The Meadow-Brook Girls in the Hills Part 20

"Pull!" called the guardian. "Steadily and slowly this time."

The girls were breathing heavily now.

"Stop!"

"Oh, am I up?" wailed the little, lisping girl.

"Yes. Now be perfectly quiet. Harriet, can you help me?"

"Yes. All hold fast. I am going to let go. Step back a little farther, girls. There!"

"We have it," shouted Ja.n.u.s.

"We have," cried Crazy Jane.

Harriet stepped forward.

"Hold up your arm, Tommy," directed the guardian. "You take that arm, Harriet. Now one foot, Tommy. I'll take that. Don't move about any more than you can help. Wait! Her arm first. Have you got it, Harriet?"

"Yes."

Snap! Tommy uttered a wild scream of terror. Miss Elting was reaching for the upraised foot.

Tommy's belt gave way when her foot was almost within the guardian's grasp, and her slender body shot downward.

CHAPTER XIII

PLACING THE BLAME

Such screams as rose from over the ledge none of that party ever had heard. Harriet, it will be remembered, had hold of the little girl's hands, or rather one hand, when Tommy's belt broke. The jolt was so great that it seemed to the two girls as if their arms would be pulled from their sockets.

Tommy thought, too, that she was being hurled to her death when she felt herself falling. But Harriet, with unusual presence of mind, had clutched the little girl's hand with a desperate grip.

"Give me the other hand," she panted.

"I--I can't," sobbed Tommy, who immediately began to wriggle in an attempt to reach the shelf.

"Then keep quiet. Don't stir." Instead of keeping quiet, the girl, now fairly beside herself with fear, began a series of lunges for the ridge above her. The result was what Harriet had feared. She felt herself slipping forward toward the edge. In those few seconds Harriet Burrell came nearer to realizing what fear was than ever before. To let go would be to save herself at the cost of Tommy's life. Harriet not only held on; but reached over her free hand which she clasped over that of her companion. Now she slipped more than ever. Her companions did not seem to realize what had occurred. It had all come about so quickly that they did not quite comprehend.

"Grab me!" cried Harriet. "I've got her! Why don't you do something?

I'm slipping over. Quick! For mercy's sake, move!"

Jane McCarthy, who, with Ja.n.u.s, was still clinging to the rope, now dropped it and sprang forward. Jane went down on her knees, grasping Harriet by the ankles.

"Hold me! Are you all asleep?" shouted Jane.

Ja.n.u.s awakened suddenly. But Miss Elting was a little ahead of him.

The guardian sprang behind Jane and slipped both arms around the latter's waist.

"Help Harriet!" she cried.

Ja.n.u.s ran forward with a rope, making a noose in it as he ran. The guide went down on his knees beside Harriet Burrell.

"Can you swing her a little without dropping her?" he shouted.

"Yes, but she'll be dreadfully frightened."

"We can't help that. Swing her," commanded Ja.n.u.s.

Harriet did so, bringing from Tommy Thompson a series of terrified screams. If any one else heard he must have believed that some one was being killed. But her shouts and screams did no harm. The guide took quick advantage of the opportunity offered by Harriet to slip the loop in the rope over one of Tommy's feet, then draw it taut.

"I'm caught. Mercy, I'm caught!" screamed Tommy.

"Hang on to her! Don't let go! Stop that yelling until I tell you what to do!" commanded the guide. "We're going to pull you up the best way we can git you up. If you don't like it, don't fight; just yell.

Hold her as she is, Miss Harriet, while I give her foot a yank."

He really did jerk on the rope, but more for the purpose of tightening the loop than for any other reason. Of course, the proceeding was followed by an ear-piercing scream. Ja.n.u.s promptly began to pull up on the line. Tommy's foot came up with it, leaving the other foot and one arm dangling in the air nearly two hundred feet from the bottom of the cliff.

"Pull when we get her level. No; the rest of you folks keep back, or we'll all be over, first thing we know. There! Over she comes!" With a final effort they had landed Tommy on the shelf. She was sobbing pitifully. Her ordeal had been sufficient to upset the strongest nerved person.

"You poor darling," cried Miss Elting, gathering the terror-stricken Tommy in her arms and staggering to the rear of the shelf, where she placed the terrified girl on a blanket.

Harriet sat back where she was. She was breathing heavily from her exertions, and further than this she admitted to herself that she was a little faint. But not for worlds would she have her companions know this.

"Better get back," advised the guide. "One is enough."

"Don't trouble about me. I will as soon as I get my breath. That was a hard position in which to do any lifting."

"I reckon. I take off my hat to you, Miss Burrell. This outfit isn't in such great need of a pilot. You could get along without me and never miss me for a minute except when it comes to toting a pack, and even then I guess you could do without me, especially if that young lady threw a dish or so overboard after every meal," he added jocularly.

"Is there any wood?"

"Yes. There you are again. I never think of anything. I get lost wondering what's going to happen next. You sit down. I'll attend to the fire. It is cold. You are shivering, aren't you"?

"I--I believe I am." Harriet got up and walked over to her companions.

She walked rather unsteadily, but they were too much upset themselves to observe it. Tommy lay on a blanket with face buried in her arms, sobbing, every fourth sob being a hysterical moan. Harriet sat down beside the unhappy little girl, slipping an arm about her waist.

"It's all over now, honey. Don't cry."

"I'm thick! Pleathe give me thome--thome water."

"Water," called Harriet. "Is there any? If not, let Mr. Ja.n.u.s get it, if he will."

"If she can wait a few moments we'll all have some hot coffee,"

answered the guide. But Tommy could not wait. She insisted on having a drink of water, so the guide brought it to her. This seemed to take the girl's mind from her recent fright, and lying on her back Tommy Thompson gradually became quiet and surveyed the guide's coffee-making through half-closed eyes.