The Meadow-Brook Girls in the Hills Part 17

Hazel followed, sitting. Harriet and Jane ran up with the support of the rope, and in a few moments the entire party was together.

"You must follow me in single file," directed the guide. "It's a narrow trail to the shelf, so no nonsense. Here, pa.s.s the rope along and keep a tight hold on it, every one of you."

They did as directed. None had any desire to play pranks, now that they could barely see where they were placing their feet. The guide led them safely to the shelf rock, a huge slab of granite as level as a house floor, about thirty feet long and ten feet deep. At the back towered a solid sheet of granite for a hundred feet or more, while in front the rocks dropped sheer for almost twice that distance.

The girls shivered a little as they peered over the edge of the slab.

The guide unslung a bundle of sticks that he had gathered somewhere in the vicinity and threw them down.

"Unload and get ready for grub," he directed. "Here's enough wood for the supper fire; I'll get some more later on; I know where to look for it. Better keep away from the edge. There won't be any coming back, if one of you falls over there."

"Yes, girls. Keep well back. We have had quite enough excitement for one afternoon's climbing. How do you feel?" inquired Miss Elting.

"Well, Buthter hath a th.o.r.e nothe," answered Tommy, speaking for her companion in distress. "I have thkinned thoulderth and theveral bruitheth. I don't know how Jane and Harriet feel."

"I feel as if I'd been run over by my own motor car," decided Jane McCarthy.

"My arms and my feet are tired," admitted Harriet. "And, now that we have discussed our miseries, let's think about supper. We shall all feel better after a good meal and a rest. Here Margery." Harriet spread a blanket, which Buster welcomed by promptly crawling over to it and lying down. "The rock is awfully hard," she complained.

"Never mind, dearie; we'll pour some water on it and soften it for you," comforted Jane McCarthy.

"Speaking of water, that reminds me: Where are we to get our water for the coffee?" questioned Harriet.

"There's a spring on the other side of these rocks. There isn't much water in it, but I reckon there will be enough for us. Never mind.

Don't you get it. Don't you go puttering around where you can't see,"

Ja.n.u.s warned.

A little blaze sprang up from the pile of sticks he had heaped and fired with a match. The light from the fire soon threw the outer world into black darkness. They could not make it seem possible that there, almost within reach of their hands, was a precipice dropping down nearly two hundred feet. But the thought caused them to keep well to the rear of the shelf.

The guide gathered the cups, and, with these and the coffee pot, went to the spring, a mere trickle in the rocks, where he first filled the coffee pot, then the cups, carrying them back and placing them in a row against the wall. Harriet put the water over the fire to boil. Miss Elting sliced the bacon, while Jane prepared some rice for boiling.

The latter occupied considerable time in cooking and was not particularly palatable. Ja.n.u.s said that in the morning they would cook enough of it to last for a day or two.

Hazel put the bacon in the frying pan. Each one, except Margery, found something to do and found joy in the doing despite their aches and pains, from which not a member of the Meadow-Brook party was free that evening. The climbing had brought into activity little used muscles, as the girls had by this time discovered.

The supper was late that evening. Ja.n.u.s had brought the small lantern.

This he secured above their heads by thrusting a stick into a crevice and suspending the lantern from it, thus shedding a little light besides that given off by the campfire. The party sat down with their feet curled under them and thoroughly enjoyed the somewhat slender meal.

"How good everything does taste!" remarked Margery.

Jane averred that Margery's accident had done her good.

"I've been thinking about the accident to our guide," said Miss Elting.

"I don't know yet how it occurred."

"I caught my foot on a nub," Tommy informed her. "That pulled Mr.

Januth down on hith fathe."

"Oh! I see."

Mr. Grubb regarded Tommy suspiciously. Her face wore an innocent expression, but when Tommy winked solemnly at Harriet, Ja.n.u.s was enlightened.

"Well, I swum! I swum!" he repeated, "I believe you did that on purpose."

"Why, Mr. Januth!" protested Tommy.

"Do ye deny it?"

"No, Mr. Januth, I don't deny it. Athk me and I'll tell you the truth."

"All right, I ask ye. Did ye pull me down?"

"No, thir. You fell down, didn't you? But I let my foot catthh on a nub. I knew it would pull you over. You made fatheth at me tho I helped you to fall down. Oh, it wath funny!" Tommy laughed merrily.

"Grace Thompson! I am amazed!" exclaimed Miss Elting.

"Tho wath Mr. Januth. But I'm thorry, now. I won't do it again, if you won't make fatheth at me."

"Well, I swum! Shake, little pardner! You got the best of Ja.n.u.s Grubb that time, but his time will come."

"You've got to promithe," insisted Tommy.

"All right. I promise."

"Tho do I."

Peace had been declared, greatly to the relief of the rest of the party, who did not know to what lengths Tommy Thompson might go to pay the score she thought she had against the guide who had grinned at her on seeing her in an unpleasant predicament that afternoon.

The meal finished, Ja.n.u.s went away to secure fresh fuel for the fire, the girls in the meantime setting the camp to rights, which meant spreading the blankets for the night and clearing away the dishes.

"There is one advantage about this kind of living," observed Hazel; "we do not have any gla.s.sware to polish."

"Nor silver," added Margery.

Ja.n.u.s returned with an armful of wood. The fire was built up, flaring into the air just as Tommy uttered a scream. The scream was followed by a distant clatter.

The girls jumped. For a second they thought Grace had fallen over, but great was their relief to see her standing a few feet from the edge of the precipice trying to peer over.

"What is it, dear?" called the guardian.

"Oh, I lotht the frying pan," wailed Tommy.

"What!" shouted the girls.

"I lotht it. I did. I wath emptying it when it fell down. But never mind, Mr. Januth will go down for it."

The girls groaned.

"Now you have done it," exclaimed Jane. "Whatever are we going to do without a frying-pan?"

"I told you Mr. Januth ith going down after it," insisted Tommy.