"It was a funny thing that our sticks should all 'stick', and Gerda's just sail off as easily as you like," said Deirdre that evening, as, with Dulcie, she gave an account of the occurrence to Phyllis Rowland, a member of the Sixth. As one of the elect of the school, Phyllis would not have condescended to consult the famous oracle, but she nevertheless took a sneaking interest in the annual ceremony, and was anxious to know how St. Perran's votaries had fared. "Did you do it really properly?" she enquired. "An old woman at Perranwrack once told me it wasn't any use at all if you forgot the least thing." "Why, we hung up our garlands and then wished, and said the rhyme, and threw in our sticks." "Oh, that isn't half enough. Where were you looking when you wished? Facing the sea? Your stick should be chosen from the third twig on the third branch, and it ought to be turned round three times, and held between your third fingers. Did you do all that?" The faces of Deirdre and Dulcie were a study. "No, we didn't. But Gerda Thorwaldson did it--every bit. And the water came down ever so much faster for her turn, too." "Probably she went behind the well, and cleared the channel of the stream. That's a well-known dodge to make the water flow quicker, and help the saint to work." "I certainly saw her climbing down the rocks," gasped Dulcie. "Then she's a cleverer girl than I took her for, and deserves her luck," laughed Phyllis. "Look here, I can't stay wasting time any longer. I've got my prep to do. Ta, ta! Don't let St. Perran blight your young lives. Try him again next year." Left alone, Deirdre and Dulcie subsided simultaneously on to a bench. "It beats me altogether," said Dulcie, shaking her head. "How did she manage to do it? How did she know? Who told her?" "That's the puzzler," returned Deirdre. "Certainly not Phyllis, and I don't believe anybody else ever heard of those extra dodges. Gerda's only been a fortnight at the school, and says she's never been in Cornwall in her life before, so how could she know? Yet she did it all so pat." "It's queer, to say the least of it." "Do you know, Dulcie, I think there's something mysterious about Gerda. I've noticed it ever since she came. She seems all the time to be trying to hide something. She won't tell us a scrap about herself, and yet she's always asking questions." "What's she up to then?" "That's what I want to find out. It's evidently something she doesn't want people to know. She ought to be watched. I vote we keep an eye on her." "I really believe we ought to." "But mind, you mustn't let her suspect we notice anything. That would give the show away at once. Lie low's our motto." "Right you are!" agreed Dulcie. "Mum's the word!" CHAPTER IV "The King of the Castle"