The Meadow-Brook Girls in the Hills Part 11

Ja.n.u.s fixed the fire, then walked briskly away. In their tent the girls had begun undressing before this. Fortunately their kimonos had not been soaked, and after being warmed at the fire by Harriet the loose gowns felt decidedly comfortable. No time was lost in rolling in their blankets, which had been spread on the ground. For pillows inflated rubber bags were used. No one complained of the hardness of their beds, the little company was too sleepy. Silence soon settled over the camp, and the Meadow-Brook Girls slept peacefully.

Two hours had elapsed when they were awakened by a commotion somewhere outside. The shrill neighs of the horses sounded the first alarm, followed by what seemed to be a fall, a whinny, then the rapid beating of hoofs.

Harriet struggled to get out of her blanket, in which she had wound herself tightly. The tent was in darkness. She decided that the campfire had gone out. For a moment she had to think hard to recall where she was. Before she had untangled herself, the others of the party were struggling to free themselves from their blankets.

"What is it?" cried Margery in terror.

"Stay where you are! I don't know. Something is wrong out there,"

answered Harriet, hurriedly pulling on her skirt. "Dress yourselves.

We don't know what--oh, look out!"

Something struck the tent a terrific blow, followed by a series of snorts and squeals. The tent began to waver.

"It's falling!" cried Miss Elting warningly.

"Get to the other side," shouted Harriet Burrell, herself leaping to the right-hand side of the tent in a single bound. Her companions fell, rather than sprang, aside. They were none too soon as it was, for the tent swayed, then lurched to the right, collapsing over the heads of the Meadow-Brook Girls amid the continued snorts of horses near at hand, accompanied by the sound of beating hoofs and the shouts of the two men at the other side of the camp.

CHAPTER VIII

CRAZY JANE'S "FIND"

Tommy, having been unable to free herself from her blanket, had rolled over and over until she reached the opposite side of the tent. Margery Brown, not having got out of the way, had been hit on the head by a tent-pole, which knocked her down and so dazed her for the moment that she lay whimpering where she had fallen.

Of this Harriet and Miss Elting were unaware. Their efforts were directed toward getting out of the tent to learn what had occurred.

They could hear the canvas ripping; and the noise of the floundering hordes just outside was still going on. Together the two women fought their way out from under the canvas.

"Catch 'em! Catch 'em!" Jim was yelling at the top of his voice. "The horses are getting away!"

"Yes, and they have taken a good part of the tent with them," called Harriet.

The men had halted, not knowing whether they should proceed or not.

"Come on! come on!" cried Miss Elting. She could not see the horses, but she could hear them crashing through the bushes whinnying in terror. There was something sinister in this sudden outbreak, something that neither Miss Elting nor Harriet Burrell understood.

Jane, having crawled from beneath the overturned tent, came running to them.

"What a mess!" she cried in dismay. "I feel as though I had been in a railroad wreck. What was it?"

"The horses," answered Harriet.

"Is that all? Didn't anything fall on us?"

"I think we had a narrow escape from being trampled by the horses."

The guide came running to them.

"Was any one hurt? What, the tent down?"

"Yes. The animals ran into it and tore it down," replied the guardian.

"I don't understand it at all. Do you, Mr. Grubb?"

"I swum, I don't!" he exploded. "Run into the tent? Why should they do that?"

"They must have been terribly frightened," averred Jane McCarthy.

"Now, what could have frightened a pair of horses enough to make them so blind they couldn't see a tent? Will you tell me that?"

The guide kicked the embers of the campfire, and piled on some light wood. At this juncture Hazel came out, leading Margery, who had both hands pressed to her head.

"Something fell on her head," explained Hazel.

Miss Elting took Margery to the fire and made her sit down. Margery had no need to be urged. She sat down, all in a heap, and would have toppled over had not the guardian held her up. A lump as large as a horse chestnut had risen on the stout girl's head.

"Oh, my dear! You did get a b.u.mp, didn't you?" cried the guardian.

"Sit right where you are. I will bring some liniment. Fortunately, the skin is not broken. Mr. Grubb, won't you please see what you can do with the tent? I fear it is seriously damaged."

"I want to look at those halters, first, if you can wait a minute."

Miss Elting nodded, then hurried to the collapsed tent, under which she burrowed and groped about in the dark in search of her medicine kit, which she finally found and brought to the fireside. Margery's swollen head was treated until the soreness had become eased a little. Harriet and Jane supported her to a blanket that they had brought from the tent, and, after tucking her in, left the unfortunate Margery to doze and rest. Tommy crept over and kissed her on the forehead.

"I'm tho thorry, Buthter," she whispered sympathetically. "I withh it might have been me who got the b.u.mp on the head. But never mind; you will be better pretty thoon. Don't you think tho?"

Margery's answer was a moan. Tommy crept away with a troubled look in her eyes.

"The horses broke their halters," Ja.n.u.s was saying as Tommy joined her companions. "Can't understand what skeered them into doing that. Jim must be having a chase, or he'd have been back before this. Want to quit?"

"Certainly not," answered Miss Elting with emphasis. "But we should like to know what it means."

"Might have been a bird or something. Doesn't take much to startle a horse when he's asleep. I've known a partridge to fly up before a sleeping horse and cause the animal to break away and rip things up generally. You'll find, if you find at all, that it was something like this skeered Jim's nags."

"I gueth it wath a two-legged bird," observe Tommy wisely.

"That would be strange, indeed," answered Miss Elting. "How many legs do birds ordinarily have?"

Tommy flushed.

"That ith tho. I wath thinking a bird had four legs, jutht like a table."

Margery groaned.

"Oh! Are you feeling badly again, dear?" called Miss Elting.

"Yes."

"What is it? Does your head pain you?" questioned the guardian.

"No, it's Tommy. She gives me a pain."