The Meadow-Brook Girls in the Hills Part 22

But the day ahead of them was not fated to be, in all respects, a time of calm. Tommy Thompson and even her better-poised companions were to have further opportunities for distinguishing themselves.

CHAPTER XIV

GIVING A TOBOGGAN POINTS

A brilliant sun, gilding the peaks of Chocorua and shining in her eyes, awoke Harriet Burrell.

A panorama of sunlit hills, still darkened caverns and gorges, precipitous cliffs and sombre ravines caused the Meadow-Brook Girls to exclaim joyously. Thin, silvery ribbons in the landscape showed where foaming brooks ran. There were short waterfalls, long cascades, bright little lakes and countless valleys of green.

"It's too beautiful to be real!" throbbed Harriet Burrell as she unwound herself from her blanket and started to replenish the fire.

The coffee pot was already on the fire, supported by two stones. It was steaming and sputtering. Then, for the first time, she observed that Ja.n.u.s Grubb was nowhere in sight. Harriet got up and tip-toed softly to the edge of the cliff, where she lay down flat, peering over.

At first she saw nothing of interest; then all at once she caught sight of a moving speck at the foot of the cliff.

"It's Ja.n.u.s!" she exclaimed. "Why, he doesn't look any larger than a chessman. I wonder how much would have been left of Tommy had she fallen down there?"

Harriet shuddered at the thought of her companion's narrow escape--the narrow escape of the entire party, for that matter. Crawling cautiously back, she lay gazing off over the valley. "The poisoned lake" lay in plain view. The girl pondered over the tragedy of which the guide had told them. Such tragedies, such deeds of violence as he had named, should have no place in a peaceful scene such as this, thought Harriet.

"Harriet!" She turned her head to find Miss Elting sitting up with a worried expression on her face.

"For pity's sake, come away from there! My nerves will not stand many more such shocks as we had last night."

"Why, I am not afraid," answered Harriet.

"What are you doing there?"

"Watching Ja.n.u.s. He is down below. You ought to take a peep at him.

He looks so small and so funny."

"Thank you. I am well satisfied to take your word for it. Will you please come away from there?"

"Certainly, if you wish it." Harriet got up promptly and walked back, stepping over her companions, then sitting down beside the guardian.

"You are a brave little girl, Harriet, dear," said Miss Elting softly, patting the brown head affectionately. "But don't you think you are just a little bit foolhardy?"

"I--I hadn't thought about it," answered the girl, flushing. "I do not mean to be."

"I know. You are thoughtless of your own peril. You know we must not let anything happen to any of our party. We want to have other happy summers in the open together; and, were anything serious to occur to any member of our party, that would end it. Neither your parents nor those of the other girls would permit them to go out again in this way.

Will you promise to be more careful in future?"

"I don't like to do that; I am afraid I might not keep my promise,"

admitted Harriet, hanging her head. "But I will promise to do the best I can and not to take any more chances than I have to."

Jane awakened at this juncture and lay blinking at them for a moment, after which she sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"Good morning, Misses Owls. Have you two been croaking there all night?"

"No, Jane, dear, we have not. We have been conversing for the past ten or fifteen minutes. Previous to that time I was peeping over the edge at Mr. Grubb, who is down there looking for Tommy's blanket. Still farther back than that I was sound asleep. Miss Elting has been reading me a lecture. It is your turn now."

Margery sat up at this juncture. She unrolled her blanket, flung it aside, and, going to the wall, sank down against it, resting her still heavy head in her hands.

"What's the matter with you, Margery?" questioned Jane.

"Matter?" complained Buster. "One might as well try to sleep in that boiler factory at Meadow-Brook as in this camp."

"That's so, Little Sunshine; I agree with you. This is a dynamite as well as a boiler factory, with an explosion twice, every day and at least once in the night."

"Dynamite?" piped Tommy. "Where ith it?"

"There, you see! You have awakened every one of us except Hazel,"

complained Jane. "Now, go on talking and you'll waken her, too; then we'll all be awake, and can think about cooking breakfast."

"Jane McCarthy, you can talk more and say less than any person I ever knew," exclaimed Margery petulantly.

"I agree with you, Little Sunshine. I agree with every word you have said this morning, and I'm going to come right over there and kiss you for your sweetness. Isn't she good-natured, and so early in the morning, too?" laughed Jane, her eyes sparkling with mischief.

A shout of laughter greeted Crazy Jane's naive words. The shout awakened Hazel. Margery dropped her hands from her face. Her petulant mouth relaxed into an unwilling smile; then she burst out laughing.

"I thought I'd chase away that sour face," teased Jane.

"I'll look crosser than ever if you don't stop," threatened the stout girl.

One by one the girls went over to the rivulet and washed. There was not much water to be had, but it made up in coldness what it lacked in quant.i.ty and freshened them greatly. Harriet started to prepare the breakfast as soon as she had washed and dried her face and hands. The dishes were set out on the granite shelf, and there, more than two thousand feet in the air, the Meadow-Brook Girls sat down to their morning meal. Ja.n.u.s had not returned by the time they finished, but came in about half an hour later. He had the blanket and the handle of the frying-pan that Tommy had dropped. He said that was all there was left of the frying-pan. He thought the handle might be useful somewhere, so had brought it back with him.

"I suggest that we take the handle home and frame it. We might give it to Tommy as a souvenir," suggested Harriet.

"Never mind. I've thouvenirth enough as it ith. I've got thouvenirth all over my perthon," declared Tommy.

"You may have more before the day is done," chuckled Jane, pointing to the heights that they were to climb that day. Tommy eyed them askance.

She did not fancy what was before her, but with a sigh of resignation went about getting her pack ready for starting. The other girls were now doing the same, Ja.n.u.s pa.s.sing on the packs after they had been made ready. To have a pack come open while climbing a steep mountain would mean the loss of almost everything in that pack. But the danger of this was not so great now as though the luggage were being carried on pack horses.

The start was made in a leisurely manner. Ja.n.u.s halted every little while to point out some interesting feature of the landscape, or to relate some legend of the past a.s.sociated with this or that particular bit of mountain scenery. An hour had been occupied in this easy jogging before they came to the sheer climb that lay before them. This latter was more than a thousand feet, but the guide proposed to take the greater part of the day for it. There was no need for haste, as the journey could be made easily before night.

As one gazed up the jagged side it did not seem possible that anything other than a bird could make the ascent. It looked a sheer wall from where the girls stood, the projections and jutting crags appearing perfectly flat to them. Even Harriet Burrell and Miss Elting were a little dubious.

"Do you think it safe?" questioned the guardian apprehensively.

"No. Mountain climbing is never safe," replied Ja.n.u.s. "It can be done, and easily at that, if that's what you mean. Shall we go ahead or go back, Miss?"

"Ahead, of course," the guardian nodded.

Ja.n.u.s got his line ready, a small but strong and pliant rope. He nodded to his party, glanced up for the most favorable starting point, then began to go up. The Meadow Brook Girls followed in single file.

Miss Elting bringing up the rear. Now the guide pa.s.sed the rope to them as the ascent became more precipitous. Up and up wound the trail.

The climbers kept a firm grip on the life line, for a misstep here would mean a bad tumble, and might take others down also. At times the girls were out of sight of each other, like the ends of a train rounding a sharp curve. The advice of the guide to "look up, never down," was followed by each one. In fact, none dared to look down, fearing to lose her head and grow dizzy.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Up and up wound the trail.]