"I'm going to get Ned to help me find that gunny sack."
Moya found herself trembling. She did not know why. It was not doubt of her reckless friend, but none the less she was in a panic.
"Do you think we'd better?"
Miss Kilmeny looked at her in surprise. In general nobody came to decision more quickly than Moya.
"Of course. How else can we tell whether it is something he wants us to do for him?"
"When shall we look?"
"The sooner the better--to-night," answered the other girl immediately. "The wharf above the camp. It's not a quarter of an hour from here. I'll not sleep till I know what he means."
"Lady Jim," Moya reminded her.
"She needn't know. She can't object if we take Ned and go fishing for an hour."
Moya consulted her watch. "They'll be gathering for bridge pretty soon. Let's go now. We can be back in time for supper."
"Get into your fishing togs. I'll get Ned and we'll meet you on the west porch in a quarter of an hour."
Within the appointed time the three slipped away down the river bank trail as silently as conspirators. The captain was rather inclined to pooh-pooh the whole thing, but he was not at all sorry to share an adventure that brought him into a closer relationship with Moya Dwight.
"Must be this wharf," India said presently, as a bulky shadow loomed out of the darkness.
"Shouldn't wonder. Here's a big rock just below it. Didn't the paper say something about a rock?" asked the captain.
"Twelve steps below big rock, it says."
The soldier paced off the distance. "What now?"
"Three yards from the shore," called his sister. "There should be a gunny sack, whatever that is."
"Afraid he's spoofing us," Kilmeny said with a laugh as he moved out in his waders against the current. "Here I am. What's the next direction?"
India giggled. She was Irish enough to get the humorous side of things and could not help being frivolous even when she was greatly interested. "Now you look over your left shoulder at the moon and wish."
Her brother's high voice cut in. "I say. My foot's kicking something. Wait a jiff."
He braced his feet, dived suddenly down with one arm till his face touched the water, and grappled with his fingers for a hold on something lying between two rocks at the bottom. When he straightened again it was with an effort. He did not attempt to raise his burden from the stream, but waded ashore with it. Using both hands, he dragged his find to land.