"I'll fall on Ada
with such force she'll think an avalanche has struck her."
Bob sent some of the boys to trace the steps, and while they were gone
outlined his plans to the others. Once they knew where the marauders
were, they were to spread out fan-shape and swoop down upon the enemy.
"I figure they'll get a safe distance away and then stop to eat the
lunch," said Bob. "It is hardly likely that they will take the stuff back
to school with them."
"But Ada went to Edentown," protested Libbie. "We saw her in the bus,
didn't we, girls? And Ruth, too."
"They could easily come back in the same bus," said Betty. "Indeed, I'm
willing to wager that is just what they did. Miss Prettyman as a
chaperone probably killed any desire Ada had to go shopping."
The scouts came back after fifteen or twenty minutes to report that they
had discovered the invaders camped under a large oak tree and preparing
to open the boxes.
"They were laughing and saying how they'd put one over on you," said
Gilbert Lane.
"Well, they won't laugh long," retorted Bob grimly. "How many are there?"
"Marshall Morgan, Jim Cronk, the Royce boys, all three of 'em, Hilbert
Mitchell and George Timmins," named Gilbert, using his fingers as an
adding machine.
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