"Can you fix my saddle girth, Harry?" questioned Eleanor. "We shall be left behind sure enough, and Miss Jenny Ann will be angry with me."

It took Harry quite ten minutes to mend Eleanor's saddle girth. She sat limply on the gra.s.s, hoping that the pain in her shoulder would pa.s.s. It did not, but she managed, with Harry's help, to get back on her horse.

Harry started off at a brisk canter, a little uneasy. He and Eleanor were entirely unfamiliar with the country through which they were traveling. There were roads that intersected each other every few miles.

These were not marked with sign-posts and Harry had no idea in what direction lay the old sulphur springs.

But Nellie was not following him. He reined up and rode back to her.

"What's the matter now?" he asked impatiently.

"I am so sorry, Harry," apologized Eleanor. "I think I can ride, but I can't go fast; it hurts my shoulder so dreadfully." Eleanor's soft brown eyes were filled with tears, which she tried in vain to keep from falling. Her pretty, light-brown hair, which she had braided and tied up with a black velvet ribbon, hung in a long plait down her back.

Slowly, keeping the horses in a walk, Harry and Eleanor continued their journey. Harry hoped that some one would ride back to see what had delayed them. Eleanor knew that no one would. Madge would think that they had purposely tarried. She would say so to the others, and no one would seriously miss them until after the arrival at the picnic grounds.

But Eleanor and her companion conquered another mile of the way, when they came to what Harry had feared, two roads that crossed their path like two sides of a triangle, each leading in a totally different direction.

Both riders reined up. Harry found a spring and Eleanor felt refreshed after drinking and bathing her face in the cold water. But which road should they take? They had both given up all hope of rejoining the rest of the party on their way to the springs; all the two now dreamed of was ultimately to arrive there. After careful consideration Harry and Eleanor chose the wrong road.

The old sulphur springs had been a fashionable summer resort in Virginia twenty-five years before. It still had its famous sulphur well and a dozen or more brick cottages in various stages of dilapidation. The big hotel had been burned down and no one had attempted to rebuild it.

It had been Miss Betsey Taylor's special desire to drink the waters of the famous sulphur well. She had heard of it as a cure for all the ills of the flesh.

When the riding party dismounted from their horses Madge and Phil espied Miss Betsey peering down the old well. Madge had visited sulphur wells before. "Want a drink, Miss Betsey?" she inquired innocently, coming up to the old lady. She decided to revenge herself on Miss Betsey for the excellent daily advice that the maiden lady bestowed upon her.

Miss Betsey looked pleased. "Certainly. I intend to drink the sulphur water all day, and to have some of it put up in bottles to take back home with me. I can't say that I exactly like the odor." Miss Betsey's aquiline nose was slightly tilted.

"Here you are," interrupted Madge, pa.s.sing Miss Betsey a gla.s.s of the sulphur water.

Miss Betsey took one swallow and gave a hurried gasp. "Take it away, child," she urged faintly. "It is the most horrible thing I ever tasted in my life." The old maid's eyes almost twinkled. "I think, my dear, that I will cure my nerves in a pleasanter way," she decided.

Miss Jenny Ann hurried over to them. "What has become of Nellie, Madge?"

she questioned immediately.

The little captain shook her head. "She will be along soon. She and Harry Sears were loitering a little behind the rest of us."

But Eleanor and Harry did not arrive. An hour pa.s.sed, then Miss Jenny Ann and the girls began to feel uneasy. It was growing late. The time had long since come for supper. Finally Jack Bolling suggested that he ride back to see what had become of the wanderers. In the meantime the supper was spread out on the gra.s.s. No one ate much. The whole party kept gazing up the road. It was nearly dark when Jack Bolling returned--alone. He had galloped back over the way they had come for three miles without seeing a sign of either Eleanor or Harry.

CHAPTER XIV

"CONFUSION WORSE CONFOUNDED"

"I can't go any farther, Harry," said Eleanor despairingly.

Harry Sears reached her just in time. Eleanor fell forward on her horse's neck. She had fainted with the pain in her shoulder, which had increased with every step her horse had taken.

Harry laid Eleanor on the ground under a tree. Then he stood staring at her pallid face. He had not the faintest idea what he should do. He knew of no spring nearby where he could get water. Girls were an awful nuisance, anyway; something was always happening to them. Harry was sorry that he had ever ridden with Eleanor. It was stupid of him to have let the rest of the party get so far ahead of them.

Still, poor Nellie did not open her eyes. Harry hitched both of the horses to a fence rail and then came back to gaze at Eleanor until she came to herself.

When Eleanor opened her eyes it was to see Harry's frown, partly of impatience and partly from worry. She tried to sit up, but the pain made her ill and she lay back on the ground. She realized that she must have sprained her shoulder when she fell from her horse. She had been wrong in believing it to be only bruised.

"What shall we do, Eleanor?" asked Harry gloomily. "You can't ride any more and I can't leave you here by yourself. This road seems to be cut through a wilderness. We have not pa.s.sed a house in miles!"

"You can help me over into that woods, Harry," she said faintly. "I'll lie down under the trees and wait--the sulphur springs can't be very far from here--then you ride on and find the others. Madge will drive back in Mrs. Preston's phaeton for me," smiled Eleanor, though her lips were almost colorless with pain. "Please don't forget where you leave me, Harry."

Harry Sears's face cleared. Eleanor's idea was the only possible one, and she was a brave girl to be willing to be left alone. "Don't you fear," he comforted her, as he led her deeper into the thick grove of trees. "I'll tie my handkerchief to the tree nearest the road. Besides, your horse will be hitched near here. When you hear us driving along the road, in about ten or fifteen minutes, just you sing out."

Eleanor was grateful when Harry left her, and she could give way to her real feelings. She was on a bed of moss and Harry had rolled up his coat for a pillow to put under her head. But the pain in her shoulder was excruciating. She could not get into any position where it seemed to hurt less. Each time she moved a twinge caught her and she would have liked to scream aloud. But Eleanor did not scream; she waited patiently, though now and then the tears would rise in her eyes of their own accord and trickle down her white cheeks. Madge was such a long time in coming to find her. However, Harry did not know his way to the sulphur well. It might take him some time to find it. How late it was getting! The sun was low in the west.

After taking a last look at the spot where Eleanor lay, at her horse hitched to a fence rail, at his own white handkerchief, which fluttered from a low branch of a tree near the road, Harry rode furiously off. He would surely find their friends in a few moments. But Harry continued to ride in exactly the wrong direction. Every yard he covered took him farther away from the sulphur springs. While he was galloping on his wild-goose chase the party at the springs decided to return to the Preston farm. They were too uneasy about Harry and Eleanor to have a good time, and they concluded that they would either overtake the lost couple on the way home or else find that the two young people had given up and returned to the farm.

The three girls gave their horses free rein and cantered home with all speed. Yet it was dark when they arrived. No word had been heard of Eleanor or Harry. It was a cloudy evening and the sun had disappeared quickly. Without waiting, except to give the alarm to Mr. Preston, the entire riding party set out again. Madge thought that she would have liked to ask David to help them, but there was no time to spare. The riders met Mrs. Preston, Miss Jenny Ann and Miss Betsey, who had set out for home in the phaeton. The three older women also refused to go back to Prestons, until Eleanor and her companion were discovered.

In the meantime Harry Sears had finally reached the decision that he was not on the right road to the sulphur well. At the end of a five-mile gallop he turned his horse and cantered back. He pa.s.sed Eleanor's horse, tugging impatiently at the reins that bound her; he saw his own white handkerchief tied on the tree; but he could not see or hear Eleanor. He would have liked to stop to find out that all was well with her, but he dreaded to let Eleanor know that he had spent all this time and was still without a.s.sistance. At the crossroads, where the young man had made his original mistake in the roads, he at last turned down the lane that led to the sulphur springs. But by this time his friends were well on their way home to the Preston farm.

Eleanor's horse had grown weary of remaining standing. It was past her supper time and she wished her measure of oats. The horse tossed her head restlessly, walked forward a few steps and then backward, tugging and straining at her bridle. In his excitement and hurry to be off, Harry had not tied the horse very securely. He had no other hitching rope than her bridle. The mare gave one final jerk and shake of her head and was free. Quite innocent of the mischief her desertion would cause, she trotted back to her own stable at the Prestons.

At nine o'clock in the evening rain began to fall. The night was pitch dark, except for an occasional jagged flash of lightning. When Madge, in advance of all the others, pa.s.sed along only a few rods from the very spot where Harry had left Eleanor the latter must have heard nothing, for she made not the faintest outcry.

It was almost midnight before Eleanor's friends discovered that Harry was not with her. Not finding any of the party at the sulphur springs, Sears had lost his head completely. Instead of returning to poor Eleanor he went on to the Preston farm, hoping stupidly that Nellie had in some way been rescued and that he would find her there. The journey back home was a long, weary one. His horse was completely f.a.gged out and had gone lame in one foot. Harry was terrified at the emptiness of the Preston farm; only one or two servants were about; the others had gone with Mr.

Preston to look for Eleanor. There were no horses left on the place. So, on foot, Harry set out again, only to have Eleanor's riderless horse pa.s.s by him in the night. He hardly saw the animal in his excitement. He did not dream that it was the horse he had hitched to mark Eleanor's resting place, but plodded on, tired and dispirited.

Harry finally ran across Madge, Phyllis and Jack. He told them his story as best he could. Foot by foot the young people retraced their way over the same road, looking for the fluttering signal of Harry's white handkerchief and the waiting horse.

The horse, of course, had run off, and at first it seemed impossible to find the handkerchief. Madge was desperate. It was her fault that poor Nellie was alone at midnight in the rain with her injured shoulder. If only Madge had begged Eleanor to ride on faster, she knew that Eleanor would have consented. It was only because she had commanded it that her cousin had been so obstinate.

The other members of the Preston household were almost as miserable as Madge. Even Miss Betsey Taylor could not be persuaded to return to her bed. She forgot all about her health and her nerves, and was intent only on finding Eleanor, who was her favorite of the four girls.

The rain was still pouring in heavy, unrelenting streams, and everyone was soaked to the skin.

"My poor Nellie!" cried Madge. She and Phil were leading their tired horses along the road. "I shall never forgive Harry Sears for leaving her by herself and chasing all over the country for help. What an idiot he is!"

"Sh-sh!" Phil comforted her, although she herself was quietly crying. It was so dark that no one could see the girls' tears. "Don't blame Harry.

He did what he thought was best at the time, although it seems silly to us now."

It was Harry, though, who at last found his rain-soaked handkerchief tied to the branch of a tree. He had held a dark lantern up by every bush or tree that he pa.s.sed in the neighborhood where he believed he had left poor Eleanor.

"I've found the place, I've found the place!" he cried triumphantly.

"Just a minute, Eleanor, and we will come to you!" He ran toward the spot where he remembered to have left Eleanor. Madge hurried after him, Phyllis keeping tight hold of her hand.

Harry's cry had thrilled all the searchers. Jack and Lillian came next to hunt, with Mr. Preston close behind them. They stood together under the tree where Eleanor had lain. The dark lanterns lit up their haggard faces. Eleanor was not there!

"You have made a mistake in the place, Sears," declared Jack.

Harry reached down and picked up his own coat. "No, this is my coat," he declared.