“What’s the matter?” asked George.
“I’ve left the compass back on the rock.”
For a moment neither spoke, though each was doing a large amount of thinking. The seriousness of the situation dawned upon them, and they realized that they must think calmly, and not become frightened and confused.
“That’s all right,” laughed George; “we’ll get out of here and go back and look for it.” And he started splashing his way through the marsh.
“Hold on!” commanded Ed. “Which side did we come in at? You know we’ve done a lot of turning and changing of direction, and I’m a bit mixed.”
“I’m not. Come on, I’ll show you exactly where we came in. It’s right over here a little ways,” declared George, confidently.
Ed followed him with many misgivings. They waded through cold, ice-coated pools, stumbled over great fallen logs, tore their way through thorny thickets, and with all their exertions only seemed to get deeper into the swamp.
“We’re wrong,” declared Ed, when they had gone some distance in that uncertain manner. “If we had been traveling in the proper direction we’d have come to the base of that rocky hillside long ago.”
“I guess you’re right; seems to me we’ve walked a mile or more, and still there’s no sign of our getting out.”
“Well, there’s no use rushing about this way,” said Ed, glancing at his watch. “It’s past noon now; here is a little spring; let’s sit down beside it and eat our lunch and try to figure where we are.”