"Never mind the whiskers," said Mollie impatiently. "The thing is, somebody has to stay and guard the cave or it will disappear the way it did the other time, and you will bring the authorities over here for nothing."
"Well, of course you will have to stay until I get back," Will decided. "In the meantime, you can eat lunch. Good-bye, I'm off." And he led the way into the sunlight, which dazzled their eyes after the semi-gloom of the cave.
"But you will have to wait for the ferry," Allen called after him, "and it may not be along for some time."
"I'll take a chance," Will flung back. "I'll get there if I have to swim!"
"Maybe if you swim you can beat the ferry," suggested Allen, with a laugh.
"Say, that's a scheme! I guess I had better try it."
"Nonsense! You take the boat, old as it is."
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 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."