"He--he's fallen!" gasped Laurel.
"Tripped over something," added Cora. "Oh, maybe he will turn back
now."
Them was silence for a moment and then, to the relief of the girls,
they heard footsteps in retreat. Their unwelcome visitor was going
away.
"Oh, he's gone! He's gone!" gasped Laurel in delight.
"Maybe it wasn't a man at all," suggested the practical Cora. "It
might have been a bear--or--er some animal."
"There are no bears on this island," replied her companion with a
wan smile--no animals bigger than coons, and they couldn't make so
much a noise. Besides, I heard him grunt, or moan, as he fell. So
it must have been a man."
"Well, he's gone," rejoined Cora, "and, now that he's left us alone
I'm going to hope that he didn't hurt himself. He interrupted our
supper and now it's time we finished it," and in the dim light of
the lantern they ate the coarse food and waited--waited for what
would happen next.
CHAPTER XVII
THE SEARCHING PARTY
"I know something has happened to Cora," Hazel was lamenting, "and I
am afraid we have lost good time in not going with the boys. Let us
get ready at once. Here Bess and Belle, you take these lanterns,
Nettie carry matches--and take a strong mountain stick, and--"
"Oh, mercy!" exclaimed Belle, in terror, "why should we need a
strong stick!"
"To make our way with," replied the practical Hazel.
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