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.
At noon they stopped for luncheon, then followed the same method as had
Harriet, moving east and west, ever enlarging their field as the growth
increased in area. Night found them far up on the mountainside still
facing the mystery of the disappearance of the guide, whom the girls
earlier had named "The Pilot of the White Mountains."
He was no longer a pilot, but in need of one.
It was not a particularly cheerful party of girls that sat down to a
supper of rice, corn cakes and coffee that evening.
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