“Look, girls!” she exclaimed. “They’re at it
again!”
The four girls could see white objects moving
to and fro, apparently going through a weird
ritual. Nancy sprang to her feet.
“We’ll have to hurry if we want to see any-
thing,” she said. “Come on! We’ll take the short
cut!”
They dashed across the lawn, flung open the
gate, and ran through the woods. Nancy led the
way up the river path, then to the sparsely
wooded hillside. Not until they were dose to the
camp did she stop.
“We’ll have to be very careful,” she warned in
a whisper. “Scatter and hide behind trees. And
don’t make a sound.”
The girls obeyed, Bess staying as close to
George as possible. Nancy found a huge oak tree
well up the hill, and hid behind it. From this
vantage point she could see fairly well.
Nancy had been there for less than five minutes
when she heard the sound of several cars ap-
proaching. They came up the woods road and
stopped at the foot of the hill, not far from the
nature camp.
Several men stepped from the cars. Nancy was
too far away to see their faces, but she did observe
that they quickly donned long white robes with
head masks, and joined the other costumed
figures who were on the brow of the hill.
For nearly ten minutes the members of the
cult flitted back and forth, waving their arms and
making weird noises. Then they moved single
file toward the cavern and vanished.
Suddenly Nancy felt herself grasped by an
arm. She wheeled sharply and then laughed
softly.
“George! For goodness sake, don’t ever do that
again! You scared me silly!”
“What do you make of it, Nancy?”
“It’s the strangest thing I’ve ever seen. I
haven’t been able to figure it out.”
“What should we do next?” asked Bess, who
had joined them.
“Let’s follow them into the cave!” George pro-
posed rashly.
“And be caught?” Nancy returned. “No, this is
serious business. I think it’s time to go home
and plan our own costumes.”
“I wonder why so many people came here in
automobiles?” Joanne mused, as the girls walked
off slowly.
“That’s what I’ve been wondering,” Nancy
replied soberly, “but I think I might know.”
“Why?” her friends demanded.
“It looks to me as if only a few persons are
actually living in the Black Snake Colony. Ap-
parently they want to give the impression that
the organization is a large one, so they have these
other people come the night set for the cere-
monials.”
“There were certainly a lot of men in those
cars,” added Bess.
“Why should they go to all that trouble?” Jo-
anne asked doubtfully.
“I don’t know,” Nancy admitted, “unless it’s
because they’re trying to hide something they’re
doing here.” She changed the subject. “I think
we’ll be able to make costumes like theirs if you’ll
give us some old pillowcases and sheets, Jo. When
we visit the cave, we must disguise ourselves to
make our scheme work!
CHAPTER XI
A Midnight Message
“When shall we visit the cave?” George asked.
“As soon as we can,” Nancy answered. “Of
course we must help Jo and her grandmother
with the work.”
Since there was no further evidence of activity
on the hillside, the girls went to bed.
The next morning George remarked, as she
helped Nancy make her bed, “What do you sup-
pose those men do between ceremonials? It cer-
tainly is strange how much time they spend in
that cave!”
“What puzzles me is those automobiles that
were on the hillside,” Bess said. “Why did they
come? Surely those men were here for something
besides ballet dancing. What’s your guess,
Nancy?”
“I’m afraid I haven’t any answer. But I mean to
find one for Mrs. Byrd’s and Jo’s sakes.”
The three girls learned that Reuben was due
to be absent most of the day and offered to do his
chores. During the morning they picked cherries
and took them to town to sell at a local market.
When they returned, a small, strange car was
standing in the driveway. Loud voices were
coming from the living room.
“I don’t have to sell and I won’t sell!” Mrs.