“Yes, after we struck it,” responded spokes-man Grace.  “We were so deep in the cedar grove we had no chance to strike trails.  Oh, girls, you should see the wonderful picnic grounds we discovered!” she enthused, with the very evident intention of getting Madaline’s mind off the man and the bag of wash.  “It is a perfect little park, all carpeted with pine needles, and canopied with the loveliest trees—­”

“All right, Grace,” cut in the lieutenant.  “But come along.  We must be making tracks.  No time just now for a panoramic view.  We will certainly have to take this hike all over again to compensate the girls for their disappointment.  However, no doubt we have learned something.”

“You bet,” Grace whispered to Madaline, as she fell into step for the homeward march.  “I learned that the bow-line will slip.”

“Hush,” begged Madaline.  “I am not sure yet but that—­you know—­ may be after us.”

“Wish it—­you know, was,” defied the other.

“What ever were you two up to?” asked Margaret, falling back to take step with the refugees.  “I am sure you were never fixing a single foot all that time.”

“We each had feet, you know,” Grace quickly made answer.  “And really there are the most interesting things in that wood.  I am going back first chance—­”

“You do!” threatened Madaline, with a glance Grace rightfully interpreted.  “I will never, as long as I live, go into the Cedar grove again.  It’s too scary for words.”

“I loved it,” drawled Grace.  “I am going again.  See if I don’t.  Want to come, Maggie?”

“Maybe, but just now I want an alibi for mother’s promised watercress.  Grace, you are a great scout!  You lure us all out here, with the most tempting offer of prize watercress, and here we go home with a bunch of last year’s cattails.  What shall we say to all our loved mothers, who allowed us to cut house work for this wonderful afternoon?” asked Margaret.

“Say that I, Grace Gollivar Philow, will go back first chance I get, and fetch watercress for the whole community.  Only next time I go, I am going to fetch a gun—­”

Margaret laughed, but Madaline shivered.  Scout girls were supposed to know how to use a gun, but fortunately Grace was still in the Tenderfoot class.  Perhaps before she could possibly get permission to try gunning, she would have outgrown her tendency to capture tramps with ostensibly stolen washes.  Madaline sincerely hoped so.

When almost in town Grace gained an opportunity to whisper to Madaline: 

“Now remember, Madie.  Never a word.  I am not sure my man got away, you know.  He may be tied up there yet.  And also, I may get someone to go with me and reclaim Mrs. Johnston’s wash.  I know about where it broke loose.”

CHAPTER IV

PATHS DIVIDING

But the happenings in the woods were quickly forgotten, at least so far as the scout girls were concerned, by the unexpected development in the case of the two girls, Dagmar and Tessie, who had stolen out of Flosston.