"What are they doing?" Toffee hissed. "Searching the truck." "Won't do 'em any good," Harold chuckled softly. "There isn't any more liquor in it." "They're leaving now," Marc called back. "They're headed for the house. I guess they think we're up there." "Good," said Toffee. "That gives us more time, anyway." "More time for what?" Marc asked, turning toward her and slumping dejectedly against a tree. "What can we do out here in these woods?" "I don't know," Toffee said reflectively. "But I feel something in the back of your subconscious that's trying to break through. If I just concentrate a minute, I may get it. It has something to do with these woods, I think. Try to make your mind a blank. That'll help a lot in establishing a contact. I could knock you out," she suggested, "and return there." "I'll just make my mind a blank," Marc answered hastily. And for a time a heavy silence fell over the trio. "Are these pine trees?" Toffee asked finally, breaking the quiet. "Good grief!" Marc groaned. "I concentrate myself almost into a coma to make my mind a blank for you, and all you do is wonder about the scenery." "No, no," Toffee said, fluttering a hand delicately. "That's what I got from your subconscious; a memory of the scent of pines ... if that's what they are. You smelled them when you were blindfolded ... the first time." "I don't remember it." "Of course you don't. You were too busy thinking about other things with your conscious mind. But your subconscious recorded it, and it's still there. It was after Dr. Herrigg stopped the car and we all got out." "But we walked for half an hour after that." "I know. But at least we know where we started from. The memory was very strong when we came into these woods. We must have been just about here. The atmosphere is identical. There was also the sound of the sea. We walked away from it. Where would you be if you walked half an hour straight into these woods?" "At a swamp clearing. But there isn't anything there." "Are you sure?" "Positive. It's part of my property." "There's something else," Toffee said slowly. "We heard the ocean again, just before we arrived at Herrigg's laboratory. So we couldn't have walked back into the woods. We must have gone somewhere else." "But we traveled straight ahead," Marc objected. "We didn't turn." "Are you sure this isn't a peninsula? We might have walked across it." "No," Marc said firmly. "We couldn't have done that. The cliff juts out into the ocean, but it wouldn't take more than a few minutes to cross it." "I know what happened!" Toffee cried. "We _did_ turn! We never _stopped_ turning. We walked in a circle through these very woods. Even people who aren't blindfolded often walk in circles when they think they're going straight. At least they do in forests. Herrigg was purposely throwing us off the track!"