he earth.

When Rena had disappeared in the underbrush, Tryon and Wain had each
instinctively set out in pursuit of her, but owing to the gathering
darkness, the noise of the storm, and the thickness of the underbrush,
they missed not only Rena but each other, and neither was aware of the
other's presence in the forest. Wain kept up the chase until the rain
drove him to shelter. Tryon, after a few minutes, realized that she
had fled to escape him, and that to pursue her would be to defeat
rather than promote his purpose. He desisted, therefore, and returning
to the main road, stationed himself at a point where he could watch
Elder Johnson's house, and having waited for a while without any signs
of Rena, concluded that she had taken refuge in some friendly cabin.
Turning homeward disconsolately as night came on, he intercepted Plato
on his way back from town, and pledged him to inviolable secrecy so
effectually that Plato, when subsequently questioned, merely answered
that he had stopped a moment to gather some chinquapins, and when he
had looked around the teacher was gone.

Rena not appearing at supper-time nor for an hour later, the elder,
somewhat anxious, made inquiries about the neighborhood, and finding
his guest at no place where she might be expected to stop, became
somewhat alarmed. Wain's house was the last to which he went. He had
surmised that there was some mystery connected with her leaving Wain's,
but had never been given any definite information about the matter. In
response to his inquiries, Wain expressed surprise, but betrayed a
certain self-consciousness which did not escape the elder's eye.
Returning home, he organized a search party from his own family and
several near neighbors, and set out with dogs and torches to scour the
woods for the missing teacher. A couple of hours later, they found her
lying unconscious in the edge of the swamp, only a few rods from a
well-defined path which would soon have led her to the open highway.
Strong arms lifted her gently and bore her home. Mrs. Johnson
undressed her and put her to bed, administering a homely remedy, of
which whiskey was the principal ingredient, to counteract the effects
of the exposure. There was a doctor within five miles, but no one
thought of sending for him, nor was it at all likely that it would have
been possible to get him for such a case at such an hour.

Rena's illness, however, was more deeply seated than her friends could