"I'm afraid it's useless," sighed Dorothy. "We may just as well
wait--perhaps she will return at lunch time."

But lunch time came, and lunch time went by, without any trace or
track of Tavia being discovered.

Finally Dorothy broke down, and went to her own room. Cologne followed
her, and there, in the secret nook in the big camp farm, the two girls
discussed every possible clause of the case, and tried with heroic
effort to shed some light on the mystery.

"Was it the Lamberts? Or could it be----"

"Oh, she would never go off with a stranger," declared Dorothy over
and over again. "Surely our Tavia has more common sense than that."

"But it is so lonely up here--no," Cologne corrected herself, "you are
right, of course, Dorothy. She will be back--just as soon as she feels
like coming. That's Tavia!"

But they little knew the danger to which the younger girl had
unwittingly exposed herself.

No wonder Tavia could not be found within or without the precincts of
the camp.




CHAPTER XI