meant, "Come at once, no matter what you are doing," but there
was no answer. Thoroughly frightened, they started back on the
trail, meeting Nyoda and Medmangi just coming in. At the story
of Migwan's disappearance Nyoda immediately planned a search.
But first of all she insisted on the girls eating their supper.
Then she reminded them that they had walked fifteen miles that
day and most of them needed rest. Hinpoha stoutly maintained
that she was as fresh as a May morning and declared she would
walk all night to find Migwan. "What if she never comes back!"
she wailed. Her knees gave way under her at the thought and she
sank down at Nyoda's feet, her head on her arms.

"Of course she'll come back," said Nyoda confidently, but her
heart was like water within her. These girls were all in her
charge for the summer and she was responsible for their welfare.
What had become of Migwan? The party that finally started out
were Nyoda, Hinpoha, Sahwah and the man who had watched the camp
while the girls were away, who drove his wagon along the roadway
and let the girls ride in turn. They explored the woods back to
where the two paths emerged from the thicket, calling and
searching with lanterns. All to no purpose. They went over
every inch of the path down which Migwan had disappeared. Now
Migwan, in coming through, had strayed off the path, which was
very hard to follow, and the place where she had gone over the
edge was at least twenty feet from the true path. The searchers
therefore did not find the evidence of her fall, and as the time
when they stood there and called to her corresponded with the
time when Migwan lay in a dead faint, she made no response, and
they passed on.