“We will move on,” announced the guardian.  “Keep within calling distance.  Harriet will take the trail from the camp; the others will spread out on either side.”

Harriet Burrell started a little in advance of the others, beginning at the point where she had seen Janus disappear.  For a time it was somewhat difficult to follow the trail, because of the trampling the bushes had had on the evening before.  However, after a short time the trail stretched away, clear to the eyes of an experienced woodsman.  There were broken bushes here and there; that was all, though enough for one who knew how to use her eyes.

“I have found the trail,” called Harriet; “it is turning to the east.”  This she knew was to enable the pursued to make better time in getting away.  After a short distance the trail turned upward, then led to the east again.  Bushes were getting more scarce.  Only occasional clumps of them were to be found, making the work of following the trail much more difficult.

Two hours of climbing, with frequent periods of hunting for the trail that had lost itself, brought them to the end of their resources.  The trail, at first so plainly marked, had, as a famous woodsman has said, “petered out into a squirrel track, run up a tree and disappeared into a knothole.”  On every side were almost barren rocks, though below and further to the east the mountain vegetation showed thick and green, dropping away into ravines here and there, the surface being more uneven than anything they had yet encountered on this particular mountain.  Still further below, the mountainside appeared to be quite heavily wooded.

“I believe we should look into that,” said Harriet, indicating the lower part that was covered with green.  “We may find some clue to the whereabouts of our guide.”

“We might get lost there,” answered the guardian.

“But—­we have only to go down.  We can’t possibly get lost if we do that.  Going down will lead us to the foot of the mountain, and out into the open once more,” urged Harriet.  The guardian smiled.

“How silly of me not to have thought of that.  I am beginning to think that my pupil knows more about outdoor life and woodcraft than I ever dreamed.  If you think best, Harriet, we will look down there.  In the meantime I would suggest that one of us remain in this vicinity to make a more thorough search.”

Harriet offered to do this, so it was agreed that the rest of the party should head obliquely down the mountain while she worked back and forth, like a switchback railway, until she, too, had reached the objective point where the others would be waiting for her.  This programme was carried out, beginning immediately.  Not a trace, however, did she find of the lost trail.  While awaiting her arrival the others of the party walked back and forth along the edge of the thick growth, but with no better results than had attended the search made by Harriet Burrell.