f the mountain side and right into the gray waves
of the Woodbach.

When Churi saw that, he was frightened. For a moment he stared at the
gray waves; but Erick had disappeared, not a speck of him could be seen.
Then Churi softly turned round and ran away as quickly as he could,
without looking round, for his conscience bit him and drove him along,
and he dared not look anyone in the face for fear that someone could
read there what he had done. The other Middle Lotters had not paid
attention to what was going on. Perhaps once in a while one of the crowd
would ask, "What has become of Churi all of a sudden?" and another would
answer, "He can go, wherever he likes," and they would turn again to
their berries and think no more of him.

Meanwhile Sally had remained standing in the same spot and had waited
for Erick's call. When it did not come, she began to call, but received
no answer. She now called to Edi, and he came running with Ritz, and all
three called together for Erick, but in vain. The sun had long since
set, and it was beginning to grow dark. All children, even the Middle
Lotters, went past them on their homeward way, and they were always the
very last. "Show me once more, and be quite sure, the very spot where he
began to climb down," said Edi, "I will go down, in the same path."

Sally showed the exact spot, where Erick had descended over the rock,
and Edi began the descent a little timidly. But he arrived safely down
below and ran hither and thither, calling with a loud voice: "Erick!
Erick!" But only the echo from the rocks, round about, answered
mockingly: "'Rick! 'Rick!"

Now it really began to be dark, and round about not a human sound, only
the rushing of the Woodbach, sounded through the stillness. Edi began to
feel a little uncomfortable; he climbed as quickly as possible up the
rock and said hastily: "Come, we will go home. Perhaps Erick is already
at home, he may have gone by another road."

But Sally opposed this proposition with all her power, and assured him
firmly that Erick had not gone home; that he would have first come back
to her; and she was not going a step away from where he had left her,
until Erick came, for if he were to come and she was not there, then he
would wait for her again, if he had to wait the whole night, she was
sure of that.

"We must go home, you know it," declared Edi. "Come, Sally, you know we
must."

"I cannot, I cannot!" lamented Sally. "You go with Ritz and te