"Thave me! I'm tho afraid," pleaded Tommy, darting up beside Miss Elting
and snuggling against her.

Then the Meadow-Brook Girls laughed. The woods rang with their laughter.
They expressed no sympathy for Tommy. They were agreed that she had
learned a good lesson. Tommy pouted, but clung closely to the guardian.
About this time a halt had to be made while Harriet attended to the skirt
of her gown that had been badly torn by the brush. Her companions assisted
her in pinning it up. While absorbed in this task they had forgotten all
about Jasper. They discovered his absence quite suddenly when Miss Elting
raised her voice in a loud hello to him.

No answer came back.

"How provoking!" exclaimed Miss Elting.

"He has gone away and left us," moaned Margery.

"Do you think he could have gone back to Jamesburg?" questioned Harriet.
"I believe he would if he dared."

"He had better not. I don't see that there is anything to be afraid of
except that we might pass by the camp, which, I understand is some little
distance from this road. Then again we must not get off the road or we are
sure to lose our way. All keep close together. We will continue to walk
on. We will call him frequently. I am certain that when he finds we are
not keeping up with him, he will either return to see what has become of
us or stop to wait."

For a full half hour they continued on their way, stumbling, catching
their feet in vines that had trailed across the road occasionally, bumping
into trees, but never once wholly getting off the log road. Now and then
the call of a night bird fluttering from a tree near at hand, would send
Margery and Tommy into a sudden panic. There are many weird sounds to be
heard in the forest at night. It seemed as though the travelers heard them
all. Had their guardian not been with them, at least two of the girls
would have been hysterical. Harriet appeared undisturbed and Hazel held
herself very well in hand. But all at once there came a sudden
interruption that threatened at the moment to send them all fleeing for
safety.

Margery who was walking to one side of the road and slightly in advance of
Miss Elting, uttered a piercing scream. They heard her fall.

"Help, oh help!" cried Margery, terrified.

Harriet darted forward to her companion's assistance. She stumbled over
something that moved and tried to push her aside. Harriet thrust out both
hands and grappled with the object. She grasped a handful of hair.