Suddenly a faint sound reached their ears, seeming to come from a long distance. It was a cry for help.
“That was Darry’s voice!” cried Jessie, trembling.
CHAPTER XIX
IN DANGER
The girls listened, clinging together, scarcely daring to breathe, and the cry was repeated, fainter and coming abruptly to an end.
“Darry! Darry!” cried Amy, in a sudden, terrible fear. “That was his voice, Jessie! He is in trouble! He may be hurt, dying——”
As though driven to recklessness by the thought, Amy turned and dashed blindly ahead, sinking suddenly almost to her knees in mud and water.
Jessie and Nell dragged her out, only quick action saving them all from being sucked down into the merciless black slime.
“Oh, I am sorry, Jess—Nell!” said Amy, sobbing in her fright and remorse. “I might have killed you both! I won’t do it again. But, girls, we must find Darry!”
“The ground is harder over here,” cried Jessie, her words coming quick and staccato through chattering teeth. “Come this way.”
She dashed madly through the underbrush and entangling vines, catching her clothes on bushes and tearing them recklessly. Nell and Amy followed her blindly, the echo of that haunting cry for help flogging them onward.