But there was no hurrying for Betty. She crawled to the tree and drew herself up against it. “If I could only see where the sun is, I could tell the direction,” she thought. Then she wondered if she were near enough to the lake to hear it and listened attentively. She could not be very far from the bridle path, and yet the horse had run into the woods for quite a distance. Oh, well, she didn’t know what would happen, but she might as well try to get out of the woods some way. Deciding on the direction, she staggered from tree to tree at first, but came to no clearing, and it kept growing darker. It was hard to keep in any one direction when there were so many thick bushes to go around, and the time seemed very long. Every little while Betty would have to sit down, all sick and dizzy, to rest. The night air was chilly and little noises startled her.
Finally, she seemed to come into a narrow path, and presently she heard the sound of waves. She had at last come through that almost impenetrable woods to the lake shore. “Now I can find the way home,” she thought, though what part of the shore she would reach she had no idea.
Feeling her way along slowly, Betty would lose the path at times, then find herself back upon it again, and while she watched, for fear she might walk over the edge of some bluff, she saw a glimmer through the trees, then found herself before an open door from which shone the feeble light of a lantern. She staggered in, and dropped into a straight chair which was propping open the door. At once she heard voices outside, and began seriously to doubt the wisdom of her walking into the place. She looked around. There was a long table roughly made and upon it stood bottles of chemicals and different tools. This was no real house,—what had she stumbled upon? Could this be the house over the cave? But it was too late to get away, for they were almost at the door. Betty could hear the conversation now. It was partly in English, partly in simple German, and Betty thought to herself that, after all, having studied German was not such a waste of time as she had felt. There were words here and there which she did not recognize, but to her horror she realized that these were the men who were responsible for the attempt on the bridge. They were explaining to some one evidently in authority over them, and excusing themselves for their failure. The other man spoke harshly, telling them that there would be a search and they must conceal the evidences of their work at this place.
“Tomorrow the government boat will be down here. Fishing pretence will not deceive them. They will search everywhere. The secret service men are already on the trail. Signal for the hydroplane. You can work for White Wings till this blows over. Throw all that stuff into the lake. Did you remove all the bombs from the cave?”
Betty’s heart sank as she recognized the voice. It was that of Captain Holley. She rose, having some wild idea of trying to escape, but did the best thing that she could have done under the circumstances. Fright, chill, and the injured head were too much for her, and she sank to the floor by the chair in a faint.
Round the corner of the little house walked the three men and stopped astonished at the sight of the fallen figure in the doorway. Betty would have been still more frightened if she could have seen the revolvers drawn, and heard Captain Holley’s angry exclamation as he discovered who she was. “It is one of the young ladies from the school,” said he, stooping over her. Betty was regaining her senses, but did not dare move. Stepping over her, still with revolver in hand, he went inside and looked around to see if she had any companion.
“She has seen too much. Throw her in the lake,” growled one of the men.
“There is no one else here,” said Captain Holley, returning. Lifting Betty he laid her on a bench which stood against the wall inside. “She has been thrown, I judge, and has come through the woods.”
“They will be hunting for her, too,” said the same man who had spoken.
“If they catch us, it will be better if we have treated her well,” spoke the second man.