The girls were only too glad to carry their campstock back to the small hut and there left it in the custody of Mr. Gilroy, while they sought still further for blankets or bedding.
The Chief soon came down the trail and stopped at the camp long enough to hear about the recovery of the stolen food. Then, hearing that the detective was still out hunting for the bedding, he left the scouts to cook some supper.
As they worked to settle the camp again, Mr. Gilroy sat in the sun thinking. Suddenly he exclaimed, "I have it!"
"What?" cried four voices as they ran over to see if he had caught the vandals with his idea.
"The true story of this entire plot. Now, it is this way:
"Those blackguards saw your party drive Hepsy up the trail going to the Cave. Maybe they hid and heard you talk about the place. And they knew that if you explored the Caves you must find me and doubtless would endeavor to help me.
"They counted on that work taking you much longer than it actually did--for they know nothing about scouts and how they have to understand 'First Aid.' But they raced down the trail as fast as they could go, hoping to get away from this region before their new atrocity was published.
"Then they reached your camp and found the food-stuff and the other things. To prevent you from remaining at camp again it would be necessary to deprive you of food and furniture. So they carried everything off and hid it in the bushes where you wouldn't find it so easily. The food they covered, for that they wanted for themselves, in case they had to hide for a long time.
"They figured that it would take you some time to carry me down the hillside, and much longer to go on to Freedom. By that time they could be miles away over the mountain-top.
"But you upset most of their calculations by unexpectedly appearing on the scene with me, and then going right on down the trail. If we had passed a night here, or even delayed a few hours until darkness fell, perhaps we would never again have seen the day."
"Oh! You make me shiver, Mr. Gilroy," exclaimed Ruth.
"Don't shiver over a theory, Ruth! That's all it is, for Mr. Gilroy said so before he told his story," laughed Julie.
"Julie, you're right! Mr. Gilroy ought to have more sense than to theorize in such a fear-inspiring way," added Joan, trying to be jocular but feeling creepy.
