JANE PLAYS EAVESDROPPER
Two hours later the Meadow-Brook Girls were startled to hear a voice
directly over their heads call:
"Girls, girls."
"Who is it?" asked Miss Elting cautiously.
"It's I. I'm up here, right where we heard George Baker talking this
morning."
"You nearly thcared me to death!" gasped Tommy.
"Speak more quietly, please," warned Harriet. "Jane, I wish you would
come up here. No; I'm not going to take you far. I want you within reach
of the boat."
"Do you see anything of the boys, Harriet?" asked Miss Elting.
"No, but I hear them occasionally. They are quite a distance ahead,
traveling fast, and ought to be back long before dark."
Jane lost no time in hurrying to the lower end of the creek in order to
join her friend. Harriet lay on the rocks, at a point where she could
not see the water, and there Jane joined her.
"What I want you to do," Harriet explained in whispers, at the same time
on the alert for sound or sign of the boys, "is to stay here, or not far
from here, so that you can warn the girls in case I signal by making a
cawing noise like a crow. I don't want the girls to make too much noise,
for it would spoil our fun if the boys should discover our hiding
place."
"But how am I going to get back if I have to do so in a hurry?"
"Can you go down a rope?"
"Show me the rope that I can't go down," boasted Jane.
"How about this one?" smiled Harriet, producing a coil of quarter inch
manila rope.
"Well, it's small, but I'll try it. Where do you wish me to climb?"
"I'll show you. Take hold of my feet and don't you dare let go. I surely
shall break my neck if you do." Harriet crawled over the edge, Jane
grasping her by the ankles to prevent her from falling. Then Harriet
tied one end of the rope to a root of a tree that stood on the brink.
"Look out below!" she warned, at the same time dropping the coil through
the foliage and shaking the rope until the coil finally dropped into the
stream. "Please draw the rope up to the boat," she called. "That's it.
Now pull me back, Jane."
Jane McCarthy did so with some assistance from Harriet, who clawed at
the roots of the tree and pushed with her hands until she finally got to
the top once more. Reaching there she got up and surveyed the work with
approval.
"Can you see the rope, Jane?"
Miss McCarthy shook her head.
"If you have to go down it be careful that you don't fall before you get
to the rope. Now do you understand?"
"Do I? This is going to be great fun. Won't the boys be surprised when
we play our great trick on them?"
"Provided they do not surprise us first," answered Harriet.
"Where are you going?"
"To follow George Baker's trail for a time. I can't tell beyond that
what I shall do. It will depend upon circumstances. Remember the signal.
I'm off now."
Jane watched Harriet slip away. There was undisguised admiration in the
eyes of Jane McCarthy. Not a sound could she hear from her companion, so
silently did the latter move away. After Harriet had gone, Jane called
down to her friends that she was going to move from the spot and that
they should keep quiet.
The hours passed slowly for Jane. She was too active to care to sit down
calmly and wait when there were things to be done, so Jane decided that
she too would explore a little on her own account. She started slowly,
edging down nearer to the shore, thus taking a different course from
that followed by her companion, toward the upper end of the island.
Jane had been gone about an hour when she heard voices directly ahead of
her. She glanced about in quest of a safe hiding place. Not knowing
exactly the direction that was being followed by those whose voices she
had heard, she decided to run toward home. A shout from behind her at
that juncture told her that at least one of the party had gotten between
her and the hiding place of the "Red Rover."
Without an instant's hesitation Crazy Jane ran to a low, bushy tree and
climbed up in its foliage with almost the quickness of a cat. Her
clothes suffered, but she did not care. Her sole desire now was to get
out of sight as quickly as possible. She would never forgive herself if
she were to be the means of their being discovered. As yet she had heard
no warning cry from Harriet Burrell.
Jane had hardly secreted herself in the foliage of the tree when another
hail sounded between her tree and home.
"Is that you, boys?" It was the voice of George Baker.
"Yes," answered Sam. "What's up?"
George made his way toward them. Jane could hear him forcing his way
through the bushes.
The two parties met in an open space a short distance from the tree that
held Jane. She was straining every muscle to get a glimpse of them.
"Some one has been along here since I passed," declared George. "I found
a footprint in the moss over there, and it was a woman's."
"So did we find the same thing," answered Larry. "There's something
queer about this whole island. I feel spooky all the time. Did you hear
any one?"
"No."
"Well, I did. Some one threw a stone at me. It dropped right at my
feet."
Jane giggled softly. Harriet had been playing tricks on them. She
wondered where Harriet was. Jane would have given the signal, but dared
not do so. In the first place she was not sure that she could imitate a
crow so as to deceive a person, and in the second place the boys were
too close to her to run any chances.
"They are here, all right, boys," cried George. "I was certain of it all
the time."
"It may be spooks," answered Larry Goheen.
"Well, just let them come out. I guess we can take care of any spooks
that we shall find on this island. But we must get busy again. It will
soon be dark. Spread out, fellows. I'll tell you what we'll do. Taking
that tree there for a centre"--waving toward the tree occupied by Crazy
Jane McCarthy--"we will circle about, making the circle larger each time
we start out."
"Wait. I'll climb the tree and take a look around," interjected Sam. He
started for the tree. His hands had grasped it ere Jane realized that
hers was the tree meant. For once in her life Crazy Jane McCarthy was at
a loss to proceed. She did not know what to do. But George unknowingly
came to her rescue.
"Never mind the tree. It's too low. You can't get high enough to look
over the tops of the bushes. You come along as I suggested."
"How ever am I going to get out of this?" muttered Jane. "Won't Harriet
be cross when she finds I've quit my post and gone out on my own
responsibility?" Her further reflections were interrupted by a loud
"caw, caw, caw!"
"What's that?" cried Larry in alarm.
"It's a crow, you tenderfoot," jeered George. "Didn't you ever hear one
before?"
"Harriet!" exclaimed Jane under her breath. "She has discovered where
the boys are. She's giving me warning and I dare not answer her. What
shall I do?"
"Yes, I have heard crows, but I never heard a crow with a voice like
that," answered Larry. "I'll bet it's no more crow than I am."
Once more the crow cawed. This time the bird's voice sounded much
farther away. Jane reasoned it out when she said to herself that Harriet
had probably turned her head away or else had cawed in a lower tone to
deceive the boys, who were now moving rapidly away, making as many
circles as there were boys in the party.
Jane dared not get down from the tree, but she began moving about,
seeking a better position from which she might look the ground over. If
the boys got far enough away she might try to run, but then there was
the probability of meeting their rivals, no matter which way she sought
to escape.
[Illustration: Jane Dared Not Get Down From the Tree.]
The crow cawed again.
"I tell you that isn't a crow," shouted Larry.
"Go on, go on!" called George.
Jane listening intently, concentrating her attention on what was being
said, rather than what she was doing, lost her footing. She grasped
frantically for a limb and caught one. But the limb did not hold. It
snapped and came away in her hand.
Crash! She landed on a bunch of small limbs and branches. She went right
on through them, tearing off leaves with frantic hands in her efforts to
get hold of something that would stop her progress. The foliage checked
her fall a little, but not sufficiently to prevent her falling the rest
of the way.
A yell from Larry Goheen, an answering shout from George, and another
from Sam, told that the boys had heard the fall. They began running
toward the tree, with shouts of triumph.
"We've got somebody," yelled George. "Look sharp, fellows."
"I'm on the job," howled Sam.
"Get clubs. It may be a spook," howled Larry.
The Tramp Club surrounded the tree, keeping their formation as well as
possible, not forgetting that their prey might slip away from them did
they not guard all sides. As yet they did not now who or what that prey
was. A moment later they halted with exclamations of surprise.
Directly beneath the tree in which Jane McCarthy had been hiding stood a
man. He was dark and swarthy, with high cheek bones and jet black hair.
He was an Indian half-breed. The fellow stood scowling, regarding the
boys with angry eyes. Broken limbs and scattered leaves showed where
Jane McCarthy had fallen from the tree, and broken bushes also showed
where she had floundered after reaching the ground.
The Tramp Club gazed at the scowling face of the half-breed in
speechless amazement.