eaven; and blessings and thanks--many
of them unsaid--to the absent one.

And so the lost one was restored, and soon they started back.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

AT JUDGE MARKHAM'S.

When Mrs. Markham at last realized that Julia was lost, she hastily
arrayed herself and went out with the others to search for her,
calmly, hopefully, and persistently. She went, and clambered, and
looked, and called, and when she could look and go no further, as
woman may, she waited, and watched, and prayed, and the night grew
cold, and the wind and snow came, and as trumpets were blown and guns
discharged, and fires lighted in the woods, and torches flashed and
lanterns gleamed through the trees, she still watched, and hoped, and
prayed.

When at last the storm and exhaustion drove men in, she was very calm
and pale, said little, and went about with chilled tears in her eyes.

Judge Markham was a strong, brave, sagacious man, and struggled and
fought to the last, but finally in silence he rejoined his silent
wife. At about three in the morning, and while the storm was at its
height, she turned from the blank window where she stood, with a
softened look in her eyes, from which full tides were now for the
first time falling; and approaching her husband, who man-like, when
nothing more could be done by courage and strength, sat with his face
downward on his arms, resting on the table, and breathing great dry
gasps, and sobs of agony.

"Edward," said she, stooping over him, "it comes to me somehow that
Julia is safe; that she has somewhere found shelter, and we shall find
her."

And now she murmured, and whispered, and talked, as the impression
seemed to deepen in her own heart, and she knelt, and once more a
fervent prayer of hope and faith went up. The man came and knelt by
her, and joined in her prayer, and grew calm.

"Julia," said he, "we have at least God, and with Him is all."

When the morning came, five hundred anxious and determined men,
oppressed with sad forebodings, had gathered from all that region for
the search.

Persistently they adhered to the idea that the missing girl was in the
lower woods.

A regular organized search by men and boys, in a continuous line,
was resolved upon. Marshals were appointed, signals agreed upon, and
appliances and restoratives provided; and the men were hastening
to their places. A little knot near the Judge's house were still
discussing the matter, as in doubt about the expedien