“National forest,” Judy corrected her.
The tallest man in the group looked at her sharply.
“Does it make any difference?”
“Why, n-no,” she stammered, feeling suddenly uncomfortable under his scrutiny. “There are both state and national forest reserves just west of here. I don’t know where one ends and the other begins, really. I didn’t mean—”
Judy stopped abruptly. A voice that seemed to come from the trees themselves had said, with unmistakable urgency:
“Don’t look for it!”
CHAPTER II
The Talking Tree
“Don’t look for what? Who said that? Where—”
Judy’s voice trailed off in bewilderment. She moved closer to Honey, whose startled expression showed that she had heard something, too. The men had started hurriedly toward their car.