error.

Donald got his sister back to their hotel, and upstairs in the room with
her mother, without any member of the caravan party knowing of their
return.

In an incredibly short space of time men came with rope ladders to where
Peter watched and waited, and one of them brought Jack's body up,
putting it gently down on the grass. Some one else explained that a
famous doctor who was a guest at the hotel would be with them in a few
minutes.

So Mr. Drummond, alone of all her friends, knelt with the strange men
trying to find a spark of life in the unconscious form and still, cold
face of the girl who had been the embodiment of grace and vitality less
than a half hour before.

Jim, Ruth, the three other girls and Carlos were having their breakfast
in the dining room, when the head waiter came and told Jim that Mr.
Drummond wished to speak to him for a moment alone on business.

No one was in the least uneasy about Jack's failure to return. As it was
natural to suppose it would take some time to see Elizabeth escorted
home in safety, they had decided not to wait for her. Besides, no one
ever thought that anything could happen to Jack; she seemed one of the
persons in the world best fitted to care for herself and to help look
after other people. Here was the old story once more repeating itself:
when the beloved one was in grave danger, as Jack was during the night
of her enforced stay in the wilderness, on the trip to Miner's Folly,
she had turned up serene and unhurt; now when trouble was the farthest
thing from their imagination, she was being brought back to them and no
one knew whether she were alive or dead.

One sight of Peter's haggard face told Jim that something had happened,
but he supposed Elizabeth Harmon to be the victim. Peter was wise
enough not to delay in letting him know the truth. There is no easy way
to break bad news, for the shock must always come in the end, so it is
best to make the suspense as short as possible. Besides, Mr. Drummond
knew that the physician was even now having Jack carried home to the
hotel and the little procession might arrive at any moment.

The girls had thought nothing of Jim's disappearance, from the table,
but Ruth had not liked the expression on the face of the man who called
him away. Suddenly she was seized with a premonition of disaster.
Excusing herself, with the explanation that she wanted something in her
room, she slipped out after Jim so quietly that neith