g through which John might have gone
with his burden. There might even, she thought, be another of those
precious sign posts that, back on the other trail, had been made by the
torn pieces from Dolly's skirt.

But, careful as was her search, she reached the end of the trail without
finding anything that looked like a promising place, or seeing anything
that made her think Dolly was within a short distance of her. The trail
led to an exposed peak, a ragged outcrop of rock, bare of trees, and
covered only with a slight undergrowth.

Once there Bessie understood why the trail had been made through the
woods. The view was wonderful. Below her were the waving tops of
countless trees, and beyond them she could look down and over the
cultivated valleys, full of farms, whose fields, marked off by stone
fences, looked small and insignificant from her high perch.

Bessie, however, was in no mood to enjoy a view. She wasted no time in
admiring it, but only peered over the edge of the peak on which she
stood, to satisfy herself that Dolly was not hidden just below her. One
look was enough to do that. There was a way, she soon saw, of
descending, and reaching the woods again, but no man, carrying any sort
of a burden, could have accomplished that descent.

It was a task that called for the use of feet and hands and Bessie
turned desperately, convinced that she must, in some manner, have
overlooked the place at which John had turned off the main trail with
his burden.

Now, as she went downward, she searched the woods at each side with
redoubled care, and at last she found what she had been looking for, or
what, it seemed to her, must be the place, since she had seen no other
that offered even a chance for a successful passage through the thick
growth of trees and underbrush.

Without hesitation she turned off the trail, and, though the going was
rough, and her hands and face were scratched, while her clothes were
torn, she was rewarded at last by finding that the ground below her grew
smooth, showing that human feet had passed that way often enough to wear
the faintest sort of a path.

Once she became aware of the path her heart grew light, for she was sure
now that she was going in the right direction at last. And, indeed, it
was not more than five minutes before she almost stumbled over Dolly
herself, bound to a tree, and with a handkerchief stuffed in her mouth
so that she could not cry out.

"Oh, Dolly! I'm so glad, so