The Secret of Red Gate Farm - Carolyn Keene [36]
Inch by inch, the three girls made their way up the hill. They crouched behind a clump of bushes a stone’s throw from where the cult members were dancing. Nancy indicated that she would make the first move. Bess and George nodded.
“The slightest mistake will mean detection!” Nancy thought, her heart pounding.
Waiting for the right moment, she suddenly slipped out among the white-robed figures and instantly began waving her arms and making grotesque motions.
CHAPTER XVI
Startling Commands
RELIEVED that her entry into the group had not been noticed, Nancy marched along with the other ghostly figures. If only George and Bess were as successful!
Nancy watched her disguised companions and saw that the girls would have no trouble in following the motions, since each person was apparently making them up on the spur of the moment.
“So far, so good,” Nancy told herself.
Satisfied now that her own position was temporarily secure, she tried to help her friends. Deliberately moving toward the shrubs behind which George and Bess were hiding, she shielded them from the view of the cult members, all the time continuing her grotesque motions.
George realized what the young sleuth was trying to do and made the most of the opportunity. Choosing her time, she slipped out and joined the group on the hillside.
Bess was more timid. Several times at the critical moment she lost her nerve, but she finally managed to summon enough courage and made the plunge.
“Keep close together,” Nancy warned in an undertone. “If we lose each other, it may be disastrous.”
By this time the girls had made up their minds that there was nothing the least bit mystic about the queer rites of the Black Snake Colony. Disguised persons on all sides of them were making crude remarks which assured the girls that the cult members did not take the ceremony seriously.
“This ought to give the country yokels an eye-full” Nancy heard one man mutter.
“How much longer do we have to do this?” another grumbled. “I’m getting sick of flapping my arms around like a windmill!”
“This cult idea was all foolishness, anyway!” still another said.
“Foolishness, is it?” someone caught him up. Nancy thought she recognized the voice but was not certain. “Let me tell you a girl was prowling around here only a few days ago! I guess the Chief knew his business when he thought up this crazy cult idea.”
“Well, enough of this!” a loud voice announced. Nancy decided the man must be one of the leaders. “We may as well go into the cave and get down to business!”
George was just wondering what the girls had better do when Bess clutched Nancy’s hand and whispered nervously:
“Do we dare enter?”
“We must,” Nancy returned quietly.
The girls stood motionless, watching the white-robed figures march single file toward the entrance to the cave. Finally Nancy signaled, and the three friends followed the group, even though it occurred to them that they might be walking into a trap.
“Keep close behind me,” Nancy warned her companions in a whisper.
As they approached the mouth of the opening, Nancy saw a tall figure, robed in white, standing guard. Her heart nearly stopped as she realized that each person was uttering some password.
“We’re finished now,” she thought.
It was too late to turn back. The three girls could do nothing but hope that in some way they might get past the stalwart guard.
Nancy kept close to the person just ahead of her, and as he muttered the password, she managed to hear it.
“Kamar!”
When Nancy’s turn came to pass the guard, she spoke the word clearly. As she had hoped, George and Bess heard, and taking their cue from her, repeated the password. The sentry did not give them a second glance, yet the girls breathed easier when they were safely through the entrance.
The marchers descended into a cold, damp tunnel. Someone was carrying a torch at the head of the procession, but Nancy and her friends, who were near the end of the line, were in semidarkness.
“What do you suppose we’re getting into?” George muttered.