When Henry returned with the others to camp, Martia was the first to greet him. She had suddenly lost the last vestige of her patrician affectations, because she ran to him abruptly. Or rather, their thoughts seemed to meet between them even before they drew together. He squeezed her hand warmly as she drew him to one side, excitedly.
"Mother is lost!" she exclaimed. Her eyes were slightly reddened from crying.
"Lost! How do you know?"
"She and Sir Rollins and that Mr. Langham and the Crispin sisters and those two mothers who lost their babies went exploring for spring water. They've been gone all day and nobody can find them! Henry, I'm so worried! Can you speak to your Uncle and ask him to organize a real search party. There's no night here. We can start right away!"
"But the meeting—"
"Please!" she insisted.
"What I mean is, no search party can be organized during the big meeting, and that's about ready to get under way—after everybody eats supper." They could see the fires along the beach where men and women were cooking. Either they were cooking small game caught in traps or certain species of edible crustacea, or a potato-like fruit that was abundant in this region. The food from the plane was long gone. "Why doesn't your governess do something about it? What does she think?"
"Emily? She made a few soldier boys go with her to search—those three Texas boys—and I think three of those WAACs went along. But they've disappeared, too!"
"All right," said Henry. "Let's go see Uncle Andy."