ginning to have such hope!"

"Never mind," consoled Betty. "We will find your brother yet. Come now,
we are losing time. Come, Harry," she said gently.

"And the other one, too?" he asked eagerly. "I promised I would help
him, and took his money; but I lost it."

"Yes, we will rescue him, too," said Betty. "Come now."

The Loon was satisfied that his friend would be helped, so he sprang
into the boat. Betty started the engine and then, with the powerful gas
headlight aglow, she turned the wheel over to The Loon.

However simple-minded the poor youth might be, however undecided and
timid in the forest, he seemed to be a new person on the water. There
was a self-reliance about him, a poise and a certain ability that he
seemed to have acquired suddenly. Without a trace of hesitation he
guided the boat through the winding course of the creek that flowed into
the main stream.

Coming to the turn he took an entirely different direction from that
followed by the girls.

"That's where we made our mistake!" exclaimed Mollie.

The Loon did not respond--he was too busy peering ahead at the dark
water, which was illuminated only for a comparatively short distance by
the searchlight.

"Suppose--suppose we hit--an alligator!" voiced Grace.

"Don't suppose at all," retorted Betty. "It's bad for the nerves."

It was now so dark that the girls could not see just the course taken,
and so could not know where it was they had made other mistakes. But the
darkness did not seem to bother The Loon. Like the bird whose name he
bore he seemed able to see in the gloom as well as in the light.

"Are we coming back with the men when they make the rescue?" asked
Grace.

"Oh, no!" exclaimed Amy. "I'd be afraid."

"I wouldn't!" declared Mollie. "I think we ought to come along."

"So do I!" added Grace. "That other one, of whom Harry spoke, may be my
brother after all; even if it isn't a turpentine camp we are going to."

"It hardly seems possible," objected Betty. "The description is so
different. And Will isn't lame."

"No," responded Grace, in a low voice. "But, oh, how I wish we could
rescue him!"

"Did this other young man--the one who gave you money--tell you his
name?" asked Betty, determined to try again to bring some glimmer of
memory to The Loon.

"Yes," answered the simple-minded lad, "but I can't think of it. My mind
isn't all there," he added cheerfully, as though it was something to be
proud of.

"It wasn't Will