"Thank you for your help," she said quietly. "I can make it alone from here."

Nancy hesitated. The woman's firm tone told her it would do no good to protest. She was not going to let Nancy come any nearer the camp.

"At least let me find something that you can use as a cane," Nancy said.

She searched along the path and found a branch that was strong enough. The woman accepted it gratefully. Her face softened and she stood for an instant, looking intently at Nancy.

"You're a good girl to help a stranger like me. I wish-" The woman turned away abruptly. "Remember," she advised sternly over her shoulder, "don't ever come near the camp!"

Still perplexed. Nancy watched the woman hobble away. It took her a long time to reach the top of the hill, but at last she disappeared from sight.

"I can't understand why the poor thing acted the way she did," Nancy said to herself as she sat down on a log to think. "What harm could it have done if I'd gone with her to the colony? The cult must have some very important secrets!" The more Nancy considered the matter, the more baffled she became.

The woman didn't look as though being a member of the Black Snake Colony made her very happy," Nancy thought. "If they're so afraid that someone will discover their secrets, they must be doing more than just flitting at night in white robes! Maybe that's only to keep people from guessing what really goes on there!"

As Nancy reached this startling conclusion, she jumped up and walked briskly toward Red Gate Farm.

"There's one thing certain," she said to herself with a chuckle. "Now that the woman has forbidden me to go near the camp, I can't resist finding out what's happening there!"

Nancy was just approaching the farmhouse when she heard the phone ringing. She hurried inside and answered it.