The Meadow-Brook Girls in the Hills Part 25

"My kingdom for a motor car!" cried Jane.

"Let me help you, Harriet." Harriet attempted to rise, but had to sit down again. Jane slipped an arm about her waist and lifted the girl to her feet. "Hadn't you better not sit down, darlin'?"

"I feel better standing up. Hazel isn't much injured, is she, Miss Elting?"

"I can't find that there is anything very serious. I think she must have b.u.mped her head in falling through the tree. She certainly has not added to the beauty of her face."

Hazel shook her head and essayed a smile.

"Did I fall gracefully?" she asked plaintively.

"Will you listen to her?" laughed Jane. "You did it as gracefully as the lady who dived from the top of a house into a tank full of water at the county fair last year."

"What I can't understand is why Tommy should have missed such an opportunity to distinguish herself," smiled the guardian.

"I thtood athide tho Januth could dithtinguith himthelf," lisped Tommy.

"Well, I swum! I did it, too, didn't I? I'm not fit to guide a plow, but I never found it out till I tried to pilot this outfit over the hills."

"Are thethe the hillth?" questioned Tommy.

"Yes, Miss."

"Then, excuthe me from the mountainth."

"I believe my tumble has cured my sprained ankle," declared Hazel. "I can't feel any pain at all there, except the smart where the skin is broken. Let me put on my boot." Miss Elting slipped it on for her, and a.s.sisted Hazel to her feet. "It is all right," cried the girl.

"Isn't that strange?"

"Yeth. Thome thingth make thome folkth forget thome other thingth,"

observed Tommy sagely. "Have you forgotten your troubleth, Harriet?"

"I think so, Tommy. I will race you up to the trail."

"No; I can't rathe you up a hill, though I can fall down the hill fathter than you can, but I will help you up."

"I'll do all the helping," Ja.n.u.s informed them. "Shall I carry Miss Holland?"

Hazel declared that she could walk and she did, with some a.s.sistance from Miss Elting. The others were able to take care of themselves, though Harriet's side pained her frightfully with every step. She uttered no complaint, pluckily keeping her distress to herself, but the guardian knew by the expression on the girl's face that she was in pain.

Returning to the party a brief conference was held, at which they decided to proceed and make the "Slide" if possible before dark. There was no possibility of getting beyond that, but on the following day it would be necessary to make all haste, for the provisions would not hold out for more than another day, and even then they would have to go on short rations for the last two meals. It was a used-up party that started for the "Slide" that afternoon. Had they but known it, they were destined to be still more weary before they retired that night.

The excitement of the day was not by any means ended. Dusk was upon them before they came out on more level ground and headed for the site chosen for their camp.

CHAPTER XVI

"SUCH A LOVELY SLIDE"

"I believe I am tired out," declared Harriet laughingly. She sat down, then straightened and lay at full length on the ground.

"Thank goodness for a level spot on which to lay one's weary bones!"

sighed Margery, stretching herself beside Harriet. There was moss over the rocks and it felt soft and restful to their aching bodies. Hazel was not far behind the other two girls in lying down. The little company were quite ready to rest.

"Girls, you mustn't lie there without blankets under you," warned the guardian.

"We are not going to lie here, Miss Elting," replied Harriet. "We are going to get up at once and prepare supper for our hungry selves. Oh, but my feet are tired!"

"Mine weigh a ton," declared Margery.

"Yeth, I imagine they do," said Tommy with a knowing nod.

"You can go on resting if you like, Harriet. Jane, Tommy and I can get the supper."

"And Ja.n.u.s," added the guide. "You've done finely, young ladies. I'd like to see any young men go through a hard day as well as you have.

Why, they would have been laid out along the trail from here to Sokoki Leap. We'd have had to send a couple of men with a stretcher to pick some of them up. Let me tell you something. You are trotting Ja.n.u.s Grubb a lively race, and he isn't ashamed to say so. Any one who says girls haven't as much pluck and endurance as boys may have an argument with Ja.n.u.s Grubb at any time."

"Thome girlth," corrected Tommy.

"Yes, some girls. That's what I meant--you girls in particular. It's a pity all girls don't slant in the same direction. Miss Thompson, if you will pick out some stones for the stove I will rustle the wood.

No, not that way. I swum! You'll be down the Slide if I don't watch you."

"The Slide!" exclaimed the girls, turning eagerly to the guide.

"Yes. We're at it now. Where'd you think we were?"

"O, where is it?" questioned Harriet eagerly.

"Come here, I'll show you. Everybody that's able to walk come here, so you'll know where it is, then there won't be any excuse for your walking into it in the dark. There!"

All they could see was a slight depression in the rocks. It was several feet wide, very steep and so smooth that its polished surface reflected the light from the match that the guide lighted.

Harriet tossed a stone over on the smooth surface. They heard it sliding and rattling down, terminating in a faint splash.

"My goodness! Is there water down there?" exclaimed Crazy Jane.

"Yes, a pond or a pool, whatever you wish to call it. I was telling you about the Indians who used to take the Slide here. I know two young fellows who took it just to be smart. One was unhurt but the other had to be fished out of the pool. He was taken with a cramp and almost died before they got him. But this Slide isn't a circ.u.mstance to the one over on Moosilauke. That one is nigh to a thousand feet long. That ends in a lake, too. I'd like to see any fresh young gentleman take _that_ slide."

"Harriet could do it," declared Tommy.

"Harriet is not going to try it, my dear young friend," retorted Harriet laughingly. "She has had quite enough falls to satisfy her.

Besides, she values her life, liberty and happiness."

"How long is this slide, Mr. Grubb?" asked the guardian.

"Over a hundred feet," replied the guide, measuring the distance with his eye.

"Oh, what a lovely thlide!" bubbled Tommy. "How funny it would be to thee Buthter toboggan down that thlide! Wouldn't that be funny, Mith Elting?"