TREE

"Run to the river!" It was Hippy's voice, this time raised in warning.
He feared that the wide-spreading branches of the falling tree might hit
some of the party of Overlanders.

A branch from a smaller tree, knocked down by the larger one in its
fall, gave Hippy a sidewipe and sent him flying down the bank.

"Jump inter the river!" screamed the forest woman. "It ain't deep." Joe
led the way, shouting as she leaped for the water. Had there been light,
it would have been easy to see which way the tree was falling, but in
the darkness one could only guess from the sound the direction in which
the tree was falling. It landed with a mighty crash just as the Overland
Riders leaped into the river, and for a few seconds it sounded as if the
forest itself were going down. The girls listened to the crashings and
the reports in awesome silence.

"All over!" announced Tom, in a tone of relief.

"I--I don't see anything about a falling tree that necessitates scaring
a person out of a year's growth," complained Emma.

"You don't, eh? Then you have something to learn," answered Tom rather
shortly.

"At least there is nothing to prevent our going back and getting to
sleep, is there?" questioned Nora.

"There is!" said Tom.

"Wha--what do you mean?" demanded Hippy, but Tom made no reply.

Grace found herself wondering what had caused the tree to fall. There
was no wind, other than a gentle zephyr; the ground was dry and the tree
was not a dead tree, as she discovered when she found that its foliage
had blotted out the campfire. Either she had not heard the explosion as
the tree burst from the ground, or else she had forgotten that
circumstance altogether in the excitement of the moment.

"All right. We can go back now," said Tom.

"And to bed for mine," promised Elfreda.

"If my eyes serve me right, you have no bed," answered Grace laughingly.

"I don't understand," wondered Miss Briggs.

"From its position, I should say that the fallen tree pretty well covers
our camp," replied Grace.

"Yes, it fell on the lean-tos," Tom informed them.

The Overland girls groaned.

"The voices of nature seem to be trying to tell us something. Perhaps
they are inviting us to get out," suggested Hippy whimsically. "What is
your interpretation of the tree's fall, you Nature-Cult Person?" he
questioned teasingly, nodding at Emma.

"I think they are seeking to advise us to rid ourselves of one
Lieutenant Wingate if we expect