The Meadow-Brook Girls in the Hills Part 21

"Do you think you can go to sleep?" asked Miss Elting, stooping over the rec.u.mbent Tommy.

"Not until I get thome coffee," answered Tommy, gazing up soulfully into the anxious face of the guardian.

Margery laughed almost hysterically. It was the first laugh that had been heard in camp for some time, so it was welcome, helping to relieve the tension as it did. Tommy turned her eyes on her stout friend in a droll way which set Margery to giggling afresh.

The fire was crackling by this time. Harriet dragged Tommy's blanket up closer to it, that she might get some of its warmth. Ja.n.u.s, looking unusually solemn, was boiling water for the coffee.

"She had a pretty narrow escape," he nodded, observing Harriet's eyes upon him.

"Indeed she did," agreed Harriet, with a slight shudder.

"No more sleep for me this night," cried Crazy Jane. "It's my opinion that that wild Indian chief put a hoodoo on this rock, as well as on the lake below. I shouldn't be surprised at most anything happening here."

"Yes. Suppose the wall should fall in?" suggested Margery, gazing apprehensively up the side of the granite wall, on which the light from the fire was reflected in arrow-like shafts.

"Will you stop that?" demanded Jane. "Haven't we had trouble enough for one night without your suggesting anything else?"

"You started the subject yourself," reminded Harriet.

"Who would like a bite to eat with her coffee?" interrupted the guardian. "Tommy, would you like to have a biscuit?"

"Oh, no, thank you."

"I would," declared Margery.

"Yeth. Buthter ith never that.i.thfied. Thhe is always hungry," taunted Tommy.

"And you've got over your scare," added Jane significantly.

The guardian set out some biscuits and lumps of sugar on a piece of paper. The condensed milk was not brought. Everyone with the exception of Harriet and Tommy was possessed of keen appet.i.tes after their trying experiences. Ja.n.u.s, too, ate three biscuits and drank three cups of strong coffee.

"Better have some," he urged, glancing at Harriet, who had refused the coffee.

"I guess Harriet is ill, too," suggested Margery.

"I wish to sleep to-night. I shouldn't sleep a wink were I to drink that black stuff, nor will you."

"You watch us and see," chuckled Margery.

"Tommy, how did you come to get over the edge?" questioned the guardian, now that the little girl had begun to feel better.

"You certainly cannot blame our enemy for this accident," declared Jane.

"I wonder if he did push Tommy over?" Margery's eyes were large as she voiced the question.

"Nonsense!" retorted Harriet Burrell.

"Yes. That's what I say," agreed Miss Elting.

"I suppose she will lay it to me," chuckled the guide.

"Yeth, I ought to," nodded Tommy. "But we agreed not to fight any more, didn't we?"

"We did," he replied very gravely, "and we are not going to, are we?"

Tommy shook her head.

"Not before to-morrow, I gueth. I'm too tired to fight. Did I furnithh you with exthitement enough for one night?"

"Will you listen to her?" laughed Crazy Jane. "Little Tommy Thompson fell off the mountain to furnish us with excitement. Of course we are satisfied. We forgive you for all your tricks, and we don't care how much excitement you furnish if you will only keep your feet on something solid. We came within a little of all going over with you in our fright."

"Ithn't that nithe?" glowed Tommy. She was recovering her spirits. "I thhould have had company."

"That is a very ill-timed remark, Tommy," answered Miss Elting in a severe tone. "I am surprised at your flippancy. I really believe you enjoyed our fright."

"Yeth. Didn't you hear me laugh when I wath down there?"

"I wouldn't say such things if I had made as much trouble as Tommy has," declared Margery.

"Of courthe you wouldn't," agreed Tommy. "You haven't a thenthe of humor."

"Some people have no sense at all," flung back Buster.

"We have forgotten something," interrupted Harriet. "Tommy's blanket is down there somewhere. We ought to have it before going on in the morning. You may keep mine for to-night, if you wish. You are going to sit up the rest of the night, are you not, Mr. Grubb?"

"Yes. I'll take no more chances with this party on Sokoki Leap. I'll keep the fire going the rest of the night, too. Fix your blankets so your feet will be toward the fire. The Indians would say, 'Indian keep him head cool, feet warm.'"

"We have done better than that this evening," answered Jane laughingly.

"We managed to keep our head and feet warm at the same time."

"I should say we have," mused Harriet. "But what about the blanket?

We do not wish to lose it."

"I'll go down and get it in the morning," said Ja.n.u.s. "You needn't wait breakfast for me; I'll have something to eat before leaving. But do be careful. I don't want to have the little one falling down the rocks and landing on my head when I get there. Better turn in as soon as possible, young ladies. We have a mighty hard trail ahead of us in the morning, and some more slippery granite to climb. Another thing, you'd better put another belt on Miss Thompson. You'll find some leather and a buckle in my kit. There's sewing material there also."

"How far shall we have to climb?" asked Hazel.

"'Bout a thousand feet, as a bird flies," Ja.n.u.s answered, with a careless gesture.

"Ob, thave me!" wailed Tommy desperately. "I can't thtand any more."

"Why, Tommy, we've hardly begun yet," Harriet retorted smilingly.

"Maybe _you_ haven't, but thome of uth have about finithed," a.s.serted the little, lisping girl.

"For once, Tommy and I agree," groaned Margery.

Not long after the girls turned in for the second time that night.

Daybreak would soon send its gray light into their camp on Sokoki Leap.