e and thinking of their adventures in New Orleans and in
Florida, when a faint cry seemed to float upward from the depths of the
valley.

"Help!"

They listened, and some moments passed in silence, save for the peeping
cry of a bird in a thicket near at hand.

"Begorra! Oi belave it wur imagination, Frankie," said the Irish lad, at
last.

"I do not think so," declared Frank, with a shake of his head. "It was a
human voice, and if we were to shout it might be---- There it is again!"

There could be no doubt this time, for they both heard the cry
distinctly.

"It comes from below," said Frank, quickly.

"Roight, me lad," nodded Barney. "Some wan is in difficulty down there,
and' it's mesilf thot don't moind givin' thim a lift."

Getting a firm hold on a scrub bush, Frank leaned out over the verge and
looked down into the valley.

"I can see her!" he cried. "Look, Barney--look down there amid those
rocks just below the little waterfall."

"Oi see, Frankie."

"See the flutter of a dress?"

"Oi do."

"She is waving something at us."

"Sure, me b'y."

"She has seen us, and is signaling for us to come down."

"And we'll go."

"Instanter, as they say out West."

The boys were soon hurrying down the mountain road, a bend of which
quickly carried them beyond view of the person near the waterfall.

It was nearly an hour later when Frank and Barney approached the little
waterfall, having left the road and followed the course of the stream.

"Is she there, Frankie?" anxiously asked Barney, who was behind.

"Can't tell yet," was the reply. "Will be able to see in a minute, and
then---- She is there, sure as fate!"

In another moment they came out in full view of a girl of eighteen or
nineteen, who was standing facing the waterfall, her back toward a great
rock, a home-made fishing pole at her feet.

The girl was dressed in homespun, the skirt being short and reaching
but a little below the knees, and a calico sunbonnet was thrust half off
her head.

Frank paused, with a low exclamation of admiration, for the girl made a
most strikingly beautiful picture, and Frank had an eye for beauty.

Nearly all the mountain girls the boys had seen were stolid and
flat-appearing, some were tall and lank, but this girl possessed a
figure that seemed perfect in every detail.

Her hair was bright auburn, brilliant and rich in tint, the shade that
is highly esteemed in civilization, but is considered a defect by the