Both panted in confusion, one interrupting the other.

They shouted: "Sally sits--"-- "Erick is over"-- "Yes, Erick is over"-- "But Sally still sits and"-- "Sally sits and Erick is over!" cried the aunt.

"Now let anyone make sense of that!" But the mother drew Edi aside and said; "Come, tell me quietly what has happened." Then Edi told everything, how Erick had climbed over the rock and how Sally now was sitting alone below near the Woodbach, and Erick gave no answer to all his calling.
"For heaven's sake," the mother cried, now thoroughly frightened, "I hope that nothing has happened to Erick! Or could he have lost his way ?" She ran into the house to ask her husband what was to be done.

At once 'Lizebeth ran to seven or eight neighbors and brought them together with a good deal of noise, all armed with staves and lanterns, as 'Lizebeth had ordered.

Also several women hastened up, they too wanted to help in the seeking.