usical Italian flowing
from her lips when she reached out an eager hand to seize upon the
sacred article.

Now was his time.

The critical moment had arrived when he must proceed to spring his trap.

As silently as he could, then, Elmer arose to his feet. He was behind
the woman and could never bring himself to believe that he had made even
the slightest sound when rising.

Then the only explanation left was that the woman happened to be in
front of the broken looking glass at the moment, bent on fastening the
beads about her thick neck. And if so, she must have discovered him as
he arose from behind the big box.

At any rate she uttered a cry that to his mind was not unlike the snarl
of a wild beast. He saw the almost savage look that came over her
swarthy face, and knew that after all, such a woman was fully as much to
be feared as the stoutest ladrone.

And so Elmer did not think it was unworthy of a true scout to send out
the call for help.

The woman might be disposed to defy just one half-grown lad, whereas if
she believed herself to be up against the whole troop she would submit
with the best grace she could command.

And so he blew a shrill blast that must bring both Mark and Lil Artha
dashing to the spot.

The effect upon the woman was rather surprising.

Perhaps Elmer might have expected seeing her cower down, seized with a
sudden overwhelming fear, but nothing of the kind occurred.

To his surprise she snatched out a wicked-looking knife from the bosom
of her dress. It looked to Elmer like a broken kitchen knife that had
been ground down to a point. With such a blade he remembered seeing the
Italian women from the settlement just outside Hickory Ridge wandering
around in the early spring, digging dandelion plants for "greens."

He could hear the rush of approaching footsteps even as the woman sprang
for the door with a wild look on her face.

The other two scouts had of course caught his shrill signal, and were
hastening to join their leader.

Undoubtedly both Mark and Lil Artha must have seen the woman, if not
while she was looking in at the window, then when she turned the corner
of the hidden shack to enter by the door.

And hence they would surely understand that there was no man opposed to
their combined force.

The fact of the woman being armed with so terrible a weapon as a knife,
and that look of grim determination on her dark face, alarmed Elmer.

What if she attacked the two sc