Nancy’s heart warmed to the Golden Girl. “Ah, do!” she said. “Let’s get out into the woods.” She felt the two girls shiver at the words. But they were both bound to the adventure. “I have a feeling that Patsy is in the woods,” whispered Nancy.
Step by step, gingerly at first, then more confidently as they grew accustomed to the shadows, the three girls walked down the path into the woods. “Patsy! Patsy!” called Nancy in the littlest of voices, so as not to waken the Camp. But nothing answered. To Anne, fresh from the City, the stillness was almost loud. She could hear her heart beat, thump thump. In the woods were strange little noises; the snapping of twigs, tiny rustles; now and then a smothered chirp. The night was not empty, but full of life that they could not see. It gave a strange feeling to know this. A hundred little eyes might be looking at them this minute! A white cat is not easily hidden. But Patsy did not appear.
but nothing answered
“Let’s follow the brook down to the shore,” whispered Nancy, squeezing Cicely’s hand before she let it drop; for they had to go in single file down the path. “If I don’t find him there I will go back, I promise. Patsy isn’t likely to cross the brook. Cats don’t like running water, you know.”
“Neither do fairies!” murmured Cicely,
“I was thinking of that, too,” said Nancy. But Anne Poole said: “He might be up in the top of a tree.”
They crept through the silvery meadow, along the little path that Patsy loved, for by day it was full of pleasant crawling, creeping, hopping things. The girls did not like to think of this just now. They kept calling the cat under their breath. But no Patsy answered. No little white furry shape came running to meet them, as he always did when they chanced to pass his ambush.
“We shall see him right away if he is here,” said Nancy eagerly, as they came out on the shore, almost as bright as day in the moonlight. Here the brook trickled down over the rocks in a baby waterfall, a favorite spot of Patsy’s, where he was accustomed to vary his hunting trips with a drink. But no Patsy was there, and Nancy gave a groan. “I give up!” she said.