Both girls in alarm, now scurried through the woods, calling and
giving the "Coo-ee" call, but not a sound answered them. Birds
were flitting about from limb to branch, and the strange stillness
of the woods frightened the little Tenderfoots.

"You go along the bank, and I'll scour the elderberry patch. This
wood is so dense in spots, and so clear under the hemlocks, it is
easy to lose and hard to find anyone in it," declared Grace. "I'm
glad I brought my big rope. I intended to tie every knot in the
course, and cut them all out to fetch back finished, and I haven't
even unwound the rope."

"If there is anything easier than getting lost in the woods it
must be getting caught at whispering in the eighth grade,"
grumbled Madaline. "I wish my old heel had behaved itself."

"And all the plans for my brave stunt gone to naught," put in the
now breathless Grace. "I would never have made up the hike if I
had not determined to get a glory mark out of it. Now see where we
are! Miles from home, and darkness coming on at each end. Where
could those girls have gone to?"

"Sure as shooting they have gone on searching for us. There's the
reservoir road, going in the opposite direction, and also Chestnut
Hill. To go either of those roads meant getting entirely away from
the foolish little scouts who stopped to chatter and chin. Just
shows what we can do when we don't know we shouldn't."

For some moments they brushed their way through the thicket,
beating down briars with their stout sticks, then coming to a