“Eh?  What?”

“I said don’t worry.  We aren’t afraid.”

“Thank you, Miss.  You are the right sort.  Yes, we’ll take care of the gentleman, if it should prove to be some one trying to do us harm.”

“You know who it is?”

Janus shook his head.

“You think you know?”

Again the guide shook his head dubiously.

“I might, but I don’t,” he replied somewhat ambiguously.  “It isn’t the party I had in mind.  He isn’t around these parts now.  Jim is going to see the sheriff when he gets back to Compton and have the officer look into this bridge affair.  I was a deputy sheriff in the county once.  The present sheriff will do anything for me.  Besides, this is a matter he’s bound to look into, anyway.  Here, Jim, get hold of that end-pole.”  Harriet sprang to the other end and raised the pole, setting the lower end firmly on the ground, motioning to Jane to make fast the side wall on one side.  Hazel also ran around to the other side, Margery to an end, then, for a few moments, the Meadow-Brook Girls gave an exhibition of their skill in pitching a tent, while Janus and Jim stood back in open-mouthed wonder.

“There!” exclaimed Harriet, flushed of face, eyes sparkling, “that is the way we make camp.”

“Well, I swum!” muttered Janus.  “It beats all.”

Jane turned the blankets on the line.  By this time the clothing in the packs was fairly well dried, but it looked wrinkled and old.  Harriet now began digging a trench around the sides of the tent, so they should not be flooded in case of rain.  Janus took the pick from her, completing the job.  The Meadow-Brook Girls moved rather rapidly for the slow-going Janus.  He was unused to such activity, especially in women.

Margery and Tommy were busy clearing away the supper things.  Jim went out to bring the horses in nearer to camp, where he tied them up for the night.  At Janus’s direction the driver also made a bed for the two men out among the trees some distance from the tent that was to be occupied by Miss Elting and her charges.  The preparations for the night went on with rather more confusion than usual, the party having been more or less upset by the occurrences of the evening; beside which, they had not yet become familiar with the routine that marked the well-ordered camp.

“There isn’t a dry piece of cloth in the place,” complained Margery, after examining the line of blankets and clothing.  “What are we going to do?”

“Sit up until the blankets, at least, have dried out,” answered Jane.  “They are nearly dry now.  See!  Harriet is doing something to them.  What are you trying to do, darlin’?”

“Spread out some blankets on the ground and I’ll show you,” answered Harriet laughingly.  “It is an Indian trick I learned a long time ago.”