arriet.

"Yeth, it ith fine. Tho fine you can't thee it," agreed Tommy dolefully.

It was a trying journey at best. They had lost all track of time, not
being able to consult their watches in the dark. Jasper had no matches and
he was very irritable, which perhaps was not surprising in view of the
fact that he had lost his horse and wrecked a wagon for which he
undoubtedly would be called upon to pay, as it did not belong to him.
After a time they gave up trying to obtain information from Jasper.

The dull glow of a fire through the trees gave them the first inkling that
they were nearing their destination. Tommy was being fairly lifted along
by Harriet The latter did not complain at supporting the girl and the suit
case, but her arms ached from the exertion.

"There's the camp, dear," encouraged Harriet.

"Camp's a mile down the path," growled Jasper, bringing a groan from
Margery and Grace. "That's the fire the girls built up so that we
shouldn't go past the path."

"That was thoughtful," exclaimed Harriet. The building of the fire made
quite an impression on her. This impression was strengthened when upon
reaching the low fire she observed that all leaves and combustible matter
had been raked away to a safe distance from the fire so that the forest
might not be fired by the blaze. It was her first lesson in woodcraft on
this eventful journey into the big forest.

They followed a dark path that wound in and out, a gloomy aisle in the
great forest with the tops of the trees over their heads, so high as
almost to be lost to view even in daylight, Margery puffing, Tommy
uttering little moans now and then so that her companions might know of
her misery. That last stretch along the narrow path seemed an endless
journey. Then too, it will be recalled that the Meadow-Brook Girls had had
nothing to eat since morning except the cold luncheon served by Miss
Elting.

"There is the camp, girls," cried the latter some thirty minutes later as
a second glow off to the left attracted her attention. "I am right, am I
not, Jasper?"

Jasper grunted an affirmative, then led the way to Mrs. Livingston's tent,
at Miss Elting's direction. It was the only tent with a light to be seen.
The other tents were lost in the shadows of the forest, and the girls who
were occupying them were lost in dreamland.

"Keep very quiet so you will not awaken any one," cautioned the guardian
as they approached the Chief Guardian's tent, rapping gent