They were belly-whopping through the tall grass waiting for Andy to run around the side of the pond, then up to the hill. She needed to warn Andy, but if she did that, they would know where she was hiding. Jeff King was meaner than a junkyard dog. She risked raising her head to peek out through the brush. Andy was almost to the top of the hill, almost to the Judas tree.

She knew what she had to do, and she did it. She was up on her feet, shrieking Andy’s name, telling him to run. She whirled around and lost her footing, sliding down the embankment just as Andy slid down to flat ground. He reached for her arm, and together they ran around the pond to where Pete and Amy were waiting.

Her heart pounding in her chest, Cady turned around and shouted at the top of her lungs. “You’re just a big fat jerk, Jeff King! You’re so fat your pants fall down when you run!” She continued to taunt the meaner of the two older boys.

“Yeah,” Andy flung back.

Rocks and chunks of wood sailed through the air.

“C’mon, c’mon, we have to get out of here,” Pete Danson shouted. “Run, run! Boomer’s on the zip line! Can’t you go any faster, Cady?”

“I can hardly breathe,” Cady panted. “Go to the cave. Hurry!”

They were silent as they huddled together until they were sure their tormentors were gone.

“Let’s fix the zip line so the next time they go down it they get a good dunking in the pond. If we come here early tomorrow morning, we can do it, then come back later and let them pretend to catch us. Amy, bring your camera and take their pictures when they drop into the pond. All we have to do is loosen the twist tie on the trunk of the tree at the bottom. We’ll do it the minute one or the other starts down the line,” Pete whispered, excitement ringing in his voice.

“He’s so fat he’ll go straight to the bottom,” Andy said.

“Does Jeff know how to swim?” Amy asked.

“Who cares. Boomer will save him,” Pete said.

“Are you with us, Cady?”

“Yeah. I’d like to see him flopping around in the water.”

“Good. Let’s meet back here at nine o’clock tomorrow morning. We need to split up now in case they’re lying in wait somewhere. I had to walk here. Jeff busted up my bike the last time we were here.”

“I’ll ride you on my handlebars, Pete. We got all kinds of junk in our garage. Bring your bike over, and maybe we can fix it up. We can always go to the junkyard for parts if we don’t have what you need. Hey, here’s an idea. If you can sneak out tonight, we can go over to Jeff’s house, and snatch his bike and hide it,” Andy said.

“Wait! Wait! I just had a better idea. Let’s snatch his bike and send it halfway down the zip line. He’ll have to go down the line to get it, and that’s when we let it go, and he and the bike both go in the water. The bike will go straight to the bottom.” The same excitement that was in Pete’s voice now rang in Andy’s. His face turned red with the imagined outcome. “You guys with me on this one?”