bear his sorrows if some one would only make one little complaint.

It was Mary who gave out first. She was just sinking to her knees when
Billie called out cheerfully:

"I see a light and it's not a will-o'-the-wisp."

There indeed was a light sending out a kindly beam in the darkness, and
while they watched it, it went out.

"Listen," exclaimed Elinor, "I hear the music again." There came to them
the sweet fairy notes of the zither.

"Halloo!" called Ben again and again, and presently the others joined in
the chorus.

"What is it?" answered a voice quite near, and a figure bounded toward
them through the mists.

"We have been lost," answered Ben. "Do you think you could let these
young ladies rest in your cabin while we get a vehicle and drive them
home?"

"Yes," answered the voice, and Billie then recognized the mountain girl
who had sold them the blackberries that Mrs. Lupo had pitched out.

[Illustration: After a stiff climb up a rocky path, they reached a
little cabin.--Page 77.]

"Come this way," she added, and they presently realized they were on
rising ground and that the morass with its glimmering will-o'-the-wisps
and its floating veils of thin mist was now well below them. After a
stiff climb up a rocky path they reached a little cabin built in a
clearing, commanding a wide vista of the treacherous Table Top and the
mountains beyond. At the door of the cabin sat the zither player, his
hands traveling aimlessly over the strings while he listened to the
approaching footsteps.

"Father," called the girl, "visitors!"

"Eh? Eh?" answered the man. "Physicians, with medicines? Will they save
her? Come in! Come in!"

They filed slowly into the cabin wondering what sort of a person it was
sitting in the darkness and calling for physicians. The girl struck a
match and lighted two candles, and at least three of the visitors
noticed that the candlesticks were of silver, tall and graceful in
design, and as bright as rubbing could make them.

The father like the daughter was tall and slender, with the same dark
blue eyes, although his had a strange unseeing look in them. His hair
was very thick and almost white, his frame spare to emaciation, but he
carried himself erect and his shoulders were broad and well developed.

"Make a fire, father," the girl ordered, and he obediently left the
room, presently returning with an armful of wood.

Oh, the joy of sinking to the floor in front of that warm blaze! B