“Aw, call me Shot. This fellow is right,” said Reginald, nodding at Sammy. “And, anyway, that isn’t the way to where daddy is.”
“Don’t you youngsters know how you came to this place?” asked Luke Shepard.
“Oh! You are really lost, are you?” Agnes repeated.
“How can we be lost when we are with you folks?” asked the boy.
“Can’t beat that for logic,” muttered the collegian. But like the other older ones he was troubled. “Go ahead and let’s see how we come out.”
The wood grew thicker as they progressed, and it was hard on the little folk. It was Ruth who called a halt.
“It cannot be that they came this way, Luke,” she said. “They could not have got through these briars.”
“If they did,” muttered Neale O’Neil, “they left no trail behind them.”
“Oh, dear! Oh, dear!” sobbed little Carrie Pendleton. “Then we’ve lost daddy and we’ll never find him again!”
“Of course we’ll find him, child,” cried Agnes soothingly, “only not in this direction.”