"All right. Where's the lantern?" demanded Janus.

"It went down with the bridge," Harriet informed him. "We have another, a smaller one, but I hardly think it will be of much use for our purpose. I'll tell you what. Why not use some of the dry pitch pine roots that you gathered?" suggested Harriet. "They are ready to burn and will make excellent torches. We have plenty of kindling wood without them."

"An excellent idea," approved the guardian.

Janus glanced at Jim and nodded. "I told you so," chuckled the guide. "I knew she could suggest something."

Janus gathered up some roots, whittling one end of each stick into a sunflower-like bunch of shavings. These ends he lighted, whereat the torches flared up into flickering, smoking flames. The guide led the way, followed by the entire Meadow-Brook party, Margery Brown having become so interested as to forget her troubles for the moment, though the lump on her head was still large and painful.

Just before reaching the trees where the horses had been tied, Miss Elting suggested that all save the guide and Harriet stop where they were.

"If so many of us go forward we shall not only be likely to miss any clues there are, but perhaps destroy them altogether. I have an idea that we are going to find something that will enlighten us," she added.

"That's good, common sense," agreed the guide, nodding his approval.

"Is there anything you wish us to do, Mr. Grubb?" asked Miss Elting.

"Little Brownie is the pilot," replied Janus jocularly, waving a hand in Harriet Burrell's direction. "Whatever she suggests, we will do. We can't do any better than to follow her lead."

Harriet's cheeks flushed. She had taken a torch and began slowly to circle the trees to which the horses had been tied upon arriving at the camp site. At first her circle was a wide one, Janus following her example by beginning well out beyond the trees. Harriet's smoking torch was held close to the ground, sweeping from side to side, the torch bearer assuming a crouching position with head well lowered, body bent almost double.

"Look out!" shouted Tommy, as Harriet came abreast of her party.

"Wha—at?" Harriet straightened up sharply. "What is it!"

"You will burn your nothe, if you don't look out."

"Oh, Tommy!" Harriet laughed merrily. "Is that all?"

"I was thinking the same thing," chuckled the guide. "Wish I could bend over like that. But don't bother us, little one. This is our busy night, and right serious business it is, too." The laughter disappeared from his face and Janus bent low to his task.

The others of the party had either seated themselves on the ground or leaned against trees. They chatted while the guide and Harriet Burrell sought for the true trail, but it was not very encouraging work.

The two torches flickered and smoked weirdly, now and then becoming mere glows like distant lamps in a fog, as the bearer slipped behind a tree or was masked by an intervening growth of bushes whose foliage was very thick and dense.

"Oh, Mr. Grubb, who of our party has brass-headed tacks in his boot heels?" called Harriet.

"I have. Why?"

"I found a heel mark that gave me that impression," answered Harriet laughingly.

"Well, I swum!"

"It was a guess about their being brass-headed, though," she admitted.

"You would have made a prize sheriff, Little Brownie," declared the guide, gazing at her admiringly. "If I'd had you to nose the trail when I was after Red Tacy and Charlie Valdes it wouldn't have taken me a matter of two months to get them."

"Who are they?"

"A couple of outlaws who turned things upside down in these hills some years ago. But I got them both. They are serving terms up at Concord now. Find anything?"

"No, sir."

The circles were steadily narrowing, though the man and the girl were working slowly and deliberately, really covering the ground by inches, so thorough was their search for clues of the supposed night visitors. No spot of the size of a hand escaped the keen scrutiny of one or the other of them. They could not have answered had they been asked what particular thing they had hoped to find, but in some vague way each felt that a clue to the mystery would be turned up as a result of their search. If a person had stolen into camp under cover of the night, wounding and stampeding the horses, it was probable that footprints or other evidences of his presence had been left behind, a tell-tale clue to the recent visitor. As yet, not a single trace had been found by the searchers. They continued with their work until they finally brought up facing each other in front of the trees to which the broken ends of the halters were still tied.

Harriet glanced up into the perplexed face of the guide and laughed. Janus gave back a glum look and muttered, "I swum!"

"Have you two sleuths finished your work?" called Crazy Jane.

"It certainly looks as though we had," replied Harriet. "What do you think, Mr. Grubb?"

"I reckon we're beaten."

"Yes. We haven't found a clue of any consequence. Perhaps we have imagined too much, but I do not think so."

"Give me a torch; it's my turn now. Let's see what Crazy Jane can find," said Jane McCarthy. "My grandfather was the champion shamrock hunter of the Emerald Isle, and my Dad says I'm a pocket edition of my grandfather. Just watch me while I show you a few things."

Harriet handed her torch to Jane, and, walking over, sat down by Miss Elting.

"Did you really fail for once, Harriet?" questioned the guardian in a teasing voice. She understood Harriet's peculiarities, knowing that the girl was not given to talking when there was real or fancied reason why she should not.

"I should say I did; that is, I did not discover anything that I could feel certain about. But some one has been here. There was just one footprint in a bit of soft dirt, but some one had most provokingly stepped on it, nearly obliterating it. From what I could make out of the original footprint it wasn't made by any of our party. That is all I found, but enough to verify our suspicions. Where is Jane going?"

Jane McCarthy was moving away from camp, apparently following the trail made by the party when they came up from the river to make camp among the trees.

"That's a good idea, too," she added approvingly, instantly catching the significance of Jane's action. "I never thought of trying it."

"I don't know just what you mean, but anything not thought of by you I shouldn't consider worth bothering about." Miss Elting laughed softly, patting the brown head beside her. "There! She is returning, and empty-handed like yourself, I'll warrant."

"Do not be too certain of that. On the contrary, Jane has discovered something."

"Why do you think that?"

"I can tell by the swing of her shoulders. Miss Elting, Crazy Jane has beaten us all; you see if she hasn't. Hoo-e-e-e!"

"Jane! Oh, Jane! Did you find something?" cried Tommy, in a shrill, high-pitched voice that Margery declared might have been heard a mile away. "What did you find?"

"Did I find thomething?" mimicked Jane. "Does Crazy Jane McCarthy ever fail to get what she goes after? Yes, I did find something; something, too, that will make you girls open your eyes. And you too, Mr. Grubb! Sh-h-! Not a word," she warned dramatically. "Come over by the campfire, where we can see, and I'll show you all——"

"Thomething," finished Tommy Thompson.

"Yes, 'thomething,'" answered Jane with a nod, then hurried toward the camp. Her companions raced after her, Janus Grubb bringing up the rear in long strides, the fingers of one hand clutched in his abundant whiskers. Jim stood gazing after them, his underjaw drooping. Jim hadn't yet quite come to an understanding of this most unusual company. He stood there wondering until the girls had passed out of his sight, after which the driver, with hands thrust deep in his pockets, walked slowly campward, trying to make up his mind what had happened.



CHAPTER IX

SCALING THE HIGH CLIFFS

"Sit down, darlin's," commanded Jane, after the eager girls had reached their campfire. "Sit down and make yourselves comfortable."

"For goodness' sake, tell us!" exclaimed Margery. "Can't you see we are all just perishing with curiosity?"

"Yeth. I'm motht thuffocated from holding my breath," declared Tommy. "But Buthter ith thuffocated hecauthe she ith tho fat. Don't you think it ith awful to be tho fat, Mr. Januth?" She gazed, in apparent unblinking innocence, at the solemn-faced guide, who answered with twinkling eyes.

"I dunno, Miss. I never was fat. Never had time to eat enough to make me fat."

"That ith too bad," answered Tommy sympathetically.

"Come, come, Jane, don't keep us in suspense. What did you find, or didn't you find anything at all?" urged Miss Elting.

"Don't worry. I made a find, but you never could guess, if you lived a thousand years, what I found. I couldn't have guessed it either. Nor could Harriet, as sharp as she is. Now, listen, darlin's. I found—I found—oh, if you knew how funny you all look! I found an old pair of specs—spectacles. I fooled you that time, didn't I?" she chuckled, hugging herself delightedly. "You thought it was something wonderful."

"Oh, fudge!" said Margery disgustedly. "I might have known you weren't in earnest."

"I call that real mean of you, Jane," pouted Hazel Holland.

Miss Elting laughed tolerantly, nodding at Harriet as though to say, "I told you so." But Harriet's gaze was fixed on Crazy Jane's face. Harriet knew very well that there was something more to be said; that Jane really had made an important discovery, and that, after having teased her companions to her satisfaction, she would tell them the rest of the story.

"Spectacles were made to assist people in seeing. Suppose you let us see, Jane," suggested Harriet.

"Now, now, Bright Eyes, don't be hasty," chided Jane. "Do you really wish to see?"

Harriet yawned as though completely indifferent.

"I am not so curious over your discovery that I cannot wait until morning to hear about it. I'm sleepy and I am going to bed, provided I can find one," she replied, rising and stretching herself indolently. "Good night, Jane."

"Wait!" Jane knew that Harriet meant exactly what she said. She knew that it was time to stop trifling and to explain. "If you must see them, here they are." She drew the "specs" from a pocket in her skirt, holding them at arm's-length suspended from a string that the wearer had fastened to them to keep the glasses over his eyes.

Harriet and Miss Elting uttered an "Oh!"

"I thought you would say something when you saw them," chuckled Jane. Her face was flushed; her eyes sparkled triumphantly.

"Huh! Goggles!" grunted Janus.

"You have guessed it the first time," cried Jane.

"Green goggles! Do you see that, girls?" cried Harriet excitedly.



"They are, indeed," breathed the guardian.

"Well, I swum! Where'd you find them?" questioned the guide, interested, but failing to catch the real significance of Jane McCarthy's discovery.

"Oh-h-h-h!" chorused the Meadow-Brook Girls.

"And I believe they are the very same," declared Harriet, nodding thoughtfully over the goggles, which she had taken from Jane's hand. "You certainly have made a find. I think we are beginning to understand, Miss Elting."

"Yes. Mr. Grubb does not, though."

"Some one dropped them; I understand that well enough. But the spectacles themselves don't tell us who the fellow is by a long shot. I know you ladies have discovered something about the 'specs' and I'd like pretty well to hear what it is."

"You are wrong in one way, Mr. Grubb. These goggles do tell us who dropped them, if our surmises are correct."

"You don't say?"

"Yes. Do you recall the little experience we had on the station platform at Compton on the evening of our arrival?"

"You mean about the fellow who tried to make you believe he was I?"

"Yes. But perhaps you have forgotten our telling you that the man wore goggles?"

"Well, I swum!" Janus stroked his whiskers nervously.

"Yeth. Tho did Harriet. And thhe got wet," observed Tommy flippantly.

"Later on that same evening," continued Miss Elting, "we saw the man again on the porch at the post-office. You remember how you and Harriet hurried down the steps after him. As he stood with his back to the window she had discovered that the goggles were green. These may or may not be the identical goggles, but I believe they are."

"I haven't the least doubt of it," interjected Harriet. "These have a white cord on them, as you can see. So did those worn by the man that night."

"I saw the fellow you mean," interposed Jim. "I wondered who he was. I was at the station to see if your party had come in. This fellow was keeping out of sight a good deal, but I plainly saw the specs on him. Then I didn't see him any more. He must have hit the trail up the mountain."

"Well, I swum!" repeated Janus.

"I think you ought to compel the authorities to do something when you get back to Compton," said the guardian. "I believe this man of the goggles is determined to wreak vengeance on us, and for some reason that we know nothing about."

"I have it!" cried Harriet excitedly. "Now I know who that man who called on you reminded me of. Collins was the man of the green goggles. Oh, why didn't I think of it before?"

"But Mr. Collins wore a beard; the other man did not," objected Miss Elting.

"I can't help it. They were one and the same. Does that help you any, Mr. Grubb?"

The guide shook his head.

"Tell them all about it when you get back, Jim. The sheriff'll run the fellow down. I shouldn't be surprised if the sheriff came out here. You tell him where we are going. You better get started now. No need to wait till morning. You young ladies turn in. I shall keep watch during the rest of the night. I take no more chances. It is time for something to be done, rather than to wait till it's too late."

"I agree with you," answered the guardian, emphasizing her conclusion with an emphatic nod. "Now, girls, go to bed, as Mr. Grubb suggests. I shall be with you in a few moments We must get as early a start as possible."

"Yes, the trouble begins in the morning," agreed Janus. "But I reckon the young ladies are good for it. They are pretty well seasoned, but they will find themselves thoroughly fagged before to-morrow night."

It was not long afterward that the girls were sound asleep, not to be awakened until an hour after daylight. When they emerged from their torn tent they were greeted by the welcome odors of breakfast, which the guide now had ready to serve. After breakfast began the hard climb up the mountain, but the Meadow-Brook Girls approached it joyously. It was worth while because they were accomplishing something. Packs were made ready immediately after breakfast. Fairly staggering under their burdens, the party set out up a very fair pack trail, a short cut to the Shelter, part way up the side of Mount Chocorua.

The Shelter was reached about the middle of the forenoon. The girls dropped their burdens and threw themselves down, breathing hard, with flushed faces and bright eyes. Even Margery seemed to be taking a real interest in life, though she had complained a little of the bump on her head, which was even more tender than it had been the previous night after she had been hit by the tent pole.

"No time to waste. You young ladies get the luncheon ready while I am fixing the packs," called the guide. "We must reach the Sokoki Leap before night, or we shan't have a good place to sleep. I am going to leave a good part of the equipment here. We will pick it up on our way down to-morrow afternoon."

The girls dragged themselves to their feet and began preparing the light luncheon that they had decided upon. It would not be wise to eat a heavy meal now, with the work of the afternoon before them. In the meantime Mr. Grubb assorted their belongings into neat packs. They were bacon, rice and flour, coffee and a little corn meal, together with seasonings and butter, with a small bag of sugar and a can of condensed milk. One tin plate apiece and "one to grow on," a spoon, a knife and a fork for each member of the party, one frying-pan, a coffee pot and a tin cup apiece, made up the bulk of their equipment. In addition to this a belt-hatchet was worn by each member of the party, the guide carrying long, slender but strong ropes that would be needed if difficult climbs were attempted. Janus ceased his labors long enough to drink a cup of coffee and eat some biscuit. He told the girls to leave out enough bacon for the entire party for two meals, figuring for three thin slices apiece to the meal. Margery demurred at being limited to three thin slices of bacon. She declared she should perish of hunger.

After luncheon the girls repaired to the hut to make ready for their climb.

"Now, girls," began Miss Elting, "before starting I wish to caution you that you must obey the guide. He understands mountain-climbing. I have done a little climbing but not enough to qualify as an expert. And, remember, no pranks while we are climbing; a single slip might result seriously for all of us. Which way do we go, Mr. Grubb?"

"Around back of the Shelter. There is an easy trail leading up to the top, but that isn't the way you want to go. You want to climb. You shall. Have you your belts on?" He glanced over the girls critically. "All right," he added, "follow me."

Janus led the way around a rear corner of the Shelter, after having labeled and stowed their packs in the hut. He said they would be perfectly safe there, that no one would disturb them. But the girls were rather amazed when, instead of beginning to climb up, the guide started down a sharp incline, calling to his charges to follow.

"Thith ithn't up," cried Tommy.

"We have to go through this gully first of all, then we begin going up," he explained.

The couloir proved to be something of a hard proposition right at the beginning. Jagged rocks, sudden narrow miniature gullies, bushes with sharp thorns, slippery, treacherous shale, made the descent a trying one. Once Margery lost her footing on one of these shale shelfs. She fell flat on her back and slid screaming a full twenty yards, shooting out on a grassy slope little the worse for her slide, except that she had been badly frightened.

Tommy was delighted.

"Wouldn't Buthter make a fine toboggan?" she laughed.

Reaching the bottom of the gully, a long, narrow crevasse in the mountain, they began the real ascent. Up and up they went, now and then lying against a rock, to which they clung, out of breath from their exertions, their faces flushed and warm. Far above them Janus pointed out a little projection of rock that seemed no larger than a human hand.

"That," said the guide, "is where we camp to-night,"

"Thave me!" wailed Tommy.

"Keep going. We must reach the Sokoki Leap before dark," urged Janus. And far up there on the mountainside the Meadow-Brook Girls fixed their gaze on the bit of rock that was to be their sleeping place, and where they were to spend a night more full of interest than they dreamed.



CHAPTER X

A SLIPPERY CLIMB

For a few moments after the guide's ultimatum they plodded patiently along. No one noticed that the sky was cloudy until a shower of cold raindrops smote them in the face. Tommy and Margery cried out in alarm.

"Climb!" shouted the guide. "You've got to keep going. It isn't going to rain much. Just that one little cloud overhead."

But the cloud, though small, held a deluge of water which was poured directly down into the faces and over the heads of the Meadow-Brook Girls, drenching them. Furthermore, the water made the rocks so slippery that it became difficult for one to take a safe hold with either hands or feet. Progress became more slow, the ascent more difficult.

Janus proved himself a master in the art of climbing. The girls met with only one really dangerous situation during that afternoon's climb. That was when they came to a place where there were steep slabs of granite with no hand-holds. Over them the girls were obliged to pass with scarcely a foothold, what there were of these being almost too far apart for them to reach. The life line here came into use for the first time. The guide crawled over the rocks, taking one end of the line with him; then the girls, one by one, crept after him, clinging to the line, every step being made with extreme caution, for a slip would have meant a drop of about thirty feet and a landing on sharp, jagged rocks. It would not have been a long fall, but the landing was another matter.

Then, at the end, there was another difficulty. Here they had to work their way around a corner. Only one could move at a time, the others holding on tightly until she had reached a place where she, in turn, could brace herself while the next one moved up; and so on until all had passed the bulging rock that had seemed to bar their passage absolutely.

"Fine!" approved the guide. "You did it like veteran climbers."

"Where ith the camp?" wailed Tommy. "I can't go another thtep. I'm finithed."

"Rest a few moments," directed the guide.

"The shower is ended," announced Miss Elting.

"Let it rain some more," declared Jane McCarthy sturdily. "We can't get any wetter and the rain will help to cool us off. It doesn't seem to be far to the camping place."

"It isn't far in a straight line. We have to take a zig-zag course, you see," said the guide.

Janus waved his hand as a signal for them to start. Once more they took up the weary climb, crawling from rock to rock, slowly getting higher and higher, but at no time in danger of a long fall. The experience of a really perilous climb lay ahead of them for another day.

Twilight was just settling over the upper reaches of the mountain when they halted for the final climb to their night's camping place. In the ravines darkness already had fallen.

"You will all wait here while I crawl around and get to the shelf. I think some of you may have to be hauled up," decided the guide. The girls gazed up a sharply sloping slab of granite, fully twenty feet long. It followed a diagonal course, the top of it being some rods from the shelf where they were to make camp. But, reaching the top, they would be able to crawl along until they made the shelf, the only level spot between themselves and the very top of Mount Chocorua.

Janus disappeared from view to the left, appearing twenty minutes later at the top of the long, smooth slab. He held a coil of rope in his hands.

"Look out below," he called, sending the coil shooting down the slab of granite. "By taking hold of the rope, and bracing the body at the proper angle, you mountain climbers ought to be able to walk right up. Who is coming first?"

"Let Mith Elting go, tho we can laugh at her," suggested Tommy teasingly. "Thhe won't care if we laugh."

"Do!" giggled Margery.

"I shall be delighted if doing so will furnish you any amusement," answered the guardian calmly; "that is, provided you send Margery next, then Grace, and so on."

Harriet promised to see that the order was followed out as suggested. Miss Elting glanced up the sloping rock, took the line firmly in her hand, then waved a good-bye to the girls. She stepped cautiously to the rock, braced first one foot then the other, and leaned back until her weight was directed in the right way. She then began walking up the rock, hand over hand, with an ease that amazed the Meadow-Brook Girls. Janus reached over and took firm hold of the guardian's arm for the last step to insure her safety.

"I haven't heard any one laugh down there, girls," called the guardian, presenting a smiling face to them. "You next, Margery. I hope you can climb up as easily."

"Why, I didn't think it would be so easy. Of course I can do it. Tommy, you watch me carefully so you'll know how to walk up. It will be your turn next."

"Yeth," observed Tommy, winking solemnly as she caught Crazy Jane's laughing eyes fixed upon her.

Margery took hold of the rope, meanwhile gazing up the slippery slope. Her courage failed her for the moment; then, as the memory of the guardian's easy ascent came to her, she nodded confidently and began the upward climb.

"Lean well back," called Harriet.

"Hold fatht, girlth," cried Tommy. "If Buthter fallth there will be an earthquake. I thouldn't be thurprithed if the whole mountain fell in."

"Keep still, you make me nervous," rebuked Margery irritably. "Isn't it hard enough to climb this skating rink without being bothered by you?"

In her irritation Margery forgot to lean back. She began to lean forward to assist herself, believing perhaps she could make more rapid headway in the latter position, at the same time finding fault with the girls for making fun of her.

"Lean back!" came the warning shout from above and below. But the warning was not heeded in time. Margery Brown's feet slipped. She threw out her hands, though not soon enough to prevent striking her nose against the hard rock with such force that it seemed to the girls that it must have been driven into her face.

"Lean back, Buthter!" shouted Tommy, this time in all seriousness.

Instead of leaning back, Buster slipped back, landing at the foot of the incline a sobbing, screaming heap. Harriet and Jane sprang forward, gathering up the unfortunate girl in their arms. Margery's face was covered with blood. The blood was still streaming from her injured nose.

"Oh, get some water," cried Hazel.

"There is none to be had here," answered Harriet. "Does your nose hurt you much, Margery?"

"Oh, ye—ye—yes," sobbed the girl. "My nose is broken. Oh, what shall I do? What shall I do?"

"Wait!" Harriet tied the end of the rope to the back of Buster's belt. "We will let them pull you up. I think Mr. Grubb will know where to find water up there."

"I don't want to go up," protested Margery.

Jane was now mopping the blood from Margery's swollen face.

"Ithn't it too bad that Buthter ith tho awkward," said Tommy in a sympathetic tone. "I don't think thhe will ever reach the top of the mountain."

"Take her away! Take her away!" screamed Margery.

"Yes. Be off with you," ordered Jane. "You have about as much sympathy as these rocks."

"Is Margery seriously hurt?" called the guardian.

"Yeth. Thhe thkinned her nothe," Tommy informed her. "I gueth thhe will be all right, after thhe hath grown thome new thkin."

"Pull up, please," called Harriet. "Margery, lean forward this time and keep your hands at your sides. That is the way. Mr. Grubb will have you up there in no time. Tommy, I am ashamed of you for making fun of Margery when you knew she was suffering."

"I wathn't. I'm thorry that Buthter thuffered. I know what it ith to thuffer. Lotth of painful thingth have happened to me."

"Indeed they have, and we've all heard about them, too," said Jane sarcastically.

"See how nicely Margery is going up. That is the way we shall send you up, Jane dear," said Harriet, with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

"You will not!" retorted Crazy Jane indignantly. "I'll stay down first, and you know I will. But you're only joking and you know it."

"Hath Buthter broken her nothe?" questioned Tommy.

"I think not," replied Miss Elting. "Come, get started, Tommy. Mr. Grubb will assist you. I shall have to look after Margery's bruised face."

"I don't need any athithtanthe. I gueth I know how to get up there by mythelf. Bethideth, I don't want to thkin my nothe."

"Wait!" commanded Jane threateningly.

"No, I'm going. Look out! I'm coming. Get Buthter out of the way, pleathe."

"She doesn't know whether she is going or coming," was Margery's withering comment.

"Oh, thith ith eathy," declared Tommy. "All you have to do ith to take hold of the rope with both handth, lean back ath if you were looking at a bird flying over your head and—Thave me! oh, thave me!"

Had not Tommy quickly raised her head she might have sustained a fractured skull. Her feet left the rock and beat a positive tattoo in the air. A moment more and she had managed to entangle them in the rope and, powerless to help herself, shrieked and struggled frantically.

"Thave me, thave me! I can't move!" she screamed.

"You can use your voice, so don't worry," jeered Margery, who had forgotten her own misfortune sufficiently to laugh heartily at Tommy's predicament—in fact, they were all laughing. It was not often that anyone got the better of Tommy, and now that she had come to grief, the entire party, not excepting Miss Elting, could not resist teasing her a little.

"Thave me!" Tommy's screams had now become despairing wails.

"Just make believe you're watching a bird fly through the air," was Jane's sarcastic advice. "Lean back and take it easy."

"We will save you, Tommy. Pull her up, Mr. Grubb," urged Harriet, her sympathy overcoming her laughter.

"What, that way?" inquired Janus doubtfully.

"Yes, certainly."

Janus grinned, then began hauling in on the rope with both hands. He did it rapidly. Tommy began to move up the slope, her feet still entangled with the rope. Janus pulled stolidly, paying no attention to the torrent of expostulations that Tommy shrieked at him. Her companions were shouting, cheering and offering aggravating suggestions to the little girl, Margery Brown's voice being heard above the rest. It was the happiest moment she had known since the Meadow-Brook Girls had started out to spend their vacations in the open. Janus was grinning almost from ear to ear. Tommy lay on her back, gazing scowlingly up into the grinning face of the guide. Suddenly her expression changed. A look of cunning appeared in her eyes. Then Tommy Thompson turned the tables on her tantalizers in a way that set the party in a greater uproar. Janus Grubb, too, learned a lesson that he did not soon forget.



CHAPTER XI

THE TRAGEDY OF CHOCORUA

"Pull harder!" screamed Tommy. "I'm getting a ruthh of blood to my head. Pull fatht, Mr. Januth."

This sally was greeted with another shout from the girls. Tommy, having turned her head to one side to glance up the slope, had discovered something. That something was a little nub or projection that protruded from the rock directly in her path. Unless they changed her course she would be scraped over the projection, which the girl well knew would cause her some pain as well as tear her skirt. But it was not of this latter that she was thinking when she called to the guide to hurry. The little, lisping girl had evolved a plan; but, that they might not suspect her of any trickery, she screamed the louder.

In her quick survey of the situation above her she also discovered that the upper end of the rope was tied to a rock, so that the rope could not get away.

"Fathter, fathter!" urged Tommy.

"The little one is planning mischief," declared Jane, gazing narrowly up the slope.

"Yes, I know. Get to one side," replied Harriet laughingly.

"What is it, honey?" whispered Jane.

"Wait! You'll see some fun in a moment. You may trust Tommy to get even every time. There he comes!"

Janus, under Tommy's urging, had leaned well forward. He was grinning even more broadly than before, pulling on the line with all his might, the perspiration dripping from his forehead. All at once Tommy swung in the foot that was free and thrust it straight up the slope. The little projection caught her foot. Tommy stiffened one leg and stopped short with a jolt which shook her slender body. But she didn't care.

"Thave me!" howled the little, lisping girl.

Janus, caught off his balance, did exactly what Harriet Burrell had foreseen he would do. The guide was jerked from his feet, and, throwing out both hands before him to protect himself, went shooting down the incline headfirst.

"Grab the rope!" he shouted, as he pitched over.

In the meantime something was happening to Grace Thompson. No one having grabbed the line, she, too, shot backward head first.

Harriet, fearing that the girl's head would be crushed when she reached the bottom of the slope, sprang forward, and, bracing herself, stooped over with her hands close to the ground. It all happened in a few seconds. Jane had barely time to collect her thoughts when Tommy was caught in Harriet's net. Harriet had caught her by the shoulders and stopped the force of the slide, but in doing so she herself toppled over backward.

Jane uttered a war whoop. Her joyous shout died a sudden death when the oncoming Janus collided with her, bowling Crazy Jane over. She quickly rolled out of the way while the guide continued on over the edge, tumbling down a second incline to the surface of a flat rock about eight feet below.

Tommy got up, gazing about her in mild amazement.

"Did thomebody fall down, Harriet?" she asked.

"No, somebody fell up," jeered Jane.

"Look after Mr. Grubb," cried the guardian; "I fear he is hurt."

Janus pulled himself slowly to a sitting position, and took an inventory to make sure that he was all there and still fastened together. For the moment he was not quite clear as to what really had occurred. When he saw the blue eyes of Tommy Thompson peering over at him, he remembered.

"Oh, that ith too bad, Mr. Januth," she said with a voice full of sympathy. "You thouldn't have let go. I might have broken my prethiouth neck."

"Let go?" roared the guide. "Consarn it, I didn't let go! The rope pulled me over."

"Ithn't that too bad? Did you hurt yourself?"

"No."

Jane was sitting on the rocks, rocking her body back and forth, laughing, trying to keep her voice within reasonable limits.

"Are you all right, Tommy?" called Miss Elting anxiously.

"No, I'm all pulled to pietheth. Tho ith Januth, I'm afraid."

"Oh, girls, what am I going to do with you? Please hurry. It is getting dark, and we must reach the shelf," implored Miss Elting.

The guide scrambled to his feet and began clambering up to Miss Elting and Margery. This time Tommy was directed to sit down, as had Margery. She did so, chuckling to herself, and was quickly hauled to the top. 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, pass 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 thore 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," Janus 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. Janus 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. Janus 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, Janus 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 Janus 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, Janus 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 glassware to polish."

"Nor silver," added Margery.

Janus 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.

"No, Janus is not," answered the guide. "There isn't enough of that frying-pan left to make grit for chickens. Two hundred feet and then the rocks. Well, I swum! You'll go without eating to-morrow, so far as the frying-pan is concerned."

"We ought to do something to Tommy for that," declared Harriet. "What shall it be, girls?"

"Oh, let her alone. Tommy will punish herself if you give her time," averred Margery.

Tommy nodded. "Yeth, leave it to me," she urged. "I can take care of mythelf. Buthter ith right, for once in her life. Leave it to me."

They agreed to do so. Harriet turned to Miss Elting.

"You promised to tell us the legend that belongs to this shelf of rock on which we are encamped. If not too long a story, will you relate it now?"

The girls crept to the fire, about which they sat in a circle with their feet tucked under them in true council-fire style.

"You probably have read," began Miss Elting, "that the Sokokis, a powerful Indian tribe, once held possession of these hills. Chocorua, for whom this mountain is named, was chief of a mighty tribe. The chief, in revenge for the loss of his son, who had been slain by the whites in battle, killed a white settler's wife and child. This white man swore to have the life of the powerful Chocorua. Shouldering his gun, he followed the mountain trails for many days and nights. The chief knew that an avenger was on his trail; his braves knew it. They made every effort to catch the avenging white man, but he was too clever for them. Yet not an Indian was molested. The white man wanted only Chocorua, and Chocorua knew it. The chief fled from place to place, ever pursued by the persistent avenger. Then, at last, the white man found the trail when it was hot. He followed the trail, and one day, when the morning was young, came face to face with the savage chief."

"Do you know where they met, young ladies?" interrupted Janus, who was familiar with the legend.

The girls shook their heads.

"Right here where we are sitting now."

"Grathiouth!" muttered Tommy, glancing about her apprehensively.

"They aren't here now, my dear Tommy," observed Miss Elting smilingly. "The white man pointed his gun at the Indian," she continued, "but the old chieftain never flinched. He sent back a look so full of hatred that the white man almost feared him. The chief, with upraised hands, called down the curses of the Great Spirit on the head of the white man and all his kind. Then Chocorua turned and sped swiftly to the far end of the shelf, near where we got the water for our supper, and, without an instant's hesitation, leaped far out into space."

"Oh!" exclaimed the girls shudderingly.

"The body of the chief dashed from rock to rock, finally dropping into the lake which you saw as we came up. Then a strange thing occurred. The white settlers finally conquered the Indians; then they brought in their stock and began to graze them. But after that every animal that drank from the lake died. It came to be known as the 'Lake of the Poisoned Waters.' The Indians declared this to be the revenge of the Great Spirit."

"How strange!" pondered Harriet.

"A number of scientific men, passing through this section years afterward, unraveled the mystery. They say that the lime formation of the rocks, through which the water seeps into the lake, has poisoned the water. But you cannot make an Indian believe that."

"Ith thith a fairy thtory, or a really-truly thtory?" demanded Tommy.

"It is only a legend, Tommy," was Miss Elting's smiling reply.

"It has been a most interesting story," nodded Harriet. "I love Indian folklore."

"Girls, it is time for you to turn in," reminded Miss Elting.

"I don't like such stories before going to bed," objected Margery. "I know I shall have the nightmare. Oh!"

"We will roll you over if you do," answered Jane. "There's nobody but ourselves to hear you, either, so you may yell all you please, and——"

"No!" protested Tommy. "If Buthter yellth I'll yell, too, and wake up all the retht of you."

"Then you'll be attended to then and there," Jane warned her.

"You let me alone. I will let you know when I get ready for your thervithes. You needn't go on talking about me, either. You make me nervouth, ath Buthter sayth."

Janus began his preparations for the night. These consisted principally in taking each girl's rope and securing it to his own belt, which he had taken off for the purpose of making the ropes fast to it. They watched him with keen interest.

"Just a precaution," he explained. "If any one of you moves in the night I shall know it."

"My grathiouth!" shuddered Tommy, "ithn't it exthiting?" She made a ridiculous face at the guide's broad back.

The girls tried hard not to laugh, but Margery giggled audibly, bringing a frown from the guardian. Tommy, however, declared that she would not roll up in her blanket, that she would fold it over her, so she could get up without disturbing the camp.

"Roll up when you are ready," directed the guide.

Each girl, except Tommy, lay down on her blanket, and, tucking in one edge, proceeded to roll herself up in it Indian-fashion, leaving only her head and face exposed to the air. Tommy sat up, observing them solemnly.

"You look like a lot of mummieth," she declared.

"And we feel like them, darlin'," answered Jane.

The guide now proceeded to wrap the free end of rope about each girl's waist over the blanket, except in Tommy's case. She preferred to have the rope about her waist before rolling up in her blanket, determining in her own mind to slip the loop off after the others had gone to sleep. Fortunately, however, Tommy Thompson's eyes grew heavy and she dropped to sleep ahead of her companions. The guide lay down with his blanket half folded over him without a single worry on his mind, knowing that his charges could not get far away without a pulling on the lines that would awaken him.

But when the pulling on the lines did come, Janus Grubb was not prepared for it, and the camp of the Meadow-Brook Girls was thrown into wild excitement by what followed.



CHAPTER XII

TOMMY FALLS OUT OF BED

The night was far spent, and the air at their altitude was crisp and chill. Below them a fog had settled over the canyons and gullies, blotting the landscape entirely from the sight of any one above the mist line. But, though there was no moon, objects could be made out with reasonable distinctness on Sokoki Leap, where the girls, their guardian and the guide were sleeping more or less soundly. Toward morning, however, Tommy awoke with a start. She twitched and jerked, rolled herself into a ball, straightened out again and twisted and turned, wide awake and nervous. Her rope being long, the guide was not disturbed—at least, not then.

An owl hooted high in a ledge above their camping place. It hooted three times. Tommy rose, throwing off her blanket. She stood shivering in her kimono, for the air had grown chilly, undecided whether to awaken the camp or lie down again. Finally she sank down and rolled over and over in her blanket, this time determined to wrap up so snugly that the cold could not reach her.

Then came the interruption, starting with a scream so terrifying as to awaken every member of the party and to frighten the owl into sudden silence. Shouts were heard from all sides. The girls began struggling to free themselves from their blankets. To do this some of them rolled toward the guide, others from him, according to the way they had rolled themselves in their blankets before going to sleep. Harriet was the first to free herself from the folds of the gray blanket that enveloped her. She leaped to her feet, crying out, "What is the matter now?"

A strange sight met her gaze. Janus was sliding over the shelf, half rolling, half slipping, in a mysterious fashion. At the same time the others of the party were performing strangely, getting up, falling down, as, entangled in their blankets, they staggered dangerously near the edge of the rocky shelf, apparently unmindful of their peril.

"Catch me! Jump on the rope!" yelled the guide.

Harriet's quick eyes, now wide open, caught the significance of the scene. Without an instant's hesitation she sprang toward Janus, fairly hurling herself upon him. One hand grabbed a taut rope that was straining with some heavy weight pulling on it at the other end.

Janus sat up as the girl threw her own weight on the line to assist in holding it until the guide should have recovered himself.

"Oh, what has happened?" cried the guardian.

"Some one is over the edge," answered Harriet almost breathlessly. "Quick! Find out who it is."

"It's Tommy!" screamed Margery Brown.

Miss Elting sprang toward the edge of the shelf.

"Stop!" thundered the guide. "Careful! Don't rush. Take it easy. All the rest of you stay back. You go cautiously to the edge, Miss Elting, and find out just what shape she's in."

Grubb gave his commands in a quick, business-like tone; at the same time he removed his belt and unfastened the girls' ropes.

Margery began to scream again. Jane grasped and shook her.

"Stop that! Tommy's doing enough howling for the whole party," she exclaimed.

Tommy's cries were all-sufficient—heart-rending, in fact. Harriet motioned to Jane to come and assist in holding the rope. Jane responded promptly.

"May I go and help?" questioned Harriet eagerly.

"Yes. It's a good idea. Keep her quiet if you can," urged Miss Elting. "She is likely to saw the rope in two at the rate she is floundering about. I hope her belt is strong enough to hold."

"Oh my stars, what a mess!" groaned Jane McCarthy.

"It's worse than that," answered Janus, but he did not explain just what danger threatened the screaming little girl.

Harriet turned the rope over to her companion and hurried to the edge of the shelf, where she stretched herself on the rock with her head protruding over. What she saw was an object that resembled a great spider suspended from a silken thread. The spider was dangling in the air, with arms and legs working frantically. The poor little spider, in this instance Tommy Thompson, was slowly turning from side to side, clawing frantically at the smooth side of the mountain when her hands got into position where she could touch it. Miss Elting was trying to soothe her. Harriet adopted a different policy.

"Tommy!" she cried sharply.

"Oh, thave me! Thave me!" wailed the little tow-headed girl.

"Do you want to drop clear to the bottom?" demanded Harriet.

"No, oh, no! Thave me! I'll be good. I'll—"

"You'll be down there in a heap if you don't stop struggling. Listen to me! Are you going to stop that screaming and do something for yourself, or are we to let you hang there until to-morrow morning?" continued Harriet.

"Yeth, oh, yeth! I'll be good. I'll do whatever you tell me. But thave me. Pleathe thave me!" sobbed the unhappy little Tommy.

"Stop clawing. Let your body hang limp. Don't make a move, and keep quiet. You confuse us. Remember, if you struggle you are likely to pull us over with you. I am going to get something; then I shall try to pull you up. Hazel and Margery, stay close to Miss Elting. Miss Elting, will you look after them while I go to hunt a stick?"'

"Come over here by me, girls," commanded the guardian in response to the request. "Now, stand perfectly still. Tommy's life may depend upon your doing only what you are told. A Meadow-Brook Girl is a sort of soldier, and a soldier is not a good soldier unless he can take and obey orders."

Hazel was trembling a little, Margery a great deal, but the words of the guardian served to quiet and steady both girls.

Harriet came running toward them, carrying a round stick, a piece from a small sapling that the guide had picked up for firewood. This she cautiously slipped under the rope at the edge of the shelf, prying the rope up a little in order to do so, thus sending Tommy into a fresh outburst of terror when she felt the added movement of the rope.

"Miss Elting, I think you had better manage the stick. You are not likely to lose your presence of mind. Hazel and Margery may help me pull Tommy up. Be sure not to let the rope drag over the sharp edge of the stone, or we may lose her."

Margery indulged in a fresh attack of shivering. Hazel gripped her arm, whispering, "Brace up, dear!"

"Oh, I can—n't," sobbed Margery. "My knees won't hold me up."

"Now, girls," called Harriet cheerily, "take hold of the rope, but be gentle about it. Remember, a sharp jolt might be a serious thing for Tommy. It might jerk Miss Elting over, too, so be very careful. Now, Tommy, we are going to pull you up. Don't reach for the rock. It won't help you any to do so. Just hang limp. Try to imagine that you are a bag of meal and we are pulling you up for the muffins to-morrow morning."

"Oh, I can't laugh," wailed Tommy.

"Then cry, if you wish, but don't make a noise doing it. Shed all the tears you wish to, but let them be silent tears. Now then!"

Harriet stepped back, taking firm hold of the rope. She was near the edge of the shelf, Hazel directly behind her, with Margery still farther back.

"When you are ready, Miss Elting! Let us know when you wish a fresh hold." Harriet was perfectly calm outwardly.

"Ready!"

"All together! One, two, three—pull! Steady; not so violently. This is a small rope, and——"

"Whoa!" interjected the guardian sharply.

"We are taking up the slack back here. Good work for you girls," encouraged the guide.

"What is it? Oh, what is it?" screamed Tommy.

"Stop that noise!" commanded Harriet. "Everything is all right!"

"Ready again," commanded Miss Elting. "One, two, three—pull!"

Tommy came up about a foot this time. Her progress was slow, but it was, at least, sure.

Jane and the guide were acting as anchors, at the same time assisting in pulling on the line, holding down when the pauses came.

After every pull Miss Elting would call a halt while she worked the round stick down over the edge of the rock to keep the rope from being unduly worn. In this way Tommy came up little by little, now and then uttering a sharp scream at some unexpected jolt. Once, when the rope slipped from the round stick, Tommy felt herself slipping into unconsciousness, but pluckily recovered herself. She clenched her fists until the nails almost cut into the flesh of her hands, and all the time she was wondering if the belt that seemed to be cutting her in two would hold or break. Those on the ledge above were wondering much the same thing. They were operating with extreme caution for that very reason.

"You are almost up to us, Tommy," encouraged the guardian. "Be very careful. Make no sudden moves. Don't try to take hold of the edge when we get you level with it. We shall have to pull you over the last two or three feet by taking hold of you. Then we will have something to be thankful for, won't we?"

"Yeth," wailed a weak voice from over the side.

"Ready!"

This time Tommy came up so close that the guardian was able to touch her. Miss Elting leaned over and patted Tommy on the shoulder reassuringly.

"One more long, strong pull and we shall have you within a little way of safety. Girls, are you ready for the last pull?"

Margery was breathing heavily, Hazel, too, was taking short, excited breaths.

"Yes, when you are ready," answered Hazel. "Get ready back there, ready to hold fast after the last pull. Don't give way the fraction of an inch," called Harriet. "This is like things I have read about Alpine climbing, except that I guess they don't pull them up dangling in this fashion."

"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 Janus.

"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 Janus, 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.

Janus 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.

Janus 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 Janus.

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. Janus 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. Janus 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.

"Do you think you can go to sleep?" asked Miss Elting, stooping over the recumbent 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. Janus, 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 thatithfied. 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 appetites after their trying experiences. Janus, 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 Janus. "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," Janus 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," asserted 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. 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 Janus 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 Janus!" 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 Janus. 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 quantity 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. Janus 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, Janus passing 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. Janus halted every little while to point out some interesting feature of the landscape, or to relate some legend of the past associated 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 Janus. "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.

Janus 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 passed 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.



"We rest here," announced Janus, after they had been climbing for an hour without once stopping during that time. It was not a particularly desirable place in which to rest, being located on a steep slope, but the spot was surrounded by bushes, so that, when all came together and sat down, they could see nothing of the rugged mountain scenery about them.

"Better get out some biscuit or something to munch on, for we shan't find a place where we can cook a meal until we get nearly to the top. We'll have to rest hanging on by our eyelids after this," declared Janus.

"No more mountain climbing for me," declared Margery.

"This is nothing," chuckled the guide. "Wait until you climb Mt. Washington."

"Wait until I do!" nodded Margery with emphasis.

"That is to be our next," Miss Elting informed them. "By the time we have finished that I think we shall be seasoned mountain climbers."

"Yeth. And we'll have the habit so badly that we'll be climbing telephone poleth every day when we get home," averred Tommy. "I withh my father could thee me now. He wouldn't thay hith little girl wath lathy, would he?"

Janus got up and walked out where he could look about him. He stood stroking his whiskers reflectively, glancing critically at the rocks above; then along a narrow, barely indicated trail around the side of the mountain. He turned on his heel and returned to where his party lay stretched out on the rocks. There were rents in their clothing, their boots were scratched and cut from contact with sharp points of rocks, and the faces of the Meadow-Brook Girls were red and perspiring.

"I reckon we'll go around another way," decided Janus. "It's too steep here. You'll ruin your clothes. No need of it at all. You will get just as much fun out of the roundabout way as by climbing straight up."

At first the girls protested that they did not wish to take the easier way, but when he assured them it was just as hazardous, they were satisfied.

"This new way we will see some scenery that is scenery, and you'll have a chance to look at it, which you wouldn't have in the straight-up climb. You see, you'd be too busy hanging on. I wanted to show you the 'Slide' anyway," he added.

"What ith the 'Thlide'?" questioned Tommy.

"You will see when you get to it; one of the curiosities of Chocorua, and a lively one. They say the Indians used it when in a hurry to get down the mountain or to escape from their enemies. But, mind you, I don't expect any of you young ladies to follow the example of the Indians. Now, shall we move along?"

Interested in this new proposal, the girls sprang up, eagerly announcing their readiness to push on. Janus led the way to the right, instead of following the perpendicular trail. The former trail led them around a jutting point of rock, then over boulders, irregular slabs and crags, obliging them to pick their way with caution and cling to the life line.

They were now following a sort of spiral; for, though the party seemed to be encircling the mountain, they were rising gradually toward the blue dome of the summit. Here and there a mountain bird, dislodged from its perch, would hurl itself out into space, giving the girls a start, and threatening, for the moment, their equilibrium. But they did much better than the guide had hoped for. Greatly to his relief, he was not obliged to go to the rescue of a Meadow-Brook Girl that day.

About noon, however, Margery Brown got a blister on her right heel, and Hazel turned one of her ankles. This put an end to the mountain climbing for the time being, but not to the hanging-on. The girls perched themselves behind rocks for support while the guardian was dressing the sprain and the blister. Janus went on to look over the trail and pick out the easy places. While they were waiting for Miss Elting to attend to Margery and Hazel, the guide returned with an armful of dry sticks.

"We aren't going to starve even if we can't move on," he cried cheerily. "I promised you that you shouldn't have a warm meal until we reached the summit this evening. I'm going to give you a surprise, though. Now, what will you have?"

"I think I'll have a thirloin thteak," answered Tommy.

"A cup of coffee will help me, I am sure," declared Harriet.

"I would eat the frying-pan handle if I couldn't get anything better," added Jane. "Mountain climbing is something like work, eh?"

Janus bolstered up his dry wood in a crotch formed by a jutting rock, and built a fire where one would scarcely have believed it were possible to do so. He got water from a little spring just above them, and by the time Miss Elting had disposed of her patients for the moment the water for coffee was boiling. But there was no setting of a table. To have put a dish down on that slope would have meant to lose it, and they had too few dishes to be able to afford to lose even one.

The coffee was drunk without milk, though lumps of sugar were produced from each girl's blouse pocket and dropped into her cup with much laughter. They made the best of their circumstances; but when, about the middle of the afternoon, Miss Elting informed the guide that she did not think Hazel's ankle would permit of her going any further that day, there was a flurry in the mountainside camp.

The guide declared that they must go on until a suitable camping place were reached, but how he did not say until he had consulted his whiskers and studied the valleys below. He then gravely announced that he would carry Hazel on his back. She promptly declared that she would not permit it, and Miss Elting agreed with her. Then Janus rose to the occasion by telling them that he would make a litter if one of the young ladies thought she could bear up one end of it. Both Harriet and Jane settled the matter by declaring they could carry the litter with Hazel in it.

Janus made the litter by first laying two ropes on the ground about eighteen inches apart. On these at right angles he tied sticks until the affair resembled a carrier belt on a piece of machinery. A loop with a stick rove into it was arranged at each end and a blanket was thrown over the litter, which was then pronounced ready. None of them ever had seen anything like it. The girls feared the litter would sag so that no one could ride on it without being dragged along the ground. Janus said the advantage in a rope litter was that they could go around a bend with it and not break the side pieces, and, furthermore, that it was soft and had plenty of give. Jane winked at Harriet, Hazel looked troubled, while Tommy's face assumed a wise expression.

"Now for the start," called the guide, taking the front end of the litter, after all was in readiness. "The one who takes the other end had better not carry her pack, but lay it on the litter."

"I prefer to have my pack on my back. I know where it is then," remarked Harriet.

"Now, hadn't we better strap Hazel to the litter?" proposed Jane thoughtfully.

"It is not necessary. There's no danger," declared the guide promptly.

"All right, then," nodded Harriet. "But, Hazel, if you wish my advice, you'll take pains to hold fast."

The leader of the Meadow-Brook Girls lifted the loop over one shoulder, passing it under one arm with the end stick resting slantingly across her back. Janus took up the other end after Miss Elting had carefully helped Hazel upon the litter, which tilted dangerously.

"Be careful not to drop me," begged Hazel. "It's a shame I'm so helpless that I have to be carried, though Mr. Grubb says it isn't far to the camping spot."

"Pick your way carefully, bearers," urged Miss Elting.

"Wait! Let me get ahead of you," begged Tommy, scrambling forward. "I don't like the lookth of that thing." Miss Elting and Jane followed behind the litter, with which Harriet and Janus made good progress, though Hazel had to do some clever balancing in order to keep the affair right side up.

For nearly half an hour the two bearers bore their burden without halting. It proved easier work than Harriet had expected, and perhaps that fact gave her too great assurance. The way was growing steeper and narrower, with sharp fragments of rock on the trail, and below them, alongside, the tops of dwarfed mountain trees.

All at once Harriet stubbed her toe, plunging forward and tilting the litter so that it turned turtle, like a cranky hammock. With a little scream of alarm Hazel Holland pitched out headfirst and took a graceful, curving dive into the top of a tree just below them. The others saw her feet disappear in the foliage, heard a muffled cry for assistance, then silence.



CHAPTER XV

LEAVING THE TRAIL IN A HURRY

Janus was pulled from his feet. He pitched sideways, saving himself by grasping a projection with one hand; then, in his struggles to get up, both feet became entangled in the rope litter, and there he lay kicking and shouting to the girls to go after the unfortunate Hazel.

Jane McCarthy already had got into action. Without an instant's hesitation she clambered down the rocks and made her way to the base of the mountain tree.

"She isn't here," shouted Crazy Jane. "What do you suppose has happened to her?"

"Wait! I'll be right with you," answered Harriet.

"She must be in the tree still," cried Miss Elting. "I hope she isn't hurt."

"If she were not we should hear her." Harriet was down the rocks, reaching the bottom not more than a minute behind Jane McCarthy who was just climbing the tree. It was not possible to see far up into the tree on account of the dense foliage. Harriet waited at the foot while her companion climbed it rapidly.

"I've got her," Jane called down. "She has fainted. What shall I do?"

"Get her down," urged Miss Elting.

"I can't. She is fast."

"Wait! I will be with you at once," called Harriet. "Will some one bring a rope, please?" Tommy, Margery and the guardian were scrambling down the rocks. Janus, having extricated himself from the litter, had picked it up and was on his way down to where Hazel had fallen by another path.

"Consarn the luck!" he grumbled. "Can't go a mile without something breaking loose. Never saw anything like it in all my born days. Anything wrong there?"

"Yes, seriously wrong," answered Miss Elting.

"Please send the guide up here. We can't get her out without assistance," called down Harriet.

"Janus!" The guide stepped briskly at Miss Elting's incisive command. He shinned up the tree without loss of time.

"Well, I swum!" he muttered.

Hazel's injured ankle had caught in a crotch of the tree. She was lying across one of the thick lower limbs of the tree, unconscious and with blood trickling from her face. Harriet was trying to get under her shoulders in order to lift her up somewhat and relieve the strain. Janus crawled up to Jane, who sat beside the unconscious girl.

"Well, I swum!" he exclaimed.

"Do something!" exploded Jane. "Do you want us to tell you what to do?"

"No, Miss; I know."

"Pardon me. I didn't mean to be rude. Only get Hazel out of the tree. She must have help at once. Go down and help Harriet lift her. I'll try to get her foot out of the crotch of the tree when you lift her off the limb. But be careful and don't lose your hold on her."

"If you will come here and support Hazel's shoulders I think I shall be able to do better by lifting her at the waist," suggested Harriet. "I am afraid you had better remain down there, Miss Elting," she called as the guardian made ready to climb the tree; "there isn't room for all of us. Besides, the tree might break. I don't know how strong these limbs really are. You might have one of the girls bring a blanket. There is one on top of the tree, but we can't get it."

Tommy climbed back to the trail, throwing a blanket down. In the meantime, Jane had got down and was supporting Hazel's head and shoulders. Harriet braced herself, back and feet, against the limbs of the tree, both arms about the waist of the imprisoned, unconscious girl. Janus was working cautiously at the captive foot.