To attempt the dangerous passage of a swamp when they might have
returned to camp in the guide boat was undoubtedly a most imbecile
decision. And if Phyllis had not been thoroughly flustered by the upset,
which was all her fault, she never would have consented to it. As for
Herring's voice in the matter, it was that which the young man always
gave when there was a question of adventure. He didn't get around
mountains by the valley road. He climbed over them. He had not in his
whole being a suspicion of what is dangerous. He had never been afraid
of anything. He probably never would be. He would have enjoyed leading
half a dozen forlorn hopes every morning before breakfast.
"We were idiots," said Phyllis, "to leave the boat."
"We can't go back to it now," said Herring. "We don't know the way."
"Your voice sounds as if you were glad of it."
"I am. I was dreadfully afraid you'd decide against crossing this
swamp. I'd set my heart on it."
"It isn't I," said Phyllis, "that's against our crossing this swamp.
It's the swamp."
"The main thing," said Herring, with satisfaction (physically he was
almost exhausted), "is that here we are safe and sound. We don't know
where 'here' is, but it's with us, it won't run away. When we've rested
we shall go on, taking 'here' with us. Wherever we go is 'here.' Think
of that!"
"I wish I could think of something else," said Phyllis, "but I can't.
I'm almost dead."
"You are doing something that no girl has ever done before, not even
your sisters, those princesses of fortune. Years from now, when you
begin, 'Once when I happened to be crossing the Swamp with a young
fellow named Herring--' they will have to sit silent and listen."
"If you weren't so cheerful," said Phyllis, "I should have begun to cry
an hour ago. Do you really think this is fun?"
"Do I think it's fun? To be in a scrape--not to know when or how we are
going to get out of it? You bet I think it's fun."
"People have died," said Phyllis, "having just this sort of fun. Suppose
we can't get out?"
"You mean to-day? Perhaps we can't. Perhaps not to-morrow. Perhaps we
shall have to learn how to live in a swamp. A month of the life we've
led for the last few hours might turn us into amphibians. That would be
intensely novel and interesting. But, of course, when winter comes and
the place freezes over we can march right out and take up our orthodox
lives where we left off. Listen!"
"What?"
"I think I hear webs growing between my fingers and toes."
Phyllis laughed so that the partially dried mud on her face cracked.
"What," she said, "are we going to eat this side of winter? What are we
going to eat now?"
His face expressed immense concern.
"What? You are hungry? Allow me!"
He produced from his inside pocket a very large cake of sweet chocolate,
wrapped in several thicknesses of oiled silk.
"My one contribution," he said, "to the science of woodcraft."
Phyllis ate and was refreshed. Afterward she washed all the mud from her
face. Herring watched the progress of the ablution with much interest.
"Wonderful!" he said presently.
"What is wonderful?" she asked, not without anticipation of a
compliment.
"Wonderful to find that something which is generally accepted as
true--is true. To see it proved before your eyes."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean," he said, "that I never before actually saw a girl wash her
face. I've seen 'em when they said they were going to. I've seen 'em
when they said they just had. But now I know."
"If you weren't quite mad," said Phyllis, "you'd be very exasperating.
Here am I, frightened half to death, cold and miserable, and dreadfully
worried to think how worried my family must be, and there are you,
almost too tired to stand, actually delighted with yourself, because
you're in trouble and because for the first time in your life you've
seen a girl wash her face. Can't you be serious about anything?"
"Not about a half-drowned girl taking the trouble to wash her face," he
said.
"You," said she, "would look much better if you washed yours."
"But," he said, "we'll be covered with mud again before we've gone fifty
yards."
"Because you are going into a coal mine to-morrow," said Phyllis, "is
no reason why you shouldn't be clean to-day."
"True," said Herring, and he washed his face.
* * * * *
At breakfast that morning Pritchard received the following cablegram:
Come home and shake hands. I'm off. M.
Greatly moved, he carried it to Gay, and without comment put it in her
hand.
"Who is M?" she asked.
"My uncle, the Earl of Merrivale."
"What does _I'm off_ mean?"
"It means," said Pritchard, "that they've given him up, and he wants to
make friends. He never liked my father or me."
"It means," said Gay generously, "that you are going away?"
"Yes," he said, "at once. But it means more. It means that I've got to
find out if I'm--to come back some time?"
"Of course, you are to come back," she said.
Words rose swiftly to Pritchard's lips and came no further. Indeed, he
appeared to swallow them.
"And I'm glad you are going to make friends with your uncle," said Gay.
"There'll be such lots of young men here when the season opens," said
Pritchard.
"Judging by applications," said Gay, "we shall be swamped with gentlemen
of all ages."
Pritchard's melancholy only deepened. "Will you come as far as Carrytown
in the _Streak_?" he asked.
She nodded, and said she would because she had some shopping to do.
During that short, exhilarating rush across the lake, and afterward
walking up and down on the board platform by the side of the waiting
train, he tried his best to ring a little sentiment out of her, but
failed utterly.
The locomotive whistled, and the conductor came out of the village
drug-store, staggering slightly.
"I've left all my dry-fly tackle," said Pritchard. "Will _you_ take care
of it for me?"
"With pleasure," said Gay.
"I'd like you to use it. It's a lovely rod to throw line."
"All aboard!"
"I'd like to bring you out some rods and things. May I?"
"You bet you may!" exclaimed Gay.
Pritchard sighed. The train creaked, jolted, moved forward, stopped,
jerked, and moved forward again. Pritchard waited until the rear steps
of the rear car were about to pass.
"Good-by, Miss Gay!"
They shook hands firmly, and Pritchard swung himself onto the moving
train. Gay, walking rapidly and presently breaking into a trot,
accompanied him as far as the end of the platform. She wanted to say
something that would please him very much without encouraging him too
much.
"Looks as if I was after you!" she said.
Pritchard's whole soul was in his eyes. And there was a large lump in
his throat. Suddenly Gay reached the end of the long platform and
stopped running. The train was now going quite fast for an Adirondack
train. The distance between them widened rapidly.
"Wish you weren't going," called Gay.
And she saw Pritchard reach suddenly upward and pull the rope by which
trains are stopped in emergencies. While the train was stopping and the
train hands were trying to find out who had stopped it and why,
Pritchard calmly alighted, and returned to where Gay was standing.
"I just had to look at you once more--close," he said; "you never can
tell what will happen in this world. I may never see you again, and the
thought is killing me. Think of that once in a while, please."
He bent swiftly, caught her hand in his, kissed it, and was gone. Or, if
not exactly gone, she saw him no more, because of suddenly blinding
tears.
When she reached The Camp, Arthur was at the float to meet her.
"Phyllis and Herring haven't come back," he said. "Lee says they went
fishing. Do you know where they went?"
"I don't. And they ought to have been back hours ago."
"Yes," said Arthur, "and we're all starting out to look for them. Care
to come with me?"
"Yes," she said; "I've got to do _something_."
Something in her voice took his mind from the more imminent matter.
"What's wrong, Gay?"
She shook her head.
"Nothing. Let's start. If Phyl rowed, they must have gone to the nearest
possible fishing grounds."
At this moment Sam Langham came puffing down from Cook House. He was
dressed in white flannels and carried a revolver.
"It's to signal with," he explained. "I'm going to try Loon Brook,
because it's the only brook I know when I see it."
"Bullard's gone to Loon Brook."
"Pshaw--can't I ever be of any use!"
"Good Lord," said Gay, "look!"
There came around the nearest bend a man rowing one guide boat and
towing another, which was empty. Arthur called to him in a loud, hoarse
voice:
"Where'd you find that boat?"
"Up Swamp Brook," came the answer.
Arthur and Gay went gray as ashes.
"Who's to tell Mary?" said Arthur presently.
Then Sam Langham spoke.
"If you don't mind," he said, "I think I will."
An hour later the entire male population of The Camp was dragging Swamp
Brook for what they so dreaded to find.