was all. They seemed to have gone deeper and deeper into the swamp."

"How long ago was it?" Ruth wanted to know.

"Several weeks, now. It is almost impossible that the girls are alive,
though they took a quantity of provisions with them, as they expected to
be gone several days."

"The poor things!" murmured Ruth. "Tell us more about them. Who are
they?"

"Mabel and Helen Madison," was the answer.

Ruth and Alice cried out in surprise.

"Those girls!" voiced Alice.

"The ones we met in the train," added Ruth. "It seems incredible!"

"Did you know them?" asked the clerk, for the remarks and demeanor of
Ruth and Alice were too marked to pass over without comment.

"We did not exactly know them," replied Ruth, slowly. "We met them in the
train when we were going to the New England backwoods to get moving
pictures last winter. One of them had a headache--I think it was Helen."

"No, it was Mabel, dear," corrected Alice. "They seemed such nice girls."

"They _were_ nice!" the clerk declared. "I did not know them very well,
but I have often seen them about the hotel here. Some of their friends