"There is not one chance in a thousand that she escaped," he said slowly; "nor the Hendersons, either, for that matter."

The girls left him and continued on down the course of the raging water, for they believed that Shirley might possibly have reached safety in that direction.

It grew dusk, and still they walked on, scanning the nearby waters and the ground closely. Night fell.

"Well, we might as well go back," said Mabel quietly. "I am afraid we shall never see her again."

"I know we won't," said Lois, and fell to weeping.

"Come, come," said Mabel, throwing her arm about her friend's shoulders.

"Crying will do no good."

"But-but," sobbed Lois, "if it hadn't been for me she would be alive."

"How do you make that out?" asked Mabel, in some surprise.

"Why, she would not have come to this part of the country."

"Never mind," said Mabel. "Shirley wouldn't want you to feel badly about it. I know that."

They turned and began to retrace their steps. It was then that Lois made a startling discovery. They had unconsciously walked further and further away from the water's edge, in among a grove of trees.

"We are lost!" cried Lois.

"Lost!" echoed Mabel.

"Yes. I don't know where we are. I have never been in these woods before."

"Oh, I guess we'll get out all right," said Mabel confidently.

She moved forward, but in the darkness she had no means of telling whether she was going in the right direction. The girls walked quickly this way and that, but they could find no exit from the grove of trees.

Mabel raised her young voice in a cry for help, and Lois added hers to it.

From the distance came a faint response.

Encouraged, the girls renewed their efforts, and keeping it up, were finally rewarded by the sounds of footsteps coming toward them. A moment later the figure of a man appeared before them.

"What on earth are you two girls doing here?" he asked in amazement.

"We are lost," stammered Lois, beginning to cry again, now that she felt she was safe once more.

"Who are you?" asked the man.

The girls told him.

"And we want to get back to father," moaned Lois.

"Well," said the man, "you can't get back to-night. You have come farther than you realize. My name is Thompson, and I have a shack nearby. You shall both spend the night with us. Mrs. Thompson will make you at home."

In spite of repeated requests by both girls that they be set on the road home and a.s.surances that they were not afraid to go alone, Thompson shook his head negatively.

"You'll do as I say," he said. "I wouldn't allow a daughter of mine to go prowling through the woods at this time of night. Come with me."

The girls were forced to obey, for they had no desire to be left in the woods alone.

Mrs. Thompson made the girls comfortable, and showed them a bed in a room at the rear of the house, on the ground floor.

It was while they were sitting talking, that they became aware of clattering of hoofs. A moment later the door flew open and Shirley staggered into the room. Both girls were on their feet in an instant.

"Shirley!" they cried, and rushed forward.

It was then that Shirley had fainted.

CHAPTER IV.-A RAILROAD ACCIDENT.

"How long are we likely to be delayed, conductor?"

The speaker was Shirley, and the date was one week from the day on which the girl, by her daring ride, had saved scores in the Illinois town and in the valley from perishing in the flood.

Shirley and her friend Mabel had left their chum's home the day before.

In the morning they caught a train out of St. Louis, and now, in the afternoon, they had learned that their train would be held indefinitely in Indianapolis because of a serious wreck ahead.

"There is no telling, miss," was the conductor's answer to Shirley's question. "The wreck is a bad one, and it is impossible to say just when the track will be cleared. If we wait for that, it is likely to be hours. We may, however, be routed over some other line. I shall know within a quarter of an hour."

"Thank you," replied Shirley, and the two girls continued to pace up and down alongside their car.

Half an hour later the conductor approached them.

"The wreck is more serious than at first reported," he said, "and because of some unknown reason we cannot be routed over another line.

Therefore, it will be at least six hours before we will leave."

"My gracious," said Shirley, "we can make better time than that by taking the Interurban."

"Yes," said the conductor, "and in that way you can reach Cincinnati in time to catch the 6 o'clock L. & N., which will put you in Paris at ten.

If you wait for us you will have to remain all night in Cincinnati."

Shirley turned to Mabel.

"Let's get our things and hurry and catch the trolley car," she said.

The two girls boarded the delayed train and hastily collected their belongings. The conductor was courteous enough to see them to a taxicab, which soon whirled them across the city. Here they found that they could get an electric car in fifteen minutes, which, barring accidents, would get them in Cincinnati in ample time for the six o'clock train south.

The girls climbed aboard the car, settled themselves comfortably, and fell to talking. At last the car started, and soon they were beyond the city and whirling along rapidly.