"Ms. Jo when ARE we going to eat," complained Emil as the group trooped up the side of a large forest-covered hill.  Nick and Jo were in the lead, while Emil, Jack, Tommy, and Rob slowly brought up the rear.
      "I don’t know, Emil," Jo called back.  "I’ll find out though, okay?" Jo said as she ran to catch up to Nick who had gained ground as she was talking.  "The children are getting hungry, Nick, and I must confess, so am I," she blurted in-between breaths.
      "All right, you said it," Nick said, coming to a sudden stop, causing Jo to run into him.  "We eat here," he said.
      "Nick, we don’t have food," Nat said, coming up beside him.
      "Surprise," Nick laughed.  "We’re going to find our food.  Now listen up—we’ll spread out in groups of two, we’ll gather food, but don’t eat any—bring it back to me first so I can make sure its eatable.  We’ll meet back here a couple of hours.  If you get lost, head towards the sunset; that’s where Plumfield is."  He paused.  "Emil with Rob, Nat with Nan, Bess with Dan, Jack with Franz, Jo with me.  Good luck, and if you do good we’ll have one heck of a feast."
      The groups split up after being briefed on what kind of food to look for.  Soon Jo and Nick were walking through the woods talking contentedly about the beautiful day and other subjects while gathering food.
      Meanwhile, not far away, Dan and Bess where doing the same.
      "Oh, Dan, slow down.  I can’t walk so fast in this dress; it is rather heavy."
      "Oh stop whining—do you want to eat or not?" Dan said, tilting his head to get the hair out of his eyes.
      "Well, you pack a twenty pound dress up a hill on an empty stomach and see what happens to your ego," Bess shot back.
      "Fine—we’ll slow down," he said.  "At least I’m in better shape than you," he said mockingly, giving her a witty smile.
      "Oh, yeah, well at least I’m just your partner and not YOU," Bess said, sticking her nose in the air.
      While all this was going on, Nat and Nan were not having the best of luck, either.
      "Face it, Nat: you are the worst with directions in the world—now I’m sure we’re lost," Nan shouted.
      "Now I’m sure we’re lost," Nat impersonated her in a squeaky voice.  "If you’re so good at it how come you and Dan got lost?"
      "That was Dan’s fault, anyways," Nan said, sticking her nose in the air and facing in the opposite direction.
      "Okay, I’ve had it.  If you’re perfect, find your way alone!  I’m leaving—taking my own way out.  Good bye," Nat said, storming off.
      "Fine with me.  I don’t need you," Nan shouted, going off in the other direction.

"Nick, I found a whole patch of huckleberries through these bushes over here," Jo said, beckoning him over.
      "Wow, you sure did!  There is enough ta feed a whole army here," he said, rubbing his hands together, mocking a greedy look.  Soon they had picked enough berries to fill up the children’s bellies as well as their own.
      Suddenly a large bear rose from some nearby bushes.  It seemed agitated and hostile.  Nick reached behind him, feeling for Jo’s hand, finding and gripping it tightly.
      "Okay," he said.  "Slowly, slowly back away," he said in a hushed voice.  Without objecting, Jo began to back away, followed by Nick.  The bear began to calm down and lowered onto his front legs.
      Suddenly the ground under Jo’s feet gave way.  Giving a horrified scream, she disappeared into the darkness.  The bear, suddenly alarmed, charged Nick. Not being able to think of anything else, Nick dived after Jo.  He fell for what seemed like forever, only to splash into water about four feet deep.  He winced in pain; fortunately he was unhurt and soon recovered.  He quickly scouted around for Jo.  He saw her over on an exposed rock examining her leg.
      "It’s broken," he said as he reached her and peered over her shoulder.  "We’ve gotta get you to a doctor, Jo.  It looks bad," he continued.
      "But the children," Jo started to object.  Nick pressed his finger to her lips.
      "They’ll be fine; you won’t.  Not another word."  He said, "You stay here—I’m going to look for a way out of here."  And without another word he wandered off, wading through the darkness.
      Then Jo heard a sort of whooshing sound and her heart jumped into her throat.  She whirled her head around, trying to see Nick.
      "Nick . . . Nick answer me," she shouted.  "Nick, Nick!"  Jo, unable to hold in her fear, lightly began to weep.
      "Don’t cry, Jo; I’m here," Nick’s voice said to Jo.  It sounded like music.  Jo heard Nick making his way over to her.  "I think there’s a way out over there but we’ll have to swim under a few things.  And it’s a big risk," he said as he plopped beside her.  "I should’ve let you fall down the stairs.  I wouldn’t have gotten us in this mess," he sighed.
      "Nick, this isn’t your fault," Jo said, putting an arm around his shoulder.  "If swimming is the only way out of here then we must try," she said, giving Nick a sympathetic squeeze and waiting for a response.
      "I guess you’re right, Jo, but if we don’t make it . . . " Nick began, desperately trying to hide the fear in his eyes.  Jo grabbed his chin, turning his head to look in his eyes.  When their eyes met, Nick saw fear in her eyes as well.
      "Nick, we’ll make it—we have to," she managed to choke out through her fear and pain. So with doubts, Nick helped Jo off the rock and into the darkness.  Soon Jo felt the ground disappear and the cold water envelop her body, Nick’s arm still safely around her waist.  As they swam, Nick talked to take their minds off what was happening.
      "I-I remember that time you got lost in that storm and I went lookin’ for you thinkin’ you’d be hurt," he gasped.
      "I do too—you got shot," she managed to laugh out over breaths.  Suddenly she winced and one arm disappeared under the water.  Nick knew it was going down to feel her leg.
      "What—is it hurtin’?" he asked, grasping more tightly to her waist and looking through the water though he could see nothing.
      "Well, considering something latched onto me, I’m fine," Jo said and heard Nick curse silently.
      "Leaches—I should of thought," Nick spat angrily.  "We got to dive here.  Take a deep breath and if anything even touches your face brush it off fast!" he said.  Both of them took a breath of air and dived under.  They swam as fast as they could and soon saw light at the end of the tunnel.  Soon they were out and lying on the forest floor, gasping air.  Jo sat up and looked at Nick.  She reached over, touching his face, and pulled a leach off his face, tossing it back into the water.  After a minute, Nick sat up and began to pick leaches caught in Jo’s hair.  After that they dragged themselves into separate bushes and began picking off their remaining leaches.  Soon they were sitting on the bank while they prepared to leave.
      "I’m going to carry you out, Jo," Nick said, walking over and scooping her up, even though she objected.
      "Nick, you won’t make it out with me weighing you down," Jo said, trying to convince him to leave her, even though she didn’t want him to.
      "Well I guess I’ll have to, huh?  You can’t do much about it either."  And without thinking about it again they began the journey home.
      Meanwhile, Nat was wondering about looking for his way back when he heard a noise.  Quickly he spun around but didn’t see anything.  He turned to continue, but as he turned he was startled to find Dan standing right in front of him, Bess not far behind.  Nat, glad to see anybody, threw his arms around Dan in a bear-like hug.
      "Whoa, Nat—don’t get mushy on me.  Where’s Nan?" Dan said, holding Nat back and looking at him.
      "We separated a while ago, Dan.  I thought I could find the way and she thought she could so we fought and separated." Nat, unable to hold back his tears, let them slowly trickle down his cheek. Bess walked over and put her arm around his shoulder to comfort him.  Then Franz and Jack crashed through the bushes followed closely by Emil and Rob.
      "Hey, everyone," Franz said, then realized something was wrong from looking at Nat’s face.
      "Where’s Nan?" he said.  A look of concern came to his face.
      "None of us know," Dan said, coming to stand beside Franz and folding his arms, waiting for Franz to reply.
      "We’ve got to look for her.  Emil, can you take Rob home?" Franz asked, looking at Emil in desperation.
      "Sure, but we found raspberries.  Can we eat them on the way down?" Emil asked, looking longingly at the bucket he clasped.
      "Fine, just go," Dan and Franz said almost in harmony.  Emil took Rob without another word.
      "We got to hurry; it’s getting late," Franz said.
      "Yeah, it’ll be dark soon," Dan said, looking desperately through the trees, hoping to spot Nan’s face coming at them gloatingly.
      Soon they were calling Nan’s name and walking through the trees.  As they broke through a row of bushes they saw Nick and Jo’s buckets on the ground.  Their hearts jumped when they saw the hole and a part of Ms. Jo’s dress hanging from a piece of rock on the side of the hole.  Dan tried to rush over, but Franz grabbed his arm.
      "Let go—Ms. Jo is down there!" he cried, trying to pull away, but Franz held tight.
      "Dan, the ground is unstable.  If you rush out there you’re liable to fall in as well," Franz said, still clinging to a piece of Dan’s shirt.
      "No!" Dan yelled out, pushing Franz so hard he tumbled to the ground.  Dan began to rush for the hole but realized what he was doing and stopped halfway there.  Slowly he turned around and walked back.  Franz got up and dusted himself off then stooped to pick up his glasses.
      "I-I’m sorry Franz, I’m just worried about Ms. Jo," Dan said, hanging his head.  After making sure Ms. Jo was not down there, they continued on their search.

Jo sat on a log beside Nick; they had stopped for a rest.  Nick had found some berries and insisted Jo eat them while he ate some harmless leaves and such.
      "Nick, how long do we have to go?  Are we going to get there before dark?" Jo said as she ate her berries.
      "I don’t know.  I’d say quite a while, and to that last question: maybe," Nick replied as he sat thinking.  "Time to go," he said, standing up.  Just as he was about to pick Jo up, Nan came crashing through the bush.
      "Ms. Jo, oh Ms. Jo," she gasped.  "I was so afraid.  Me an’ Nat got separated—I thought I wouldn’t find my way home again," she cried.  Then she stopped and looked at Jo’s leg.
      "Oh, how did you break your leg?" she asked, suddenly swallowing her worry for herself and thinking of Jo.
      "I fell down a hole, Nan, but I’ll be okay," Jo said, waving Nan over to her side.
      "We’d better make a brace," Nan said, and without another thought found a stick and tore a few strips of her dress off and bound Jo’s leg.
      "Thanks, Nan," Nick said.  "Now we’d better go," he said as he picked Jo up and began to walk.  Nan trooped close behind, careful not to get lost again.