Chapter XV: Consternation

It may have been the drowsy charm of the day, the soothing murmur of the brook, or the satisfying quality of the lunch, or perhaps a combination of the three, that made the little party under the trees so content to sit still or lie still for a considerable time after Cora left them.

"This is _dolce far niente_ for fair," murmured Jack lazily.

"I'd agree with you," drawled Paul, "if I only knew what you meant. Talk United States."

"Why, it means something like 'the happiness of doing nothing,' I believe," explained Jack.

"It seems to make a hit with you," remarked Belle.

"It does," admitted Jack brazenly.

"I declare, you boys are like so many stuffed anacondas stretched out there," observed Bess.

"We're members of the Amalgamated Order of the Sons of Rest," said Walter.

"Come along, Belle," said Bess, rising. "If we stay here much longer we'll grow to be as lazy as they are. Let's go and find Cora. She's the only real live wire in the whole party."

"You do yourselves an injustice," Jack called after them.

The girls went off in the direction that Cora had taken, keeping a sharp lookout as they went along.

"It's queer that she hasn't come back of her own accord by this time," remarked Belle.

"She's probably gathering flowers," replied Bess. "There are so many beautiful varieties around here." But Belle grew more uneasy every second.

"I'm going to call her," she said, and gave the familiar yodel on which Cora herself had relied in vain.

But no answer came back, and the girls looked at each other with unrest in their eyes.

"Do you think she's teasing us by pretending not to hear?" asked Belle.

"No," replied her sister, "that wouldn't be like Cora. She knows how that would worry us."

"Let's try both together," suggested Belle, and they gave out a call in unison.

Again there was no response, and thoroughly frightened now, the girls ran back to their companions.

"Oh, Jack," exclaimed Belle, "we can't find Cora!"

"What!" cried the boys, leaping to their feet.

"It's true," confirmed Bess. "We've called her again and again, and we can't get any answer."

Jack grew pale beneath his coat of tan.

"It can't be!" he cried. "You didn't call loud enough. Cora, oh, Cora!" he shouted at the top of his voice.

Paul and Walter joined in with stentorian yells, but their united efforts had no result.

"There's got to be some quick work here, fellows!" cried Jack, a cold perspiration breaking out all over him. "You girls stay right here," he commanded. "Don't stir from this spot. We three fellows will spread out in a semicircle, and beat up the woods in the general direction that Cora started out in. We'll spread out as widely as we can, but we mustn't get so far apart that we can't hear each other shout. We'll keep calling out all the time, so as to keep in touch with each other. If at the end of half an hour we haven't found any trace of her, we'll know that she isn't in this section and we'll hurry back to the girls here. Then we'll raise a hue and cry and get the whole district out searching for her. Come along now and keep your voices going. And keep your eyes open, too. She may have met with an accident. Work, fellows! Work like mad!"

The others needed no urging, for they were wild with fear for Cora's safety.

For the next half-hour they yelled until they were hoarse, and covered as much territory as they could. They peered into every bush and thicket. Not one of them but thought of the ugly monster they had seen in the road that morning. Suppose one of this tribe had attacked the girl who was so dear to all of them? Suppose at that very moment she were lying somewhere helpless and dying?

They looked everywhere in an agony of apprehension, but Cora's wandering feet and her fall down the mountainside had already carried her far beyond sound or sight.

At the appointed time they rejoined the girls.

"No use," announced Jack, in a voice that he tried to keep firm, despite the working of his features. "I'll tell you what we'll do. You stay here, Paul, until further notice. If Cora comes back, you have an easy trail from here to the mill. There's a telephone there, and of course you'd call up Kill Kare at once with the good news. Walter and I will go back with Bess and Belle to the mill. Then Walter can drive the girls to Kill Kare in one of the cars, leave them with Aunt Betty, and bring Joel back with him to the mill. I'll get all the men that I can at the mill to join in the search. Those lumberjacks know the woods thoroughly. Then, too, I'll telephone to all the neighboring towns and camps and call for volunteers. We'll comb these woods all day and all night until we find her."

He and Walter hurried off with the girls, leaving Paul behind. They reached the sawmill in record time, and leaving Jack there to explain the situation and carry out the plans agreed upon, Walter drove the girls home.

It had been thought at first that it would be well to leave Aunt Betty in ignorance of the affair, in order to spare her misery. But on second thought this idea had been dismissed. It would not be fair to her, in a matter of such moment, to treat her as a child, even with the best of motives. Besides it was morally certain that the girls would not be able to conceal their grief from her, no matter how hard they tried.

She was waiting for them as they drove up and greeted them with her usual kindly smile.

"Where are the others?" she inquired. "And what on earth is the matter with you two girls?" she added in quick alarm as she saw their eyes red and swollen with weeping.

"Don't be alarmed, Aunt Betty," said Walter, as lightly as he could. "The girls are a little worried because Cora strayed off a little way into the woods and we haven't found her. But she can't have gone very far, and we'll find her and have her back to Kill Kare in a jiffy. Jack and Paul are looking for her now, and I'm going back to help them."

Aunt Betty gave a frightened exclamation and put her hand to her heart.

"Cora lost!" she ejaculated. "And in those awful woods! Oh, why did you let her get away from you? The poor darling girl!"

"We boys ought to be kicked from here to Jericho for letting her out of our sight," said Walter in savage self-reproach. "But the mischief's done now, and we've got to remedy it as best we can. You take care of the girls, Aunt Betty, while I go and hunt up Joel. I'm going to take him back with me."

He hurried away, leaving the three to condole with each other. He was lucky enough to find Joel in the barn, and hastily explained the state of affairs.

The big backwoodsman was thoroughly alarmed. Better than any one else at Kill Kare, he knew the dangers that threatened any tyro that ventured into that wilderness. There had been cases within his own knowledge where hapless wanderers had perished, even while the woods were alive with searching parties.

He put his hunting knife in his belt, grasped his rifle and hurried back with Walter to the sawmill.

Meanwhile, Jack told his story to the foreman, and received his instant sympathy and promise to help. He called for volunteers, and a number of the men who were working in the mill responded promptly. Some of them had already started out when Walter arrived, and others quickly followed.

Baxter too was stirred by the story and came out of his shell of reticence. He volunteered to take charge of the telephoning, leaving Jack to go out with the searching parties.

"I know personally the authorities in the nearest towns," he said, "and they'll be glad to oblige me in this. You're too excited and on edge to stay here, and I don't wonder. You go ahead and look for your sister and leave this to me. Before long I'll have a dozen parties out on the trail."

Jack gladly availed himself of the offer, and, in company with Walter and Joel, hurried with feverish haste up the hillside and plunged into the woods.