The light was set aglow, and then the young men shouted and called: 

“Magnolia ahoy!”

Echoes were their only answer, save the bellow or grunt of some distant alligator, or the screech of some disturbed wild fowl.

“This is queer,” observed Russ.  “I’m sure we have rowed back far enough to be at the place where we left the steamer.  I wonder—­”

But he did not finish.

“What do you wonder?” asked Alice, searchingly.

“Oh—­nothing,” Russ hesitated.

“Yes, it is something!” she insisted.

“Well, then, I was wondering if we possibly could have come down some wrong creek.  There were a number of turns, you know.”

“Do—­do you mean, we are—­lost?” faltered Ruth.

“Well, I’m afraid I do.”

CHAPTER XXI

THE LONG NIGHT

Ruth began to cry quietly—­she really could not help it.  Alice felt like following her example, but the younger girl had the saving grace of humor.  Not that Ruth actually lacked it, but it was not so near the surface, nor so easily called into action.

“Isn’t it silly?” Alice suddenly exclaimed.

“What?” Paul wanted to know.

“Getting lost like this!  It’s too funny—­”

“I wish I could see it, my dear,” observed Ruth.

“Try to,” urged Mrs. Maguire.  “It does seem a bit odd to be lost like this, and maybe the steamer only just around the corner.”

“Probably she is,” agreed Russ.  “We must call again!”

This time they united their voices in a shout that carried far, but the only effect it had was to disturb some of the denizens of the forest.

“But what are we going to do?” queried Ruth.  “We—­we can’t stay here all night.”

“We may have to,” answered Russ, grimly enough.

“Oh, please don’t say that!” she faltered.

“Why, it won’t be so bad,” put in the jolly Irish woman.  “We’ve got a roomy boat, thank goodness.  We can lie down on the rugs, with our rubber coats for protection against the dew.  We have some food left, and the moon will soon be up, for it’s clearing fast.  Then, in the morning, we can find our way back to the steamer.”

“Of course!” exclaimed Paul, who realized the necessity of keeping up the spirits of the girls.  “We’ll be laughing at this to-morrow.”

“Do you really think so?” asked Ruth, timorously.

“I’m sure of it,” he said.  “Now let’s figure out what we’d better do.”

“How about going ashore?” suggested Russ.

“Never!” cried Ruth.

“Why not?”

“Oh, we don’t know what sort of horrid things may be in the woods.  It’s safer in the boat.”

“You forget about the—­” Alice began, but she did not finish.  She had been about to say “manatees and alligators,” but thought better of it.  Instead she changed it to: