"There is no possible way by which we can reach the other side," said Fred, after they had walked a few rods up and down the stream.
"I don't obsarve any way mesilf," was the response of Terry.
"But there must be, for how could father and the rest have crossed?"
"They may have put up a bridge."
"But where is the bridge? There are no signs of any thing of the kind," said the bewildered Fred; "they couldn't have made a bridge without leaving it behind."
"The high water has swipt it away."
Fred stood surveying the stream and the banks, for several minutes, during which he once more walked back and forth, but he was right when he said that the place had never been spanned by even the simplest structure, for it could not have been done without leaving some traces behind.
This being the case, the mystery was greater than ever; for it was certain that at that hour their friends were many miles distant on the other side.
"This is a little ahead of any thing I ever heard tell of," remarked Fred, taking off his cap and scratching his head, after the fashion of Terry when he was puzzled.
"It couldn't be," ventured the latter, who also had his cap in his hand and was stirring up his flaxen locks, "that they carried a bridge along with 'em."