mer had caused them to make. Again coming to a dividing of the
ways, they saw a new sign-board, put up by a local automobile
organization.

"Eight miles to Hamptown, and ten to Denby," read Amy. "Girls, where is
Rockford?"

Anxiously they stared at the sign.

"It doesn't seem to say anything about Rockford," murmured Grace.

"Maybe someone has moved our town," suggested Mollie, humorously.

Betty looked puzzled, annoyed and a little anxious. A snub-nosed,
freckle-faced boy came along whistling, and beating the dust of the road
with a long switch.

"Which is the road to Rockford, little boy?" asked Betty.

"Huh?"

"I say, which is the road to Rockford?"

"Give him a candy if you have any left, Grace," suggested Mollie, in
a low tone.

"Are you folks peddlin' candy?" asked the boy, and his eyes shone.

"No, but we have some," answered Betty. "We want to get to Rockford."

"You're five miles off the road," exclaimed the boy, with a grin, as
though he took personal delight in their dilemma. "You come the wrong
way. Huh!"

"Oh, dear!" murmured Mollie. "Don't you give him any candy, Grace."

"It isn't his fault that we went wrong," spoke Betty.

CHAPTER XI

THE BARKING DOG

Disappointment, and not a little worriment, held the four girls silent
for a moment. Then Betty, feeling that it was her place to assume the
leadership, said:

"Are you sure, little boy? A man told us, at the last dividing of the
roads, to take the left, as that led to Rockford."

"Well, he didn't know what he was talking about," asserted the little
chap, with the supreme confidence of youth. "To get to Rockford you've
got to go back."

"All that distance?" cried Grace. "We'll never make it in time."

"Isn't there a shorter way--some cross-road we can take?" inquired Betty.

"Who's got the candy?" inquired the little chap, evidently thinking that
he had already earned some reward.

"Here!" said Grace, hopelessly, holding out an almost emptied box. "But
please--_please_ don't tell us we're lost."

"Oh, you ain't exactly lost!" exclaimed the urchin, with a grin. "I live
just down the road a piece, and it's only a mile to Bakersville. That's a
good town. They got a movin' picture show there. I went onct!"

"Did you indeed?" said Betty. "But we can't go there. Isn't there some
way of getting to Rockford without going all the way back to the fork?
Why, it's miles and miles!"

"I wish I had that man here who directed us