Having a little of this in her mind, Mollie gave voice to it at the
breakfast table.

"I must say," she began, buttering a piece of bread energetically, "that
it isn't like us Outdoor Girls to let anything scare us into staying near
the house. Why, I declare, I don't believe there is one of us who would
dare poke her nose past that rose bush in front of the porch after
sundown. That's a pretty state of affairs, isn't it?"

"Well, you needn't glare at me as if it were all my fault," retorted Amy
with spirit. "I'm sure I didn't wish the horrible old thing on us."

"I only wish I knew who did," sighed Grace, adding, with a sudden burst of
ferocity: "I would wring his neck."

"Suppose somebody suggests something we can do about it," said Betty
reasonably. "I'm sure that after the other night nobody could blame us for
being frightened."

"No. But there is one thing I can blame you for," said Mollie, glaring
morosely at her chum. "And that is for not letting the horrible old thing
drown itself when it so very evidently wanted to. If that had happened all
our worries would have been over."

"Goodness, Mollie, what a horrible idea!" Betty protested.

"I don't think it was a horrible idea," Grace put in. "I think it was just
about the finest idea I ever heard of."