"
said Julie, frowning at the water.

"Now, just wait a second and you'll see what I can do with that water!"
bragged Dick, glad to redeem his reputation as a scout.

With hands and a stick he quickly dug a hole to the depth of the marsh.
Then he squinted carefully at his well, then at the marsh, and back
again. The girls watched him curiously.

"Guess I can go a few inches deeper,--the well has to be about six
inches below the surface of the nearby pool, you know."

He dug deeper and soon the well began filling with muddy water. "There,
now I've got it!" said Dick.

"Do you expect us to drink _that_!" scorned Joan.

"No, but wait." Dick hurriedly baled out the well until it was almost
emptied. Then he allowed it to fill again.

He baled it out a second time, and permitted it to fill again. The third
time the water was almost clear, so he baled once more, and this time
the water filtered in as clear as crystal.

He stooped, drank from it, and said: "It's cold and pure!"

Then the girls drank, and found it most refreshing to their parched
tongues and throats.

"Well, I never knew that before! We've learned two things by being lost
with Dick as guide," said Julie frankly, and Dick was delighted to hear
such nice things about himself.

"Shall we try to circle this fen and get across, or go back again?" now
asked Dick.

"It's hard to tell just what is best to do," murmured Julie, puckering
her brow in thought.

Suddenly two shots echoed down the mountainside, and after an interval
of six seconds a third shot rang out.

"There! Alec's seen our smoke. His signal means 'Where are you?' What
shall we do?" cried Dick, excitedly.

"How can we answer them?" wondered the girls.

"We'll have to back-trail to our clearing. That's where the shots
sounded from," said Dick.

"Dear me, if only we had waited there, they would have found us,"
complained Judith.

"But we didn't, so the next best thing to do is to get back as soon as
we can, or they'll go away again," declared Julie.

They climbed, scrambled and tumbled up the rugged slope, keeping as far
as they could to the rough trail they had made in coming down. When they
thought they were near the clearing, they shouted with all their
lung-power, and the welcome sound of answering calls soon greeted their
ears.

"Oh, Dick, give that cat-call again so they will know we're on our way,"
asked Julie, anxiously.

So Dick gave his ear-splitting whistle by placing