fear
of the twinkling lanterns, and halted when opposite to the party of
searchers.

"My gracious! is she lost?" asked the good man, forgetting the anguish
of his friends in his own curiosity.

"Yes, she started up this road this afternoon toward Dunbarton to meet
her brother, who was returning, but, somehow or other, missed him, and
we are all anxious about her."

"My gracious alive! I should think you would be: it would drive my wife
and me crazy if our Lizzie should be lost in the woods."

"I suppose, from the way you talk," continued the teacher, "that you
have seen nothing of her?"

"No, I wish I had, for I tell you these woods are a bad place for a
little girl to get lost in. Last March, when we had an inch of snow on
the ground, I seen tracks that I knowed was made by a bear, and a mighty
big one, too, and--"

But just then a half-smothered moan from the mother warned the
thoughtless neighbor that he was giving anything but comfort to the
afflicted parents.

"I beg pardon," he hastened to say, in an awkward attempt to apologize;
"come to think, I am sure that it wasn't a bear, but some big dog; you
know a large dog makes tracks which can be mistook very easy for those
of a bear. I'll hurry on home and put up my team and git the lantern and
come back and help you."

And Mr. Marston, who meant well, whipped up his horses, and his wagon
rattled down the road as he hastened homeward.

CHAPTER VII.

AN ALARMING DISCOVERY.

By this time the searching party began to realize the difficulties in
the path of their success.

If, as was believed, or rather hoped, Nellie had fallen asleep in the
woods, they were liable to pass within a dozen feet of where she lay
without discovering the fact. Should they call to her, or should Nick
emit his resounding signal whistle, she might be awakened, provided only
such a brief space separated them, but the chances were scarcely one in
a thousand that they would be so fortunate.

This view, at the worst, was a favorable one, and behind it rose the
phantoms that caused all to shudder with a dread which they dared not
utter.

Only a short distance farther they came upon another path which diverged
from the side of the road, returning a little ways beyond. There, an
unusually careful search was made, and Nick almost split his cheeks in
his efforts to send his penetrating whistle throughout the surrounding
country. The three men also called out the name of Nellie