stood it so long as you have." Saying which, Emma prudently dropped the
hand she was holding, and backed away.

Nora Wingate sprang up blazing, to meet the laughing eyes and impishly
uptilted nose of the irrepressible Emma Dean. Nora laughed and wept at
the same time, and then quickly pulled herself together.

"I ought to take ye over me knee, but I won't because ye've brought me
to me senses. Grace, see how calm I am. I am ready to listen to your
plan, knowing very well that you have one in mind. If they haven't
killed him, my Hippy will yet beat those scoundrels at their own game.
Any man who has fought duels with the Germans above the clouds, and won,
surely will be able to outwit a whole army of these thick-headed
mountaineers. What do you think we should do?"

"At the beginning of this journey, as well as those we have taken
before, it was agreed between us that when one strays away or gets
separated from the party, the Overlanders were to go into camp at or as
near the point of separation as possible, and wait there a reasonable
time for the return of the absent one. That is what I should suggest
doing in the present instance," offered Grace.

"Make camp right here?" asked Anne.

"Yes."

"Yes, but are we not going to try to find my Hippy?" begged Nora.

"I think it advisable to wait a reasonable time, so, with the approval
of you folks, I will tell Washington to make camp."

This the girls agreed to, though Nora was for setting out in search of
her husband at once. That, too, was what Grace Harlowe would have liked
to do, but she believed it would be better for them to remain where they
were for the time being.

"Couldn't you follow the trail of those men?" asked Nora.

"I did up to the point where they rode into a stream to throw off
pursuers, just as we did last night. Of course they had to leave the
stream somewhere, but the probabilities are that they were sharp enough
not to leave a plain trail where they came out. For instance, they could
easily dismount their prisoner on a rocky footing where no trail would
be left, carry him on and secrete him, then have one of their party ride
the horses in another direction. Don't you see where that would leave
us?"

"Oh, yes, I do," moaned Nora. "My wheels are all turning the wrong way.
Don't mind me."

"We won't," promised Emma.

Washington, aroused from a day dream, was directed to hustle himself and
make camp. While he was busying himself at this, th