“I see,” returned Joanne. “It’s lucky we wore our rubbers, for there are ever so many tiny rivulets trying to find their way down the hill. One has to go quite a circuitous route to get a crossing sometimes.”
She started off, pretty soon coming upon a modest plot of the arbutus. “I’ve found some,” she called back.
Mrs. Pattison waved a reply and Joanne went on, soon becoming absorbed in her search, while her cousin, equally busy, was presently out of range of her voice.
Finding scant growth on this side the hill, Joanne climbed to the top and disappeared down the other side while Mrs. Pattison continued on in the direction she had started. It was such fascinating employment that neither thought of much else, so Joanne went on and on more absorbed as she found a greater abundance of the flowers the farther she went. In course of time the little basket she carried was full. She arose from her crouching position and looked around. She could not see the river nor the canal, but shining between the trunks of the trees she saw a pink-flecked sky.
“Dear me, how far I must have wandered,” said Joanne to herself. “It is getting late, too. I must hurry back. Let me see.” She looked around to get her bearings. “That is the sunset, of course. The sun sets up the river, so I must go in a westerly direction, of course.” She stood still and took a survey of her surroundings. “It doesn’t seem to me that I came over that hill, but it must be the one, for I am confident that I must travel west.”
She trudged along, after a while coming to a rough road through the woods. It looked as if it had been used by teamsters. “I don’t remember this,” said Joanne, “but probably it leads the right way, so I’ll follow it.” She kept on for some time. The light faded. The woods became dark. A little quiver of anxiety passed over Joanne. “If I could only get out into the open,” she said, “I could tell exactly which way to go. The sun must set in the west; it can’t help it. I’ll keep on going.”
Again she took up her line of march and after a while she came to a little open place where she could see a slender line of light on one side and the pink clouds changing to purple on the other. She was aghast. “I believe I am wrong after all,” she exclaimed. “Who could tell that it was only the sunset’s reflection that I saw? I know that sometimes the sky is more brilliant in the east at sundown than it is in the west. I am all twisted up. I don’t know which way to go.” She looked back into the gloomy shadows of the woods from which she had just come. They seemed rather fearsome now, and the girl hesitated to go back. “This road must lead somewhere,” she murmured. “It couldn’t just happen. If I could only reach a point where I could see the river I would know which way to go.”
Again she pressed ahead. It grew darker and darker. The road led directly through the woods, and soon it became indistinct before her, but at last she reached a clearing where stumps of trees stood ghostily around her. She looked up. The stars were coming out. “Now I can find my way,” she said exultantly. “Once I locate the North Star I shall get my points.”
She suddenly realized that she was very tired. She sat down on a stump and looked up at the heavens where the stars were growing brighter and brighter. One after another she could distinguish them, and so learned the direction she should go in order to reach the farm. She must retrace her steps. At the thought of going through the dark woods alone she shuddered. There might be more dangers there than in mere darkness. She felt weary and faint. She had eaten nothing since the early lunch. She dropped her head into her hands while the tears trickled between her fingers.
“Why was I so silly as to wander off from Cousin Sue?” she said to herself. “How worried they will be. I had no business to be such a stupid creature.” She sat so for a few minutes, then jumped up with an air of determination. “There’s no use in being a coward,” she went on. “I don’t mean to sit here all night. Now shall I keep on following this road or shall I go back?”