ween two fells. It was swampy here, and in places
there were quite wide pieces of water to jump across. The path, which
had been growing worse and worse, finally separated into a fork. The
girls came to a halt, and stood looking first at one track, then at the
other. They were in doubt which to choose, for each looked equally bad.
They had turned so often that they had rather lost their sense of
locality.

"I should think Pendlemere must be over there," said Wendy, pointing to
the right, but looking frankly puzzled.

"Well, you know the place better than I do," answered Diana, following
her lead.

So they went to the right, through a small thicket of hazel-bushes, over
some rocks, and on up the bleak fell-side. The sun had disappeared, and
the little golden angels' wings had given place to sombre, grey clouds.
It was growing distressingly dark. A spot or two of rain began to fall.
The path, degenerated into a mere sheep track, was increasingly
difficult to trace. Though neither would admit it, both the girls felt
uneasy. They could not recognize any familiar landmarks to show them
their whereabouts. Suppose darkness came on, and found them still
wandering about on the moor?

"Do you think we've come the right way?" asked Diana at last.

Wendy looked round in the fading light, hoping against hope to see the
corner of Pendlemere gleaming below her in the valley. By now it
certainly ought to be visible. Nothing in the shape of a lake, however,
appeared in the landscape; only an interminable waste of brown heather
under threatening rain-clouds.

"No," said Wendy, with a shake in her voice. "As a matter of fact, I
believe we're lost."

Diana was plucky as a rule, but she was very tired now, and hungry as
well. Two somethings that may have been rain-drops splashed down her
cheeks; she turned her face away from Wendy as she wiped them off.

"What's to be done?" she asked huskily.

"Go back, I suppose. Goodness knows where this will lead to!"

"We ought to have taken that other turning."

"It's too dark to go that way now. We'd better get back to Glenbury, and
try for the 'bus."

Very soon the girls realized that it was getting too dark even to
distinguish the path at all. They stumbled blindly on through the
heather, conscious only that they were going downhill, but whether they
were really retracing their steps or not, it was impossible to tell.
Spot, whose spirits had failed him, followed at their heels. Faste