first few minutes what had taken
place. For one of Betty's shoes was off and her ankle had been put into
splints and bandaged with the sleeve torn from her gown. She must have
dragged herself about collecting wood and underbrush for her camp fires
and there was at present no way of guessing how many she may have had to
build before her signals were discovered.

"Miss Ashton--Betty!" Lieutenant von Reuter called again. But the girl
made no answer and the heavens suddenly seemed to part wide open,
letting forth a heavy downpour of rain.

In the same instant the young man gathered up the girl in his arms and
ran toward the shelter of his hunting lodge. He had always the key with
him, so that the door was quickly opened. Placing her on a couch, he
then lighted candles; but the next moment, now that Betty was safe, he
had a sudden appreciation of the struggle and anxiety of his three
companions, whom he had so unceremoniously deserted. With a silver
hunting whistle to his lips he blew loudly and then waited for an
answer. None succeeded and he tried again and again. The third time an
answering "hello" came from the lips of Richard Ashton.

When the young count finally turned and re-entered the room he
discovered that Betty's eyes were now open and that she was looking
gratefully and with entire consciousness at him.

But without attempting to do anything more than smile at her
reassuringly the young lieutenant knelt and started a fire in his big
open fireplace. And before it had done more than flicker into a light
blaze, Polly, Esther and Dick were also crowding into the room, the
girls kneeling beside Betty, while Carl von Reuter apologized to Dr.
Ashton for his desertion.

It was now past midnight and out of the question for any one of the
three girls to attempt the journey home. So after seeing that his four
guests were made as comfortable as possible in his lodge for the night,
it was the young German officer who tramped the long distance back
through the rain to assure Mrs. Ashton and Miss Adams of Betty's
discovery.

CHAPTER XVI

A Heart-to-Heart Talk

Several days later Betty Ashton was driven over to spend the day with
Polly and Miss Adams. Her accident had not been a serious one, since by
putting her ankle into splints at once she had saved it from dangerous
swelling. Nevertheless she was unable to walk about except on crutches
and so the tedium of staying at home was trying. Particularly as this