“Oh, a quarter of a mile, likely. It won’t take long. Give me that bundle of tin-ware, Evan.” Evan surrendered the load to Malcolm and they went on again. But it was slow work, for the trees were thick and the undergrowth often made detours necessary. Finally they rested again and Jelly set to work vigorously rubbing his leg muscles. “You know,” remarked Rob calmly, “the plain fact of the matter is, fellows, that we’re plumb lost.” The others nodded. “Lost as anything,” said Malcolm. “Still, we’re bound to get down finally.” “Seems to me we’re about down now,” said Evan. “The ground is pretty nearly level, isn’t it?” “That’s so,” Rob replied. “We stopped coming down hill two or three minutes ago. In that case we’re nowhere near school.” “Must be over to the north, then,” said Malcolm thoughtfully. “We sort of got off our bearings, I reckon, when we went to look for that silly spring.” “Wish I could see it now, though,” said Rob, running his tongue over parched lips. “I’m beastly thirsty.” “So am I,” said Jelly sadly. “I wish I were home.” “Well!” Evan arose energetically. “Let’s get home. There’s no use sitting here. I feel as though I’d taken a shower bath. Every thing I’ve got on is sopping wet.” “This is the foggiest old fog I ever did see,” grumbled Rob. “Come along, Jelly. I told you fellows when we started out that something unpleasant would happen to us if we took such a dishonest person as Jelly along. He’s our Jonah.” “I guess I’m not getting any more fun out of it than you are,” grunted Jelly crossly as he arose painfully and limped after them. Ten minutes later there was a shout from Evan, who had taken the lead. “What is it?” asked Rob eagerly. “Here’s a field,” was the answer. They had at last emerged from the woods, but Rob and Malcolm viewed each other questioningly. “Where do you suppose we are?” asked Rob. Malcolm shook his head. “I don’t know. This isn’t the meadow back of school because there’s no stone wall here. What I think is that we’ve got around to the north side of the mountain, toward Hillsgrove, you know. They say that in the woods you always unconsciously bear to the left.” “If this old fog would only get out,” said Evan. They moved undecidedly into the field and in a moment the woods had vanished from sight behind them. “What time is it?” asked Rob. “Almost four,” Malcolm replied. “_What?_” “That’s right,” Evan confirmed, glancing at his own watch. “No football for us to-day, Jelly.” “Glad of it,” answered Jelly morosely. “I couldn’t play football if my life depended on it.” “Pshaw, they wouldn’t hold practice a day like this,” said Rob. “Why, you couldn’t see the ball twenty feet away. What time did we leave up there, Mal?” “About half-past two.” “Great Scott! We’ve been wandering around this fool mountain for an hour and a half! No wonder I’m tired! Does anybody know where we are headed for now?” Apparently no one did.