Mary Lee the Red Cross Girl Part 21

"I never had any idea it could be so beautiful," Mary Lee said in reply to a question of Mrs. Anderson's.

"Well, dear, you will find it even more so as we climb the Adirondacks. We are to do that from now until we reach our point.

Let's all have breakfast, at least all of us who are awake and ready for it. I suppose you early risers must be starved."

The three chums suddenly realized how hungry they were. It had not occurred to them until the subject was mentioned.

It was almost nine o'clock when the party reached their station. The Anderson camp was twelve miles away and the two automobiles waiting for them took almost an hour to climb to it.

Mary Lee as well as the rest of the girls found the whole trip a panorama of delights.

The country was wild and seemed to have escaped civilization.

"To think," said one of the girls, "that a place as wild as this should be so near so big a city. It's hard to imagine, isn't it?"

The camp picked by Dr. Anderson was truly in a wonderful spot. Far from human habitation it was hidden from the narrow road up which the automobiles had come. It was three-quarters of the way to the top of Mount Hope. Nearby Lake Ormond, a small body of water was almost hidden by trees and bushes all about it.

The girls quickly changed to clothes that were comfortable and suitable. Some of them found hammocks, some walked down to the lake.

Dr. Anderson had told them that there were no fixed plans and that each one could do the thing that seemed most desirable.

When he went into the house to interview the caretakers, Mrs. Anderson and several of the girls found a comfortable nook. Irma and Clara who were not inclined to be as strenuous as the rest of the girls joined her. Mrs. Anderson was doing some sewing. Clara welcomed the opportunity to finish some beautiful tatting and Irma was equally anxious to finish a story she had begun on the train.

Mary Lee, Letty, Ruth and Edith had decided on following one of the narrow foot-paths to the top of Mt. Hope. They stopped for a few minutes and added to the group about Aunt Madge.

"I'm so glad I came," said Edith. "There never was such a place."

"How did you ever find it?" asked Clara, looking up from her yoke.

"It must have been a wonderful place for your honeymoon," said the sentimental Irma.

"Yes, we think it rather pleasant," replied the hostess. "It would not have been easy to find, you may be sure. But Dr. Anderson knows this part of the Adirondacks well and he claims that he picked this spot long ago for just such a purpose."

"Wasn't that lovely?" Irma remarked, delighted at any promise of romance.

"It's going to be very dear to us, always," Aunt Madge added. "And if our dear friends get half the fun and joy out of being here that we do we shall indeed think they are having a happy visit."

"Well, I for my part feel that I've already had an awful lot crowded into my holiday," said Mary Lee. "All the pleasure that's coming is so much added."

"Be sure to get back for lunch," Aunt Madge cautioned the four girls as they started off.

"We wouldn't miss it for the world," Letty called back.

CHAPTER XXV

LOST IN THE WOODS

Letty and Edith were soon considerably ahead of Ruth and Mary Lee who stopped often at the many pretty spots along the way.

"Isn't it lovely the way the path trails and yet continues ever upward?" said Mary Lee as the two made their way slowly ahead.

"It seems so far from the city and war and Liberty Bonds," replied Ruth dreamily.

"But it's our country and it simply adds to our reason for being proud of it," the other girl answered. "But you are right, it is far away from things."

At first the voices ahead were clearly distinct but now they were no longer heard. The road, too, in one or two places trailed into the woods and Mary Lee and Ruth found that it was necessary to keep a sharp lookout not to wander off on one of these side trails.

"Here's how we can tell," the former suddenly called to Ruth. "See these trees. Someone must have marked them so as to show how to go."

"It's what they call a blazed trail, I guess," Ruth replied. "I've often heard my brother tell how he and his guide had found it necessary to blaze trails as they go."

"I wonder where Letty and Edith are," Mary Lee suddenly remarked. "We haven't heard their voices for a long time."

The two girls called for their friends. But there was no answer.

"Let's hurry," said Ruth beginning to be alarmed.

They hurried out but found no sign of their friends nor any answer to their calls.

"I wonder where they can be," said Mary Lee. "Do you suppose they wandered off on one of these trails? I suppose that's what they have done," she added, answering her own question.

"Let's turn back, Mary Lee," Ruth advised.

They did this at once. Mary Lee felt certain that the two girls could not have gone much further ahead.

They came across one or two of the side trails but there was no sign of footprints. At one of these narrow paths they did see the mark of feet but after cutting into the woods for several hundred yards, they decided it was the point where they had found themselves branching off on their way up.

They did not cease their calls but were unable to get a response.

By this time it was midday and they were far from the camp. They had lost considerable time in zagzaging uncertainly from one point to another in their anxiety to locate their friends.

"I wonder, Ruth," Mary Lee questioned her friend, "whether you could find your way back and get help. It's only about two miles from here."

"What will you do in the meantime?" Ruth replied. "I hate to leave you alone."

"I shall try to locate them. But I shall be always coming back to this point, so that you will know where to find me. See, I shall put this branch in the middle of the trail so that you will know."

Ruth hurried off. Mary Lee tied her handkerchief on a small branch of another tree so that there would be no mistake. She realized that Ruth would not be able to bring help in less than an hour and so decided she was going to study the number of trails within a half mile and follow the one that seemed the most likely.

A little further up the mountain she found a path that seemed almost as wide as the main trail and decided to follow it. She had gone but a little way when she noticed that it cut directly to her right and began to go down hill.

Now she hurried and began to call again. She received no answer but decided to continue on her way.

The woods became thicker. The thorns and trailing branches scratched her arms and her face but she was unmindful of this. She made sure, however, of her way back. She had no wish to join the lost.

She had cut into the woods about a mile by now and had ceased her calls. The woods were thick about her and almost inaccessible.