hose won't be any use for the museum!" exploded Fauvette.

"I wonder if we ought to put them back," murmured Raymonde, decidedly
conscience-stricken, though somewhat unwilling to venture again over
the slippery tree-trunk.

She might perhaps have braved the crossing, and restored the eggs to
the nest, but at that moment the rain, which had been threatening all
the afternoon, came down in a torrent. She felt it had sealed the fate
of the chicks.

"We'll just have to leave them here. It's like murder, but I can't
help it. If we don't get back quick we shall be drenched."

As the girls turned to retrace their steps they became aware that they
were not alone in the wood. Some distance among the bushes a dark coat
and hat were plainly advancing in their direction. Undoubtedly
somebody had been watching them and was following them. Wild visions
of Black Jack and his "Limberlost" gang swam before their eyes, and
with one accord they ran--ran anywhere, panic-stricken, bent only on
escaping.

A voice shouted, and it added to their terror, and sent them hurrying
on the faster. They imagined oaths and pistol-shots behind them. Such
exciting scenes were all very well in the pages of _Freckles_, but
they would be decidedly out of place in an English wood. When it came
to the point, neither of them possessed the courage and presence of
mind of the Swamp Angel.

Suppose they found themselves bound and gagged, and tied to trees,
while some dastardly ruffians hewed down the best timber in the wood?
The shouts behind grew nearer. Their pursuer was evidently gaining
upon them. Through the pouring rain they struggled on, splashing
anyhow through swampy places, regardless of soaked shoes and
stockings, pushing through wet bushes and underneath dripping
branches, possessed by the one idea of flight. Down through the hollow
where they had gathered the forget-me-nots, and up the bluebell bank
they struggled, with never a thought for the flowers; and they were
just about to scramble over some felled trees when Raymonde, who was a
yard in advance, caught her foot in a tangle of brier and fell on her
hands and knees among the springing bracken. Fauvette, unable to stop
herself, collided heavily and collapsed by her side. Too much out of
breath to stir, the girls lay for a few moments panting.

"Hallo! Wait!" shouted their pursuer.

The rather rasping, authoritative voice was so well known and familiar
that the girls scrambled up and tur