In the meantime there was intense excitement in the camp.  Miss Elting had been a witness to the sudden disappearance of Grace and Harriet.  She had seen both girls enveloped in the cloud of spray and dark water.  Jane McCarthy had gone bounding toward the beach, followed by their guardian and several of the Camp Girls, who, though not having seen Harriet and Grace disappear, surmised something of the truth.

Reaching the edge of the bluff, they saw at once what had occurred.  A large portion of the sandy bluff had sloughed off and slipped into the sea, having been loosened and undermined by the persistent smash of the waves against the bluff.  Jane started to leap down, but Miss Elting caught her in time.

“No, no, no,” protested the guardian; “you must not!”

“But they are down there drowning!” screamed Crazy Jane.

“There is nothing we can do to save them.  They aren’t there.  You can see they are not.”

“But if not, where are they?” cried Jane.

“My dears, if they went in there they undoubtedly have been carried out.  The undertow is very strong in a storm such as this,” said Mrs. Livingston sadly.  She had hurried down to the beach upon seeing the others running in that direction, to ascertain the cause.

“Some one get a boat!” screamed Margery.

The Chief Guardian shook her head sadly.

“There is no boat here.  Even if there were, we could not launch it against that sea, nor would it live a moment did we succeed in getting it launched.  We can do no more than trust in God and wait.  You see the wind is blowing on shore and—­”

“No, it is blowing off toward the cove.  The wind has shifted,” answered Jane McCarthy.  “But that doesn’t help us a bit.”

“Gather wood and build a fire,” commanded Mrs. Livingston.

The Camp Girls hurriedly set about gathering fuel for a fire, but having brought wood, the fuel refused to burn.  The rain had thoroughly soaked everything.  The merest flicker of flame was all they were able to get.  They tried again and again, but with no better results, finally giving up the attempt altogether.

“I am afraid we shall have to let it go,” decided the Chief Guardian.  “A light would help so much, and, if the two girls are alive, would serve as a guide for them.”

Jane interrupted by uttering a shrill cry.  She listened, but there was no response.  She cried out again and again, then finally gave up the effort.

“I’m afraid they are gone,” she moaned.

“Unless they were hurt when the wave struck them I do not believe they are lost,” said Miss Elting, with a calmness and hopefulness that she really did not feel, though she dared not permit herself to admit that Harriet and Grace really had been lost.  “Both are excellent swimmers, and Harriet never would give up so long as there was a breath of life left in her body.”

“But can’t we do something?” pleaded Margery.