“Good, Helen, that is just the thing!” acquiesced the Director, as the girls at her suggestion hurriedly deposited their lunch-boxes in the hall, while Nathalie ran over to tell her mother her plans.
In a few moments the would-be searchers started, each girl equipped with her staff, while the two leaders triumphantly displayed their whistles, which they claimed would be of great help if any of the party got lost and their voices did not carry.
It did not take long to reach Felia’s shanty, and as Nathalie ran in to tell her that the Pioneers were going to hunt for Rosy, the rest of the party gazed with quick, alert eyes first in one direction and then in the other.
“I should not be surprised if the child had wandered away looking for flowers,” remarked Mrs. Morrow, suddenly remembering what Nathalie had said the child was doing when she was last seen.
“But where would she be apt to go?” inquired Nathalie, who had returned in time to hear Mrs. Morrow’s remark.
“Why, to the woods!” retorted Helen quickly, and her eyes lighted in sudden thought as they dwelt on a green belt of woodland that loomed against the sky on the opposite side of the road.
“Don’t you think she might have strayed down the hill?” questioned Nathalie, pointing to a pond shimmering in the sun at the bottom of a knoll near-by. “Poor Mammy is quite sure she is drowned and lies at the bottom of the pond.”
“Well, I’ll tell you what we can do,” spoke up Lillie, “I’ll take my squad and search down by the pond, and Helen and the rest of you can go over to the woods; somehow I’m with Mammy, for all children love to paddle in the water.”
Lillie’s suggestion was a timely one, and as she, Grace, Jessie, and a few Orioles disappeared over the slope of the hill, Helen and Nathalie, as the advance guard, hurried across the road and into the cool recesses of the woods. As they hastened onward every girl’s eyes were alert, watchfully peering behind every bush and tree as they stumbled over gnarled roots and broken stumps in their efforts to reach some shaded nook, or lichen-covered rock dimly seen in the shadows of the trees.
Helen proved an efficient leader and did not hesitate to keep her followers busy, as she sent first one and then the other to look here or there, determined not to miss a nook or spot where the child might be hidden. Every now and then some of the party would give a bird call, or Helen’s whistle would reverberate sharply through the swaying pines.