One happy, summer day after another sped by, all filled with work and play. Rainy days were now often spent in the haymow of the log barn. Naomi would read out loud to the others while the rain drummed pleasantly on the roof overhead. There were kittens to play with, and it was always fun to see them wrestle with one another.
“Oh! Come see what I’ve found! But come quietly, don’t scare her.” Helen called them to see a mother hen, almost hidden out of sight in the hay, sitting on a nest of warm eggs.
How thrilling it was when the baby chicks began to peck their way out into the world. The girls would have liked to keep them there to play with them, but Mother had other plans. She had fixed a “broody pen” for them in the chicken yard where they would be safer from weasels or skunks.
When Alice came, she and Naomi soon became good friends. They often went berry picking together and sometimes herded cows together along the trail.
One day, the cows had been grazing here and there along the trail in “Indian Land.” When it was milking time, Naomi and Alice whistled for Mollie and started out to look for them.
“There’s not much grass for good grazing here, it’s so thickly wooded, so it’s hard to say how far the cows have gone,” Naomi explained to Alice. “We’ll have to keep listening for cowbells. Mollie! Your ears are better than ours — go find the cows!”
Mollie barked as though she understood, but continued to follow the girls.
“I’m glad that you know the woods better than I do, Naomi,” Alice said, shivering. “Aren’t there lots of dangerous, wild animals?”
“No, not so many. Most of them are more afraid of us than we are of them, my father says. They hear us and run away before we ever see them.”
They climbed over logs and pushed through thick brush as they talked. Every little while, they would stop and listen for cowbells.
“Mollie, get the cows! Can’t you hear their bells either? Mollie — why Mollie! Where are you?” Naomi called and whistled, but Mollie was gone, and neither of the girls had noticed until now.
“Look Alice, it will be dark before we know it. We’d better stop hunting the cows and find our own way home.”
Alice agreed, so they turned around and started homeward. “Oh, Naomi! How dark it is already!” she said. “It will soon be pitch dark, and we’re a long way from home!”
“I’m afraid so,” Naomi answered. “It does get dark awfully fast here in these big woods. Let’s hurry. Where did Mollie go?”
In about half an hour they could scarcely see one another. “We’d better stop or we’ll get dreadfully lost,” Naomi finally said. “I can’t tell which direction is which now that the sun is down. We’ll just be going around in circles. Let’s try calling — maybe someone is out looking for us.”
So they called again and again, but as they listened for an answer, they heard only the echo of their own voices and the hooting of an owl. Again and again they tried, until Alice began to cry with fright.
Naomi sat her down on a log she had stumbled against and tried to comfort her. “I’m not afraid,” she reassured Alice. “The Lord will take care of us. Let’s pray right now and ask Him to.”
The two girls sat together with their arms around each other as they prayed. Naomi was so glad that she had taken the Lord Jesus as her Savior, and she knew that He was her Friend and would help her. She wasn’t sure that Alice was saved yet. She wouldn’t be so frightened if she was, Naomi was sure.
After praying, Naomi suggested, “I think we should sleep right here on the ground. The leaves are nice and dry, and it’s not cold. We can find our way home in the morning when the sun comes up.”
But Alice only sobbed the more!
The night grew darker and seemed to be filled with many strange sounds. Now and then they thought they heard a call, but it only proved to be an owl or night bird.
“What was that sound? I thought I heard a bark! Did you hear it too? Look! Look Alice — over there! Ohhh! It’s gone. No! there it is again! And I’m sure that’s Mollie barking. It IS a light — and that’s Father calling.” Springing to their feet, the girls began to shout.
Immediately an answer came, and soon the girls found themselves in the light of Father’s lantern with Mollie jumping about them and barking for joy. How wonderful to be found and on the way home in the safety of Father’s care.
“Why didn’t you follow Mollie?” Father asked.
“She wouldn’t stay with us, she just disappeared,” the girls answered tearfully. “And we never did find the cows!”
“Mollie came home with the cows some time ago,” Father replied. “If you had kept your eye on her and followed her, you would not have gotten lost! God has given collie dogs wonderful instincts to always find their way home. So remember, when you hunt for the cows, don’t make Mollie follow you. You follow Mollie!”