gone down the frozen stream.

"Come on, Reno!" she exclaimed aloud, encouraging herself in her
duty. "We'll find them yet. They certainly could not have gone clear
to Rolling River--that's ten miles away!"

The stream was not ten yards across--nothing more than a creek. The
woods and underbrush shut it in closely. There was not a mark in the
snow on either hand of footsteps--not that Ruth could see. And how
heavy the afternoon silence was!

Ruth had recovered in a measure from the first fear she had felt of
the marauding panther. The beast, had he traveled toward Snow Camp,
was likely miles away from the spot. She had determined to go on and
find Tom and the others, more that they might be warned of peril on
approaching Snow Camp, than for any other reason.

And she did wish, now, that Tom and the other boys would appear. She
was more than a mile--quite two miles, indeed--from the lodge.

"I guess Mr. Cameron will call me reckless again. He suggested that
I was that when I followed Fred Hatfield--or whatever his name was--
from the cars at Emoryville. He'll surely scold me for this," thought
Ruth.

She kept on down the stream, however, and at last began to shout for
her boy friends. Her clear voice rang from wall to wall of the
forest; but it could not have been heard far into the snowy depths on
either hand. Suddenly Reno growled a little, sniffed, and the hair
upon his neck began to rise.