But there seemed no suitable mark for the weapon to be aimed at, and, after they had united their voices in a chorus of calls, Russ fired twice--at intervals. Then came a period of anxious waiting and silence. "Call once more," suggested Ruth. "Hark!" exclaimed Alice, raising her hand to add to her injunction, for Russ had been about to speak. "I heard something." They all listened intently. "There it is again!" whispered Alice. Unmistakably now they all heard voices calling--voices that increased in intensity--coming nearer. "Oh, they've found us! They've found us!" half sobbed Ruth. "Call again, boys--I--I can't," faltered Alice. Russ and Paul shouted. Again came an unmistakable answer. Now was heard a crashing in the underbrush that told of the approach of someone, and, a moment later there came into view, on the far side of the clearing, where stood the palm leaf hut, two girls, one with a gun over her shoulder, and the other with a brace of birds hanging from her waist. The two girls stopped for a moment, and then, with joyful shouts, rushed forward. As for our friends, they seemed paralyzed with astonishment. It was so different from what they had expected. Then Alice found her voice, and cried: "The two lost girls--we have found them!" CHAPTER XXV OUT OF THE WILDS For perhaps several seconds the two parties strangely met in that Florida wild stood staring at one another. Then the two girls hurried forward, and one of them exclaimed: "Oh, have you come for us?" "Not exactly, Miss Madison." "Oh--you--you know us?" gasped the other. "Certainly, Mabel," laughed Alice. "Don't you remember us--the moving picture girls?" "Ruth--Alice DeVere!" came the simultaneous cry from the lost girls--now the _found_ girls. "Oh, how did you ever get here?" asked Helen Madison, for it was really she and her sister. Alice had recognized them first, and Ruth knew them a moment later. "We are lost, like yourselves," said Ruth. "Oh, but can you tell us where our steamer is?" "Your steamer--no!" half-sobbed Mabel. "Oh, it is awful! We have been lost a long time--it seems a month, but of course it isn't. We can't find our way out of this wilderness. It is a labyrinth, and we dare not go far from this hut for fear we shall never find it again. It has been terrible. But if you are lost you cannot help us. What shall we do?" "Let us eat first," suggested Russ, practically. "You have some birds there. I fancy you are as hungry as we are. We have some crackers and coffee. We'll get up a meal and then decide what to do. Come, Paul, we're the commissary department." "Oh, but we must hear your story!" cried Ruth to the lost girls, after she had presented Mrs. Maguire and the boys. "We read about you in the paper, and we heard of you from the hotel clerk in Sycamore."