“This is _dolce far niente_ for fair,” murmured Jack lazily.
“I’d agree with you,” drawled Paul, “if I only knew what you meant. Talk United States.”
“Why, it means something like ‘the happiness of doing nothing,’ I believe,” explained Jack.
“It seems to make a hit with you,” remarked Belle.
“I declare, you boys are like so many stuffed anacondas stretched out there,” observed Bess.
“We’re members of the Amalgamated Order of the Sons of Rest,” said Walter.
“Come along, Belle,” said Bess, rising. “If we stay here much longer we’ll grow to be as lazy as they are. Let’s go and find Cora. She’s the only real live wire in the whole party.”
“You do yourselves an injustice,” Jack called after them.
The girls went off in the direction that Cora had taken, keeping a sharp lookout as they went along.
“It’s queer that she hasn’t come back of her own accord by this time,” remarked Belle.
“She’s probably gathering flowers,” replied Bess. “There are so many beautiful varieties around here.” But Belle grew more uneasy every second.
“I’m going to call her,” she said, and gave the familiar yodel on which Cora herself had relied in vain.
But no answer came back, and the girls looked at each other with unrest in their eyes.
“Do you think she’s teasing us by pretending not to hear?” asked Belle.
“No,” replied her sister, “that wouldn’t be like Cora. She knows how that would worry us.”
“Let’s try both together,” suggested Belle, and they gave out a call in unison.
Again there was no response, and thoroughly frightened now, the girls ran back to their companions.
“Oh, Jack,” exclaimed Belle, “we can’t find Cora!”
“What!” cried the boys, leaping to their feet.
“It’s true,” confirmed Bess. “We’ve called her again and again, and we can’t get any answer.”
“It can’t be!” he cried. “You didn’t call loud enough. Cora, oh, Cora!” he shouted at the top of his voice.
Paul and Walter joined in with stentorian yells, but their united efforts had no result.
“There’s got to be some quick work here, fellows!” cried Jack, a cold perspiration breaking out all over him. “You girls stay right here,” he commanded. “Don’t stir from this spot. We three fellows will spread out in a semicircle, and beat up the woods in the general direction that Cora started out in. We’ll spread out as widely as we can, but we mustn’t get so far apart that we can’t hear each other shout. We’ll keep calling out all the time, so as to keep in touch with each other. If at the end of half an hour we haven’t found any trace of her, we’ll know that she isn’t in this section and we’ll hurry back to the girls here. Then we’ll raise a hue and cry and get the whole district out searching for her. Come along now and keep your voices going. And keep your eyes open, too. She may have met with an accident. Work, fellows! Work like mad!”