Girls of the Forest Part 44

"Yes," said Penelope, "it's prime fun; but isn't this fun, too? You won't be able to go to that Zoo place any more."

"Now what do you mean?"

"Why, this: the animals will eat you up. You are bad, same as me. You two won't be able to go to any more Zoos;" and Pen rolled round and round in fiendish delight.

The other children looked at her with anything but approval.

"I don't like her," whispered Nellie to her brother.

"Of course you don't like bad little girls," replied Harry. "Let's run away at once and leave her. Let's."

They scrambled to their feet. To love a new playmate and yet without an instant's warning to desert her was quite in accordance with their childish ideas. In a moment they were running as fast as their legs would permit across the sands. The tide had been coming in fast for some time.

For a moment Pen sat almost petrified; then she rushed after them. She was wild with pa.s.sion; she had never been so angry in all her life. There were many times when the other children at The Dales treated her with scant courtesy, but to be suddenly deserted in this fashion by strange children was more than she could endure.

"Oh, how bad you have got! You are so bad--so dreadfully, horribly bad--that the tide is certain to come in and drown you up," she cried.

"You can't go away from me; you can't. Oh, see! it has comed;" and Pen danced up and down and clapped her hands in triumph.

She was right. She had gained a complete victory. Just at the extreme end of the promontory a gentle wave, peaceful, pretty, and graceful, curled up against the solid rock. It had scarcely retired in bashful innocence when another wave tumbled after it. They looked like charming playfellows. Then came a third, then a fourth and a fifth. Faster and faster they rolled in, flowing up the white sands and making a white foam round the rock.

The little Carvers stood still, transfixed with a curious mingling of delight, excitement, and horror. Pen ceased to jump up and down.

Presently she ceased to laugh. She was only a very small girl, and did not in the least realize her danger; nevertheless, as she used her eyes to good purpose, and as she quickly perceived that the opposite side of the bay was now shut away by a great body of water, it did occur to her that they would have to stay in their present shelter for some time.

Harry turned round slowly. Harry was ten years old, and he understood. He had heard his father talk of the dangerous White Bay. He went straight up to Pen, and, taking her hand, burst out crying.

"It don't matter," he said--"it don't matter whether we are good or whether we are bad. We can none of us ever go to the Zoo again. Nellie and I won't ever go any more, and you can never go at all."

"What do you mean?" asked Pen.

Her heart began to beat fast and loud.

"What do you mean? Oh, you dreadful bad----"

"Don't call names," said Harry. "You will be sorry by-and-by; and by-and-by comes soon. We have got to be drowned, all three of us."

CHAPTER XXII.

"OUR FATHER" IS BEST.

Pauline and Verena found Miss Tredgold waiting for them. They went into the shop, which was quite one of the best shops in the High Street. There Miss Tredgold asked to see hats, and presently the two girls and their aunt were absorbed in the fascinating occupation of trying on new headgear. Miss Tredgold was buying a very pretty hat for herself also. It was to be trimmed with lace and feathers, and Verena had a momentary sense of disappointment that she was to have nothing so gay to wear on her own head. The attendant who was serving them made a sudden remark.

"Yes, ma'am," she said, "this little brown hat trimmed with velvet will exactly suit the dark young lady." Here she looked at Pauline. "And I should venture to suggest a very little cream-colored lace introduced in front. The autumn is coming on, and the young lady will find this hat very suitable when the weather changes."

"Well, the weather seems inclined to remain fine," said Miss Tredgold, glancing out of the window, where a very blue sky met her gaze. There were heavy white clouds, however, drifting quickly across the sky, and the young shop attendant said:

"I hear that there's a storm expected. And anyhow it is high-tide to-night. The tide will come up and quite cover the White Bay this evening. It is always more or less dangerous there, but it is specially dangerous to-day. I never like these high-tides; children and nursemaids are so apt to forget all about them."

Miss Tredgold muttered something conventional. Pauline suddenly sat down on a chair.

"How white you are, dear!" said Miss Tredgold. "Would you oblige me," she added, turning to the attendant, "by bringing this young lady a gla.s.s of water?"

But Pauline had already recovered herself.

"Please don't," she said. "I want to go out. I want to get the air.

Don't--don't keep me."

Her movement was so sudden and so unexpected that neither Miss Tredgold nor Verena had time to say a word. The people in the shop saw a somewhat untidy-looking little girl rush wildly down the stairs and out of doors, and long before Miss Tredgold had time to recover her scattered senses that same little girl was tearing as though on the wings of the wind up the High Street. Panting, breathless, overpowered with emotion, she presently reached the long flat stretch of beach at the farther end of which was the dangerous White Bay. Never in all her life had Pauline run as she did now. Faster and faster flew her feet. There was a noise in her ears as though something was hammering on her brain. She was almost faint with terror. Should she be in time? Should she be too late? Oh! she must be in time.

Presently she saw the far end of the promontory. Her heart gave a bound and almost stood still. What was that white thing curling round it?

Water? Oh, yes; but she did not mind. She had waded before now. This was a case of wading again. She reached the spot, and a moment later she had torn off her shoes and stockings, had gathered her skirts round her waist, and was walking through the waves. The water was already over a foot deep. There was also a strong tide, and she had some difficulty in keeping her feet. She managed to hold her own, however, and found herself a minute or two later, drenched all over, panting and trembling, but still safe in the White Bay. To her relief, she saw three terrified children crouching up as near as they dared to the water. Even now a great wave, deeper and stronger than its predecessors, rolled in. It took Pauline off her feet just as she was clambering to dry ground. She recovered herself, ran up to Pen, took her hand, and said:

"We have played pickaback before now. Get on my back this moment; don't stop to think."

"I daren't," said Pen.

"Little boy--I don't know your name," said Pauline--"put Pen onto my back whatever happens."

Harry Carver sprang towards Pen.

"You must," he said. "She is brave; she is a true heroine. The lions and tigers would love her. Get on her back and she will return for us. Oh! be quick--do be quick--for we don't any of us want to be drowned."

"Can you swim?" asked Pauline. "No; I know you can't. I haven't a moment to stay; I'll come back somehow."

She struggled towards the water, but Pen scrambled off her back and stood firm on the ground.

"I am bad," she said--"there never was anybody much badder--but I'm not going first. Take that little girl; I will go afterwards."

"Come, little girl," said Pauline.

Harry rushed towards his sister.

"Do go, Nellie. Let mother keep one of us. I don't mind being drowned--not a bit. You tell mother I don't mind. Go, Nellie; do go with the big brave girl."

So Pauline carried Nellie through the rising tide, and, marvellous to relate, did land her safely on the other side.

"Now look here," she said, "you must rush home as fast as you can, and when you get there you are to say that there are two girls and a boy in the White Bay, and that your people are to bring a boat immediately.

Don't waste a second. Find somebody. If all your people are out, go to ours. Our house is No. 11. You understand? There isn't a minute to lose."

"Yes, see you go," shouted Harry Carver. "And if you are too late, be sure you tell mother that I wasn't afraid to drown."

Nellie Carver began to run as fast as she could across the sands. Pauline hesitated for a moment; then she deliberately waded back to the other two. The water was up to her waist now, and she had the greatest difficulty in keeping her feet.

"I couldn't face anybody again if Pen were drowned," she said to herself.

"If she drowns, so will I. It is the only thing fit for me. Perhaps when G.o.d sees that I am sorry, and that I did try to save Pen, He will forgive me; but I am not sure. Anyhow, I deserve to be drowned. I could never, never face the others if Pen were to die because of me."