The Mystery of the Missing Heiress

heels.”
    “But we have to look over that edge somehow,” Jim insisted. “Janie may be down there and hurt.”
    “Have you found her?” Mart called, bursting through the undergrowth where the two paths came together.
    “What’s the matter with everyone?” Honey, following Mart, asked in a shaking voice.
    “The signs have been taken away,” Trixie groaned. “Janie didn’t know. She didn’t know!”
    “The first thing to do,” Dan said quietly, “is to climb down the trail here—the one we use to go to the marsh. Trixie, you and Honey stay here and keep calling.”
    Dan knows every inch of this forest, Trixie said to herself. We must trust him...do as he says.
    “Down at the bottom of the bluff,” Dan called back as he followed the other boys, “we’ll know more than we do now.” His voice broke off.
    Trixie moaned. “He means they may find Janie. I don’t believe she’s down there! Let’s keep on calling her.”
    Desperately and frantically, the girls’ voices rose. “Janie, Janie! Janie! Where are you, Janie? Janie! Janie!”
    After what seemed hours, the boys came scrambling back, their faces grim.
    “We didn’t find Janie,” Dan said. “We did find something else.”
    “The signs!” Mart exploded. “The warning signs, in a heap, all smashed to pieces!”
    Trixie gasped, stifling a cry of terror.
    “They must have been thrown from the cliff,” Brian said, “deliberately. When we find whoever did it-”
    “That’s for later,” Jim said. His voice, quiet and reassuring, comforted Trixie. He went on. “We didn’t find Janie down there. That’s something for us to think about. Dan, you’ve got your hunting lantern with you. We’re going to need it, all right. We’ve only begun our search!”
    Dan fastened the lantern to his shoulder. Its powerful beam cut through the fast-gathering mist curling up from the river.
    “Come with me, Jim,” he said. “We’ll crawl along well back from the cliff*s edge. If there’s a broken place there, it may be where Janie could have slipped. If she did, she may have caught on something on the cliffside, beyond the reach of our voices.”
    “She may not be able to answer, even if she hears our voices,” said Trixie, on the verge of tears.
    “We’ll have to shine the light over the edge and try to locate her,” Dan said.
    Quickly Trixie stepped between Dan and Jim. “Let me go,” she begged. “I’m so much lighter. I can crawl closer and see more.”
    Jim started to speak, but with a rush of words Trixie stopped him. “ Please! You can hold tight to my feet, both of you. There isn’t the slightest danger, not with you both holding on to me.”
    Fifty feet beyond the path to the marsh, Dan paused, unhooked his light, and swung it up and down along the rim of the bluff. Trixie, shading her eyes, followed the movement of the beam till Dan, with a sigh, sank to one knee and said, “In a half a dozen places all along that cliff, the edge has broken off. Someone could have gone over. It’s almost dark, and I don’t know what to do next. Nobody is sure Janie came this far. No one is sure that she even came into the woods.”
    “I am,” Trixie said firmly. “We found her book and her watch! Janie said once she wanted to explore every inch of these woods. She must have started exploring. If she didn’t see a warning sign, she might have walked along that ledge. She— Let’s call her again.” Trixie’s voice rose. “Janie! Janie!” They all listened. There was no answer.
    “Janie!” the boys called, their voices loud and hoarse. “Janie! Janie! Janie!”
    Again they listened, straining their ears.
    Out of the stillness came a faint sound!
    “Did you hear that?” Trixie cried.
    Frantically she crawled forward, calling again and again, “Janie! Where are you? Janie!”
    “Trixie! Watch out!” Jim shouted.
    With one desperate gesture, he and Dan caught Trixie’s feet and held them tight. “Have you gone crazy?” Jim asked, his voice frenzied.
    “Let me go! It’s Janie. She’s down there. I heard her!”
    Trixie tried to pull her feet free.
    “I’m going closer. Listen!” she commanded. “Oh, please, listen! Janie! Answer me!”
    From below, out of the blackness, there came a groan, faint—almost lost—but unmistakable.
    “Did you hear that?” Trixie cried. “It’s Janie. She’s alive!”
    Cupping her hands over her mouth, Trixie called, “Hold on tight, Janie! Hold on! Were here! We’ll bring you