventure.

They put up some sandwiches and fruit in a basket in case they were not able to get home by noon. Then they locked the door of the little lodge and started down the steps. They hesitated before starting into the woods, and Mollie had a happy thought.

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