"She's slept through it all, thank heaven," replied Charley. "I ran into her room as soon as Qui-tha had clattered away and she was sound asleep. So I just locked the door. I'll go in now and attend to her."
She picked up a candle and tiptoed into the bedroom. There was a moment's hush, then Charley rushed back into the living room.
"She's not there! Felicia!" Her voice rising to a scream. "Felicia! Where are you?"
Elsa ran wildly into the bedroom followed by the others. The little room was empty. Felicia's nightdress lay in a heap on the floor. The clothing she had taken off was gone. A quick search of the house, then of the outbuildings was made. To no avail. Some one gasped:
"Qui-tha!"
But Charley who had recovered her self control, vetoed this idea at once. "An Indian isn't like that! Roger, she climbed out of the window to run to you."
"I'll go down there at once," replied Roger. "The rest of you keep on calling and searching around here."
"Ride old Nell," Charley suggested, as Roger hurried away.
But Felicia was not at the Sun Plant, nor did Roger's stentorian shouts raise any reply save faint howls from a coyote pack. With a sinking heart he rode back to the ranch and called in the others whose lights were flashing about the mountainside.
"If she started for our camp," he said, "I don't see how she could have wandered away. She knows that trail so well."