lf buried in the ground, and pointing
west, was an Indian arrow, and round the head was twisted a piece of
white calico, with little blue spots upon it, which Mr. Hardy instantly
recognised as a piece of the dress Ethel had worn when she left home.

Surprise kept all quiet for a while, and then exclamations of pleasure
and excitement broke from all, while Mr. Hardy and his sons were greatly
affected at this proof of the recent presence of their lost one.

The arrow was deeply sunk in the ground, but it was placed at a spot
where the grass happened to be particularly short, so that any one
passing outward from the spring could hardly have failed to notice the
piece of calico upon the grass.

There was a perfect shower of congratulations; and it was some time
before they were recovered sufficiently to renew their preparations for
breakfast.

At last they sat down round the fire, all their faces radiant with
excitement.

Perez and Martinez, however, sat somewhat apart, talking in an animated
undertone to each other. They did not even approach the fire to roast
their food; and Mr. Hardy's attention being attracted by this
circumstance, he asked what they were talking so earnestly about.

Neither of them answered him, and he repeated the question. Then Perez
replied: 'Martinez and I think same. All trick; girl gone other way.'

Conversation and eating were alike suspended at these ominous words, and
each looked blankly into the others' faces.

Now that their attention was called to it, the whole circumstances of
the case rushed to their minds; and as they felt the probable truth of
what Perez said, their hopes fell to zero.

Mr. Percy was the first who, after a long silence, spoke. 'I am afraid,
Hardy, that what Perez says is right, and that we have been very nearly
thrown off the scent by a most transparent trick. Watched as Ethel must
have been, is it probable that she could have possessed herself of that
arrow, and have fastened a strip of her dress to it, without being
noticed? Still more impossible is it that she could have placed the
arrow where we found it. No one could have passed without noticing it;
so, unless we suppose that she was allowed to linger behind every one,
which is out of the question, the arrow could not have been put there by
her.'

'Too true, Percy,' Mr. Hardy said with a sigh, after a short silence;
'it is altogether impossible, and I should call it a clumsy artifice,
were it not that i