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Outdoor Girls on Pine Island

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<h2>CHAPTER XXIV</h2> <h3>LYING IN WAIT</h3> Somehow the lunch did not taste as good that day. Excitement had robbed the Outdoor Girls and their boy friends of appetite. They ate in a preoccupied way, eyes now on the cave so close at hand, now wandering in the direction from which the gypsies had come. If these latter should return before Will—well, then it would be time for a hurried exit on their part. They had no intention of being caught in the wolf's lair. It was Will, however, who reached the place first, and those waiting for him could have danced with relief when they heard his voice. A moment later they caught sight of him, accompanied by two men from the town. Judging from their gesticulations, the latter were more than ordinarily excited. Incidentally, let it be recorded that neither of them, the sheriff nor his deputy, had a beard. "Here they are!" Will cried, as he caught sight[213] of his friends. "I thought I was on the right track. Any news since I left?" "Not a thing," Frank answered. "The place has been absolutely deserted." "Good," said Will, then, turning to the men beside him, added: "This is the entrance we found to-day—you see the bushes hide it completely. But there is another and a larger opening at the other end—that's the one we stumbled into in the first place." The two men listened to his words attentively, and when he had finished set about little explorations of their own. "You say there is another opening at the farther side?" one of them inquired, pausing in the act of pushing aside the bushes. "That probably is the main one." "I think so," Will agreed, "but they both lead to the same place." Satisfied on this point, the two continued their investigations. They disappeared within the cave and the young folks waited impatiently for their reappearance. "Do you suppose they will bring the bags out here?" asked Mollie eagerly. "If they do, then we can really see what the things are like." "I hope so," Amy stated. But Betty started to speak dreamily, saying:[214] "What will those poor old gypsies do when they come back and find the place cleared out?" "They'll probably all go to the penitentiary," said Frank calmly. "The authorities will be on the lookout for them and they'll get caught all right when they do come back." "Oh!" said Grace, horror in her tone; for so far that side of the question had not occurred to her. "It's terrible to think of sending those poor things to jail." "Well, but they have earned it," Allen argued. "They must have been getting away with this thing for years." "It's a wonder Aunt Elvira never suspected anything," said Mollie, frankly puzzled. "Why, she didn't even mention the gypsies." "Probably thought the story too old to tell," Roy suggested. "We wouldn't have believed there was such a place on Pine Island ourselves if we hadn't seen it with our own eyes." "I suppose not," Mollie admitted, and then the sheriff and his deputy emerged into the daylight once more and each brought with him a bag. "Now we will find out how far their rascality has gone," one of the men, the elder of the two, asserted. "Perhaps you don't know it," he added, untying the fastenings of the first bag, "but you young people have done the community[215] a great service. People all over are complaining of stolen property, and, although we have suspected the gypsies for some time, so far we haven't been able to prove anything. However, this discovery of yours changes things considerably. Ah, what have we here?" The sun struck full upon the brilliant mass, making it glow and sparkle like a jewel. There were other and real jewels, too, in the collection, which they were soon to discover. "Oh," murmured Mollie, "if I could only find some trace of mother's silver service among those things!" The detective looked up sharply. "Have you folks lost anything?" he asked. "Oh, yes!" Mollie explained. "Mother lost her silver tea service that has been in the family for ever so many years, besides an expensive jet necklace. And, besides that, Miss Ford's father had his pet thoroughbred horse stolen." "And one of the big stores in Deepdale was looted," Betty added. "Oh, there was tremendous excitement there for a time." "Hum," said the spokesman, stroking his beardless chin thoughtfully. "It looks as if we might be able to trace a good many things." And he continued to explore the contents of the bag to the very bottom.[216] The other one was treated in like manner but nothing familiar met the watching eyes. Of course, all were disappointed, but Mr. Mendall, for such was the sheriff's name, warned the young people that it was not yet time to give up hope—there were plenty more bags where these had come from. "But we haven't time to go through all of them now," he stated. "I simply wanted to assure myself that the things were valuable. Now that I am satisfied on that score, the best thing to do is to get the loot away as soon as possible and then set somebody to watch for those gypsies. I never saw anything like them when it comes to nerve," he added, waxing enthusiastic on the subject. "Why, I believe if you were crossing a chasm with only a board between you and eternity, and they happened to need that board for kindling wood they would pull it out from under you without the slightest compunction." The girls laughed, but they could not help thinking that the statement was somewhat exaggerated. "But you are not going to leave the cave unprotected until you get the loot away?" Mollie cried. "Suppose they should come back in the meantime?"[217] "Then they would fall into a very prettily laid trap," was the grim answer. "No, my dear young lady, we are not going to leave the cave unguarded. I'll have men watching day and night until we catch them red-handed. It is sure to come sooner or later." The girls drew a relieved sigh. They had not liked the idea of being alone on this end of the island when the gypsies returned to find the cave empty. Mr. Mendall rose to his feet, gripping a bag in each hand, but together they were all that he could carry. "Here, Trent, you take one of these," he ordered. "I'll take the other and, armed with proof like this, we ought to be able to convince even those skeptical people on shore." Then he added, turning to Will: "If you will keep watch for another hour we will be back with more men to relieve you." Will readily promised, and once more the young folks were left alone. "You people don't have to stay just because I do," said Will, meaning to be generous. "You can go home, or go in swimming, or anything else to amuse yourselves you wish, while I do the sentry act." "Go home!" Mollie cried indignantly. "Why, how can you think of such a thing, Will, when[218] you know how interested we all are? I, for one, can't do anything but wait." "Nor I," said Grace. "They may be able to find your mother's silver, Mollie, but I'm afraid our poor dear Beauty is gone forever." "Oh, I wouldn't say that," Betty argued cheerfully. "Just because they didn't sew him up in a bag and stick him in a gloomy old cave is no reason why we can't find him. We may come across him any time." "Well, maybe," sighed Grace, and her tone was anything but optimistic. The friendly sheriff had set an hour for the time of his absence, but long before the hour had sped he returned, bringing with him six other men and a small hand-cart. "I don't see how you managed to get it through the woods," said Allen, referring to the hand-cart. "Oh, we stuck to the shore most of the time," said Mr. Mendall, cheerily, "and the rest of the way there are pretty broad paths. Now for the clearing up," and he led his half dozen followers after him into the cave. They made several trips until the crazy cart was heaped high with veritable treasure bags. "Oh, aren't you going to let us see what is in them now?" Betty entreated, intense disappoint[219]ment in her voice. "We are so anxious to know." "Sorry," said the big man kindly, "but I'll feel safer when this loot is safely locked up on shore. We'll let you know exactly what's in them as soon as we know ourselves," he promised. "Nothing could be fairer than that," said Allen cheerfully. "I guess since we've waited so long, we can afford to wait a little longer." "It won't be much longer," Mr. Mendall responded. "We want you all to know how grateful we are for this assistance. Without it we would probably have been a long time getting to the bottom of things. As I said before, you have rendered a great service to the community." And with this graceful little speech, Mr. Mendall and two of the men he had brought with him took their leave, carrying with them the precious bags, one of which Mollie so hoped would contain some, at least, if not the whole, of her mother's silver. The other four men were left behind to watch for the return of the gypsies. "Oh, I don't know how I can wait till to-morrow," wailed Mollie, as they started homeward. "I'm simply dying to know. I think they might have opened the things while we were there. [220]Horrid old things! The gypsies probably wouldn't be back for another two weeks, anyway, and there really wasn't any danger." "But to think we had the luck to find it!" cried Betty, her eyes still glowing. "And after we had given it up, too. Goodness, I'm glad you had that tumble, Mollie." "Thank you," sniffed Mollie. "Just the same," she added with a gleeful little laugh, "I'd give a great deal to see Aunt Elvira's face when she hears the story."[221] <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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