Alec got his bull-roarer from the wagon. Cindy sprang on Sparkle. Alec mounted Sunshine, and they raced away. With the ponies running so fast, it took less than an hour to reach the little trees and tie their mounts. Cindy turned to her brother. "When I raise my hand, start your bull-roarer!" she said. Alec said, "Count on it." They wriggled back through the trees, bumping trunks here and there because, though it was almost as bright as day in the open country, it was black night among the trees. But the blackness had its advantages. The little opening they had crossed earlier in the day, where Alec would have room to swing his bull-roarer, was moon-sprayed and easy to find. Cindy whispered to Alec, "Stay right here until I raise my hand. Then give us as much noise as you can." "Sure thing," Alec whispered back. Cindy crawled through the final fringe of trees, looked down on the cave, and saw three men in it now. They were cooking around a small fire. Back of them, standing all by herself, was Mindy. "Better eat something, girl," called the man who had been with Tom LaMott. "Eat it yourself, you big baboon!" Mindy said fiercely. Cindy gasped. The gentle Mindy, in a situation as terrifying as this, should be wilted and nearly hysterical. But instead she sounded fighting mad. "Mind your tongue, girl!" the man said threateningly. "When my father gets through with you," Mindy flared, "_you_ won't have any tongue to mind!" The man rose angrily, strode over to Mindy, and raised his hand to slap her face. But before he could, Mindy kicked him smartly in the shin. The man said, "Ow-w!" bent over to rub his shin, and Mindy kicked him in the other one. The man straightened to advance grimly. "Leave her 'lone!" "I'll teach the little spitfire," the man started angrily. "Leave her 'lone!" Tom LaMott repeated. The man said, "She's no witch girl, Tom!" "She may be weetch. You don' know for sure." Cindy raised her hand. Alec went into action. The bull-roarer gave out with a moaning "Owoo-ooo-ooo!" The startled men leaped up and peered into the moon-sprayed arroyo. Cindy rose to her feet and cupped a hand on each side of her mouth. She tuned her voice to the bull-roarer. "I'm-m-m-m the spir-r-r-i-i-t!" she sobbed. "Gi-i-i-v-ve me my bod-d-d-y-y!" All three men saw her at the same instant. In the cave, Mindy heard and understood at once. She began to dance. "Come, spirit!" she cried. "Come and get me! Come, spirit!" "She here! She there too!" Tom LaMott yelled. "Weetch girl sure! Aaaaa-hhhh!" [Illustration] With a shriek of mortal terror, Tom LaMott raced out of the cave and started scrambling up the far side of the arroyo. The other two men were only a split second behind him, and if there were horses waiting on the far side, there was no sound of galloping hoofs. Probably, after a fright such as this, horses were much too slow. Mindy came to the mouth of the cave and called, "Hi there!" [Illustration] "H-h-hi," Cindy gasped.