My heart skips a beat at her note. Tiny little Ella in her sundress walking around these woods all by herself, heedless of all the dangers. A vision of her lying helpless with a snakebite has me tossing the food on a bench and hollering for Henry to follow me.

“All right, Henry, time for you to do some serious bloodhound shit.”

He trots off with his nose to the ground, and I hope like hell he’s following Ella’s scent and not some rabbit because he’s hungry. We walk ...