ON THE TRAIL.
Meanwhile, the light of fox-fire and fire-fly lanterns was glancing
everywhere through camp and field, showing where eager searchers were
scattered looking for the lost Nurses. Rodney was well nigh frantic with
grief, and ran here and there among the tents calling the name of his
daughter. Only the echo of his voice came back to him out of the night.
Pipe was as one paralyzed. He leaned against the wall of the tent with
folded arms, and eyes fixed upon the spot where his child had lain. His
mute sorrow was pitiful to see.
Blythe and Sergeant True entered the tent. The Adjutant's bright face
was clouded; the tall form of the Sergeant was bowed.
"If one only knew!" said Blythe. "It is this terrible uncertainty that
is so hard to bear. If I knew where they were, I could cut my way
through legions of fiends to save them, or die trying."
"Is there no trace at all?" asked True.
"Not the slightest. It is only a suspicion"--he lowered his voice--"that
they have been carried off by the Pixies. No one dares even name it to
the Commodore and--" nodding toward the Boatswain.
"But that is not reason," answered True. "It is important that we should
know the worst, at once. For one, I mean to find out the truth, if I
can, and face it manfully."
He stepped to the couch, which lay just as it had been left by the
Nurses. His hand caught upon a thread of gossamer that lay upon a
pillow. He looked more closely. There was another, then another, then a
thick strand of the silken material. He rose with the delicate filaments
floating from his fingers, walked to the lantern, and held his hand
within the light. Blythe followed every motion.
[Illustration: FIG. 50.--A Brownie Link Boy with a Fire-fly Lantern.]
"Do you see?" cried True. "There can be no doubt of it. Some of the
enemy have passed the lines, entered this tent, woven their snares
around the sleeping maids, and escaped. One of the two Nurses uttered
that cry as they were being carried off. We must look for them in the
Pixies' fort or on the way to it."
"That is truth," said Blythe, "and the sooner we begin the search the
better."
True walked up to Pipe and touched him tenderly upon the shoulder. The
Boatswain looked up vacantly.
"Ah, my lad, it is you!" he said at last. "Where is our Sophia?"
"Boatswain," said True, holding up the hand to which the gossamer
threads were still clinging, "Sophia is in the Pixies' fort or on the
way to it. And you and I must bring her back. Come, rouse up! Be
yourself again!"
Pipe started from his lethargy. He looked at the floating strand of
web-work; listened to True's statement; passed his palm against his
brow, then seized the Sergeant's hand.
"My boy, you are right! And I have been acting the fool! Poor girl! poor
girl! Come--let us not delay. To the Pixies' fort! Ho, my brave tars!"
Even while he spoke Pipe stepped to the door of the tent and put his
whistle to his lips.
"Stop, stop!" cried True, laying a hand upon his arm. "Remember the
proverb: Make haste slowly! Are we sure that our lost ones are at the
fort yet? May we not find some other traces of them that will enable us
to go to work more intelligently? Don't call your men. They are
scattered abroad in busy search. They are doing no harm, and may do much
good. Let them alone for the present. You and I can follow this trail a
little further."
There was a cool head at last on the track of the fugitives. The fact
gave at least a glimmer of hope. True first inquired carefully of
Agatha, Grace and others in the hospital, as to the exact point from
which the shriek had come. They all agreed that it had been made close
by the rear of the tent, so near that it seemed to be inside.
"That determines our first step," said True. "Now for lanterns and the
sharpest eyes among you. We shall search here," he continued, and led
the party just outside the tent, and set them to scanning every bush,
grass blade and weed in the vicinity. The Nurses had been asked to join
the search for a little while, and fortune gave to Agatha the first
important discovery.
"Here!" she cried, "I have a trace!" She had plucked from a thistle
stalk a bit of gossamer.
"I too!" cried Pipe, holding up a similar object.
"And I!" said Grace, who was in advance of the party.
"Stop!" exclaimed True. "Stand where you are until I get the line of the
trail."
Agatha stood nearest the tent. Pipe was beyond her and a little to the
right. Grace stood some distance from both in a direct line with Agatha.
[Illustration: FIG. 51.--"From a Thistle Stalk a Bit of Gossamer."]
"That will do," said True, glancing up at the North Star. "The line runs
due north, and straight from the rear of the camp. Start again while I
make some inquiries of the Adjutant. Blythe, a word with you. Who was on
guard over there, to the north?"
"No one."
"Impossible! Blythe, you couldn't--"
"Stop!" exclaimed Blythe, his voice choking with emotion. "The Captain
bade it. And Rodney, and Pipe,--and myself, alas, alas! we all
councilled it. The men were weary. A strong picket line entirely
surrounded the fort. They were picked men with MacWhirlie at their head.
We knew that no force of the enemy lay in our rear. No one dreamed of
danger from that quarter."
"Say no more," said True. "Regrets are useless now. I see how it is. A
party of stragglers or spies has stolen in here while we slept. Faith
and Sophia have been surprised while alone in the tent."
"But what motive?--" began Blythe. A shout from the searchers
interrupted him. It was Pipe's voice.
"We have struck the trail again!"
"Who has it?"
"Howard there, and myself."
"Steady! let me see. Here are our first traces, where those three
lanterns hang. Hold up your lights to the points where you found the
last signs. That will do. There, do you see? Two of the first lanterns
are in line with Howard's light, the other in line with Pipe's. And the
two lines are nearly parallel, showing the paths by which the two maids
were borne away. We are on the trail. Due north still! Forward, once
more!"
[Illustration: FIG. 52.--"A Bit of Gossamer."]
Step by step the trail was followed by threads caught here and there
upon leaves and branches. It continued to bear northward for a goodly
distance, then turned westward as though the fugitives were making
gradually toward the fort. There it was lost for a while, and when,
discovered again was once more bearing north. Again it turned westward,
and was lost completely in the plain that encircled the fort, just where
it bordered on a strip of sand that ran down to the little lake.