Harriet sat down on the ground, after having moved away some two hundred yards from the camp.

“I hope they don’t miss me,” she thought.  “I hope, too, that I haven’t been seen.  Now I will try to see something for myself.”  The girl sat perfectly still, with ears more than eyes on the alert.

Harriet had not been in her position very long before her ears caught a faint sound directly ahead of her.  Still she did not move, except to raise her head a little.  A bird hopped into a bush close at hand without discovering her presence.  The faint noise ahead grew more pronounced, the whip of a bush as it was released by the hand that had pushed it away was heard and understood.  Harriet Burrell was woodsman enough to recognize all such sounds instantly upon hearing them.

She crouched low, fearing that the intruder might approach close enough to discover her.  Every faculty was on the alert.  Who or what the unseen intruder might be, of course, Harriet did not know.  It might be a mountaineer who, seeking camp for the night, was first doing a little investigating to satisfy himself that he would be welcome.  Then, again, it might be a different sort of visitor.

Harriet’s attention was distracted by a burst of laughter from the camp of the Meadow-Brook Girls.  Then there followed a long-drawn “Hoo-e-e-e!” that she knew was meant for her.

“Harri—­et!” It was Margery who was calling.  Harriet groaned under her breath.  Were her companions to persist, were they to get an idea that she had strayed from the camp, her quest would come to a sudden end, for the guide and his charges would soon be piling over the rocks, searching and shouting for her.

It was Miss Elting, however, who, quick to understand, quieted Margery Brown.

“Harriet will return presently,” said the guardian.  “Please go on with your story, Mr. Grubb.”

Janus continued.  The next moment Harriet Burrell was forgotten by her companions once more, for which forgetfulness the girl out there in the bushes was duly thankful.  The movement in the bushes, which had abruptly ceased, following the call, had not been resumed.  This worried her somewhat.  If the person out there were in the least a woodsman, he would know that some one of the party was out of the camp and would be on his guard.  This might defeat the plan she had in mind.  But there was only one thing to do, that was to remain in her present hiding place, keeping prudent silence and awaiting results.  This was what Harriet did.

She crouched there fully fifteen minutes after the interruption from the camp before the presence of another person was again revealed.  A sound so close that Harriet barely repressed an exclamation of surprise caught her ears.  The girl for a few seconds held her breath.  She could hear the beating of her heart so plainly that she feared that the other person might hear it as well.