“And it’s getting darker,” murmured Alice, who had been over to the boys’ camp, doing a bit of sewing for her brother. She had followed them as they ran to Dogwood in response to the calls. “Oh, isn’t it too bad!” exclaimed Mrs. Bonnell. “She’ll turn up all right!” asserted Blake. “Then you didn’t see which way she went, Mabel?” “No, I was in the cooking tent. But she wouldn’t go off the main path; would she?” “It doesn’t seem so,” spoke Marie. “Oh, we must find her! She can’t stay in the woods,” and there was a catch in her voice. “Now, take it easy, sis,” advised her brother. “We’ll find her all right. All we’ll have to do is to begin a search. She probably went farther than she meant to and it takes longer to come back. Come on, boys, we’ll start on the trail.” “You must have lanterns!” insisted the Guardian. “It will soon be too dark to see. We have a number of ’em. Girls, light ’em up!” “Are we going to stay here—alone?” asked Alice. “You always have,” said her brother. “But Natalie——” “Let ’em come along, if they want to,” suggested Jack. “It’s no fun waiting around for news. But we’ll soon find her,” he added. “We’ll each take a different trail—there are three main ones into the woods—Nat must be on one of those. Each fellow can take a girl, and Mrs. Bonnell can be a sort of director of operations.” The girls paired off with their brothers, and soon the woods bore the appearance of a forest wherein flickered big fireflies, for the lanterns bobbed here and there amid the trees, as do the insects on a June evening. As the boys and Camp Fire Girls went slowly along they called from time to time, their voices echoing through the fast-darkening woods. But there came no answering cry. The three main trails into the woods did not diverge greatly, and it was possible for the three searching parties to keep in communication with one another. From time to time one or the other called, asking for any news. But none was forthcoming. “Oh, we _must_ find her!” exclaimed Mrs. Bonnell. “Something must have happened to her!” “I think that must be it,” agreed Jack; Mrs. Bonnell having accompanied him and his sister. “Maybe she has fallen and——” “Oh, Jack!” begged Marie. “Don’t say such horrid things!” “Why not—if they’re true? We might as well recognize that something is likely to have happened. We’ve got to face the music.” “Poor Natalie!” breathed Marie. “Oh!” she screamed a moment later. “What is it?” demanded Mrs. Bonnell. “Something went right over my foot.” “A snake—I mean hoptoad,” and Jack quickly corrected himself. “Don’t mention it!” cried Marie with a shudder. She clung to her brother, who flashed the lantern back and forth. Again and again was Natalie’s name called, but the echoes from the dark woods were the only replies. “Oh, what can have become of her?” whispered Mabel to Phil. “Do you suppose——?” “What’s the use of supposing anything?” he answered a bit shortly. “We’ll know when we find her, and not before.”