“Oh, but you don’t know—there might,” gasped1 Alice.
“What is it?” asked Jack2, as he and Phil came up on the run, having followed Blake when they heard the girls calling.
“Natalie is missing!” exclaimed Mrs. Bonnell. “Marie and I went for a walk in the woods, leaving Mabel and Natalie here. When did she leave you, Mabel?”
“Soon after you started out.”
“That’s nearly two hours ago. And she’s been gone all this time,” commented the Guardian3. “Did she say which way she was going?”
“No,” answered Mabel. “I didn’t pay much attention. I was looking after that beef stew4, and I didn’t want it to burn, so I kept going in the tent ever so often.”
“I heard Natalie say, when I was over the stove at one time, that she was going into the woods, and I took it for granted that she would follow you.”
“We didn’t see anything of her,” said Marie. “We walked slowly at first, so she could easily have caught up to us.”
“And it’s getting darker,” murmured Alice, who had been over to the boys’ camp, doing a bit of sewing for her brother. She had followed them as they ran to Dogwood in response to the calls.
“Oh, isn’t it too bad!” exclaimed Mrs. Bonnell.
“She’ll turn up all right!” asserted Blake. “Then you didn’t see which way she went, Mabel?”
“No, I was in the cooking tent. But she wouldn’t go off the main path; would she?”
“It doesn’t seem so,” spoke5 Marie. “Oh, we must find her! She can’t stay in the woods,” and there was a catch in her voice.
“Now, take it easy, sis,” advised her brother. “We’ll find her all right. All we’ll have to do is to begin a search. She probably went farther than she meant to and it takes longer to come back. Come on, boys, we’ll start on the trail.”
“You must have lanterns!” insisted the Guardian. “It will soon be too dark to see. We have a number of ’em. Girls, light ’em up!”
“Are we going to stay here—alone?” asked Alice.
“You always have,” said her brother.
“But Natalie——”
“Let ’em come along, if they want to,” suggested Jack. “It’s no fun waiting around for news. But we’ll soon find her,” he added. “We’ll each take a different trail—there are three main ones into the woods—Nat must be on one of those. Each fellow can take a girl, and Mrs. Bonnell can be a sort of director of operations.”
The girls paired off with their brothers, and soon the woods bore the appearance of a forest wherein flickered6 big fireflies, for the lanterns bobbed here and there amid the trees, as do the insects on a June evening.
As the boys and Camp Fire Girls went slowly along they called from time to time, their voices echoing through the fast-darkening woods. But there came no answering cry.
The three main trails into the woods did not diverge7 greatly, and it was possible for the three searching parties to keep in communication with one another. From time to time one or the other called, asking for any news. But none was forthcoming.
“Oh, we must find her!” exclaimed Mrs. Bonnell. “Something must have happened to her!”
“I think that must be it,” agreed Jack; Mrs. Bonnell having accompanied him and his sister. “Maybe she has fallen and——”
“Oh, Jack!” begged Marie. “Don’t say such horrid9 things!”
“Why not—if they’re true? We might as well recognize that something is likely to have happened. We’ve got to face the music.”
“Poor Natalie!” breathed Marie. “Oh!” she screamed a moment later.
“What is it?” demanded Mrs. Bonnell.
“Something went right over my foot.”
“A snake—I mean hoptoad,” and Jack quickly corrected himself.
“Don’t mention it!” cried Marie with a shudder10.
She clung to her brother, who flashed the lantern back and forth8. Again and again was Natalie’s name called, but the echoes from the dark woods were the only replies.
“Oh, what can have become of her?” whispered Mabel to Phil. “Do you suppose——?”
“What’s the use of supposing anything?” he answered a bit shortly. “We’ll know when we find her, and not before.”
Then they tramped on, and, a little later, a call from their left gave them hope. Blake and Alice were over there.
“What is it?” called Phil. “Have you found her?”
“No,” answered Blake in disappointed tones. “Alice thought she heard her, but it turned out to be a stray cow. Any luck?”
“Not a bit!”
“Where are the others?”
“Not far off. I can see their light. I guess they haven’t struck any clues.”
“We’ll have to wait until morning.”
“I think so, but we’ll look a little farther.”
So they kept on. But it was evident that Natalie was not in that part of the woods. After some difficulty the three bands of searchers got together again, Jack, his sister and Mrs. Bonnell having wandered into a sort of swamp, where the water oozed11 over their shoes. They were wet, tired and miserable12.
“We—we can’t find her!” faltered13 Marie.
“Oh, where can she be?” murmured Mabel.
“Now, there’s no use worrying,” insisted Blake.
“But, we can’t help it,” said his sister.
“We just must, girls,” declared Mrs. Bonnell in firm tones. “We must not worry!”
“But, poor Natalie!” cried Alice.
“Be sensible,” ordered the Guardian. “She is well and strong, and able to take care of herself. Something may have unavoidably detained her, and——”
“But, where did she go? Where could she stay after dark?” Marie wanted to know.
“We can’t tell. Certainly we will have to find her. Perhaps we had better go back to camp and summon help,” suggested Mrs. Bonnell.
“Oh, let’s!” chorused the girls, and this was voted the best plan.
“There’s a camp of young fellows not far from ours,” said Jack when they were all back at Dogwood—a disconsolate14 enough party. “We’ll get them and beat the woods. You girls had better stay here now. We’ll find her. I’ll row down in one of your boats, and get them.”
He hurried to the little dock, and at once called out:
“Where’s your small rowboat?”
“Isn’t it there?” asked Mrs. Bonnell in surprised tones.
“Not a sign of it.”
In the flickering15 light of the lanterns those near the tents looked at each other. Then Marie cried:
“I see it now! Natalie went out in a boat and is drowned! Oh, Natalie!” and she fell to sobbing16 on Mrs. Bonnell’s shoulder.
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收听单词发音
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1
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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2
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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3
guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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4
stew
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| n.炖汤，焖，烦恼；v.炖汤，焖，忧虑 | |
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5
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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6
flickered
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| （通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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7
diverge
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| v.分叉，分歧，离题，使...岔开，使转向 | |
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8
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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9
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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10
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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11
oozed
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| v.（浓液等）慢慢地冒出，渗出( ooze的过去式和过去分词 )；使（液体）缓缓流出；（浓液）渗出，慢慢流出 | |
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12
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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13
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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14
disconsolate
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| adj.忧郁的，不快的 | |
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15
flickering
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| adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的 | |
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16
sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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