Having reached the top, Hepsy waited, as was her custom, for the girls to climb in, but they merely crept over the back of the seat and then shouted: "Gid'dap!"

Perhaps it was this pulling and scrambling that moved the seat from the splintered groove, or perhaps it had not been securely slid into place when the two girls adjusted it. No one knew it had worked its way out of the slot and now was merely sitting on top of the side-rails; but the combined weight of the three girls held it firmly while the buckboard ran over level ground.

So elated were the scouts over the success of their hoax that they determined to repeat the trick at the next ascent. They sang and shouted with exuberant spirits, so that Mrs. Vernon had to hold her ears with both hands, while Betty drove.

But Hepsy became annoyed at such unseemly hilarity, and switched her tail impatiently several times. Still the scouts kept on laughing and shouting, so Hepsy expressed her irritation in starting to run.

The added speed only made the scouts laugh and shout louder, and Hepsy ran faster. As this was exactly what they all had wanted for an hour past, the girlish voices rang merrily over the hills and came back in mad echoes.

Now Hepsy determined she would not stand for such nonsense, but there was the steepest ascent of all just ahead. It was the last, but longest, on the mountainside.

Hepsy's run turned into a gallop that rocked the vehicle from side to side, so that Betty could not control the animal. Mrs. Vernon hastily took the reins and tried to soothe the horse, but it seemed as if Hepsy said: "No, you laughed at the way I was fooled, so now I will have my turn!"

The three girls on the rear seat had to cling to each other to avoid being rolled out of the buckboard; still they never dreamed that much of the swaying was due to the seat being free from the clutch of the grooves.

Just ahead, Mrs. Vernon saw a huge flat bowlder which would prove an awful jolt unless Hepsy could be guided so as to avoid it. The Captain tugged with all her strength on the left rein, but the stubborn horse kept straight on.

Suddenly the front wheel struck the rock and the vehicle went up on one side and down on the other. With the mighty lurch, the seat toppled over, and the three occupants were shot into the bushes and gra.s.s growing beside the woodland path. The hamper rolled off afterward and stood upside down in the road.

Once over the obstacle, however, the buckboard righted itself again, and Hepsy kept galloping on as if her life depended upon it. All the shouting and yanking at the reins, that the Captain was capable of, had no effect on the animal.

She climbed the ascent in a galloping pace, and never stopped until the pathway ended in front of the Cave. Then she stood heaving and breathing as if every gasp would be her last.

Mrs. Vernon and Betty jumped and looked with fear and trembling at what had happened to the three scouts so unceremoniously tipped into the woods.

At the foot of the steep climb, the three girls were seen struggling to carry the hamper up to the Cave. But they were laughing so they could not lift the heavy basket.

The Captain made a megaphone of her hands and shouted: "Never mind!

Leave the hamper. We can have dinner down there."

Thankfully then, the scouts placed the hamper in the ferns beside the road, and climbed up to the height where the others stood.

"I never saw such an old fraud in my life!" exclaimed Mrs. Vernon, when the girls came within hearing of her voice.

"Are you all right, girls?" asked Betty, anxiously.

"Yes, but weak from laughing," shouted Joan.

"Oh, if I ever get a chance to pay Hepsy back!" threatened Ruth, angrily.

"Verny? I'd give my hat if we could only have had a movie taken of this whole episode," added Julie, still giggling.

"I shall never accuse Hepsy of being a silly beast again," said Mrs.

Vernon, once she was satisfied there were no bruises or other injuries to the girls.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

IN BLUEBEARD'S CAVE

The buckboard was drawn out of the path and left beside the cave; then Hepsy was unhitched and tethered to a tree with enough rope to allow her to graze. But she kept turning her head to look quizzically at the scouts, as much as to say:

"Huh! you thought you had played a trick on me, but I managed to turn the tables, after all!"

"Verny, Hepsy's got a wicked gleam in her eyes, just as if she dumped us out on purpose," laughed Julie, slapping the horse on the shoulder.

Mrs. Vernon was too busy unpacking a pasteboard box to reply, so the scouts stood about her asking questions about the package.

"I brought a number of thick candles and a box of matches. Each one of you girls must carry a candle, while I go first and carry the electric flashlight," explained Mrs. Vernon.

"How exciting!" cried Joan, trying to light her candle.

"Just like explorers in an unknown jungle," added Julie.

"Caves, I should say, Jule," corrected Ruth, laughingly.

"Well, are we all ready?" now asked the Captain, seeing that each scout had the candle lighted.

"All ready for the great adventure," laughed Julie.

In the first lap of the exploration nothing unusual occurred as the footpath ran over smooth stone and sand, while the vaulted ceiling and sidewalls were far enough away to make the cave seem really larger than it was.

"It doesn't make one feel very spooky," said Ruth.

"Let's wait until we get in where the water drips and the queer formations hang from the roof. That is where the hunter said the weirdness of the place impressed you," explained Julie.

They continued deeper into the mountainside, and the air felt cooler, while the domed tunnel grew perceptibly smaller. The girls were silent now, being very careful to follow closely behind the Captain.

"I think it is quite spooky enough for me," whispered Betty, taking hold of Mrs. Vernon's skirt.

"If you feel this way, now, what will you do when we get away in!"

laughed Julie.

The laugh echoed madly and hurled its sounds back again at the scouts, and the entire party stopped suddenly with fright.

"Oh! It was only an echo of Julie's laugh," sighed the Captain, in relief.

"But what a horrible maniac's cry it was!" gasped Joan.

Betty was shivering with nervousness, when Julie again laughed, to hear the echoes come back.

"_Please_ don't do that!" cried Ruth, closing her ears, and at the same time dropping the candle.

Its light was extinguished, and the candle must have rolled into some crevice, for it could not be found, even though the flashlight and other candles were used to hunt for it.