Chapter XIV: Harriet Is Resourceful

The boys were still removing blue bottles from the wall as they swung on out of sight of the girls in the apple trees. Harriet Burrell was shaking with laughter.

"That ith right. Laugh!" jeered Tommy. "I gueth it ith funny, but I don't thee it. Maybe I'll laugh, to-morrow."

"It is really the most laughable situation I ever heard of," admitted the guardian.

"One side of it, yes," agreed Harriet. "The other side isn't so funny. We must think of getting out of here. All our plans have come to nothing. The boys have passed us. I am afraid we shan't be able to catch up with them again unless we can get a start before long."

The bulls, attracted by the singing, had turned, now facing the road. They regarded the boys menacingly, but the Tramp Club did not see them. Now the animals once more turned toward the trees that held the girls. The beasts resumed their bellowing and pawing and moved up under the trees, tossing their heads, issuing challenge after challenge to the girls to come down. But the challenges were not accepted. Harriet regarded the beasts frowningly. The other girls gazed at them in terror.

"Now, Harriet Burrell, as you wouldn't allow me to call the boys, what do you propose to do? Remain up in a tree all night?" demanded the guardian.

"By no means."

"I don't dare thleep up here," complained Tommy. "What if I thhould fall out?"

"You wouldn't have far to fall," answered Margery.

"Oh, wouldn't it be awful," gasped Hazel, "if we were to fall out of these trees?"

"The animals will go to sleep themselves after dark, I am sure. We shall be able to get away then," replied Harriet wisely.

"I believe you are right. I hadn't thought of that," nodded Miss Elting. "But must we remain in this position all the rest of the day?"

"No, indeed," replied Harriet. "I had hoped that the owner of these animals might come along, but there seems to be no one about. You see, in the autumn, the farmers are seldom abroad in the fields unless they chance to be plowing, so I think we had better move."

"What have you in mind, Harriet? I know you have formed some plan to get us out of this predicament."

"Yes, I have. The plan may not work, but it is worth trying. I wish you would call the beasts to your tree. I can depend upon you. You will not lose your head. You will have to use your own skirt this time, but for goodness' sake, don't lose it. Some one must be presentable when we get to camp."

"See here, Harriet, I positively forbid your taking any further chances. You have had enough narrow escapes to-day as it is."

"There will be no particular danger for me, Miss Elting. You will be in more danger than I shall be when the plan really begins to work. Will you call the bulls over to your tree?"

"Yes. But I warn you I shan't be a party to any more foolishness."

Harriet made no reply. She scanned the orchard about her, finally fixing her eyes upon a tree with low-hanging limbs, situated several rods farther down the orchard and away from the road. The girl nodded, as though in answer to some question she had asked of herself.

"Now I am ready. I have removed my skirt," called the guardian. "What next?"

"Wait a moment." Harriet clambered down the tree a little way, placing herself in a position where she could jump without loss of time. "Now wave your skirt, please."

Miss Elting leaned down from her position in the tree and began swinging her skirt slowly back and forth. The result was immediate and startling. With bellows of rage, three savage bulls with lowered heads charged the blue skirt. It seems that these animals were not particular as to color. Blue was every bit as aggravating as red to them.

Harriet, the instant the beasts began charging, had dropped fearlessly to the ground. The bulls had not observed her.

"Harriet!" screamed Margery.

Harriet gave no heed to the cry of alarm. Instead she ran with all speed farther down the orchard, casting apprehensive glances over her shoulder now and then. A cry of warning from Miss Elting told her that the bulls had turned and were charging her. Harriet gave one quick glance over her shoulder, then leaped for a tree, up which she clambered with agility. She was none too soon, for, by the time she had cleared the trunk, the bulls met at the tree with horns clashing. For a moment they turned their attention to each other and then backed away and looked up at their intended victim.

"Miss Elting!" called the girl.

"Yes?"

"I am going to decoy the bulls as far away from you as possible. When you hear me scream you are all to climb down from the trees and run for the road fence. I'll try to hold the ugly beasts here while you are making the dash. But run for your life. Don't you dare to fall down."

"All of us?" questioned the guardian apprehensively.

"Yes, please."

"But, Harriet--suppose that we do get safely away--how are you going to leave the orchard?"

"I have thought of a way to do it," Harriet assured the guardian. "The danger, now, is in so many of us being here. When I scream the first time you are to run. When you get safely over the fence you are to give me the signal 'hoo-e-e-e-e.' I will know, by that, that you are safe. When I give you a second call, after you are in the highway, try to attract the attention of the bulls. That will be my chance to make a dash for the nearest fence."

"I don't like your plan," objected the guardian. "You are taking too great a risk."

"It is the only way we can get away from here before night," argued Harriet. "Even then, we should find it difficult to escape, for I think the beasts would camp right under these trees. They are determined to get us. I'm going to fool them. Now, call them!"

The guardian did so. The animals did not show any immediate inclination to move. So Miss Elting cautiously got down to the ground. That was all that was necessary. The beasts charged her. The guardian lost no time in scrambling into the tree. In the meantime Harriet had again dropped to the ground and was running at the top of her speed. She was still within easy reach of the voices of her companions, though out of their sight.

"Where are they?" she called.

"Right here," answered the guardian.

"All right. Don't try to keep them there. I am not afraid."

"We have no desire to, I assure you, Harriet. But do be careful."

Harriet was still on the ground. She moved a little farther down through the orchard, getting out where the trees were less thick, so as to be still within sight of the beasts she was hoping to lure away from the trees that held her companions. The bulls did not appear to see her, so Harriet stripped off her own skirt and began waving it at them. It was several moments later when the bulls discovered her and then they started for her without loss of time.

"Run!" screamed Harriet. "Run! Don't make a sound to attract their attention." She adopted her own advice and started down through an aisle of apple trees, her feet scarcely seeming to touch the ground. The girl was flaunting her skirt over her head. She heard bellows of rage off toward the trees in which her companions were perched. The girl halted. A few seconds later she saw the beasts coming. Instead of immediately taking to a tree Harriet began running again, still waving the skirt high above her head.

Harriet heard Tommy give a little scream. It was quickly suppressed. Undoubtedly Miss Elting had sharply rebuked the terrified little girl. Harriet did not pause again. This was her last chance to get the bulls away from the trees that held her companions. Their safety depended upon her doing so. She was determined to succeed, even at the imminent risk of losing her own safety. The animals did not seem to be gaining on her, but all at once they put on a great burst of speed. Harriet darted sideways, then straight ahead again. This time she leaped out into the open, flaunting the skirt, tantalizing the ugly beasts, resorting to every artifice she could think of to take their attention from Miss Elting and the other girls.

Harriet succeeded beyond her expectations. She also succeeded in enraging the beasts far more than she had hoped to do.

Now they were getting too close for safety, so Harriet darted in among the trees, followed by the three savage, bellowing bulls. She grasped the first low-hanging limb that she came to, and swung herself up into a tree. A pair of sharp horns caught the end of the skirt, rending it nearly to the waist. Harriet clung desperately to the skirt. She did not propose to lose it if she could help doing so. Jerking the skirt away she climbed higher and, bracing herself, gazed down triumphantly.

"That's the time I fooled you, didn't I?" she taunted. Leaning forward the girl waved the skirt. She reached down far enough to flaunt the skirt full in the face of the nearest animal. He bellowed his rage and pawed the dirt. She continued to aggravate him. If she could only keep them all there until her companions reached the highway!

"Hoo-e-e-e-e!" sounded the distant, long-drawn call of the Meadow-Brook Girls.

"Oh, they're safe!" cried Harriet joyfully. For a moment she closed her eyes and clung panting to the trunk of the tree. After resting a few moments she cautiously drew on her skirt and fastened it, three pairs of red, evil eyes observing her threateningly. Then she climbed to the topmost branches of the apple tree, hoping to get high enough to obtain a glimpse of her companions.

"I might have known that a tree with such low boughs would not be high enough for that," she muttered. "But I'll call."

Listening she heard the "Hoo-e-e-e!" of Miss Elting again.

"Hoo-e-e-e-e-e-e! Hoo-e-e-e-e!" answered Harriet Burrell.

In response the others began shouting. The bulls did not appear to be interested. One of them lay down.

"My goodness! I do hope they aren't going to stay here the rest of the day," cried Harriet. "I don't know what I shall do in that event."

She now tried Tommy's plan and began pelting the animal that had lain down with apples. It took very little of this sort of treatment to bring the beast to his feet. He leaped up with a bellow and began pawing up the dirt, sending showers of it over his companions.

Harriet chuckled.

"Now, if only Miss Elting will attract their attention. I think I had better try to hide myself and keep quiet." This she did. She could hear the shouts and yells of her companions. They were setting up a great racket off there in the road, doing their utmost to draw the attention of the animals away from Harriet.

After fully five minutes of this one of the bulls walked off with his head in the air. He stood a moment with head still erect, gazing off toward the highway. Suddenly he started on a run. The other two bulls followed him with their gaze for a few moments, then they, too, started away at a moderate trot.

"The plan has worked! It has worked!" cried Harriet in triumph, under her breath. "Oh, I do hope they get far enough away. I must crawl down so as to be ready for my big spring. This is almost equal to a Spanish bull fight, except that I haven't any barbs to stick into them."

The girl crept cautiously to the ground. She stood at the foot of the tree, shielding her body by its trunk, peering around the tree at the running bulls. They were headed straight toward the road fence, traveling more rapidly now.

In order to reach the fence at the side of the field, Harriet would be obliged to go out into the open, where, if the animals turned, she would be sure to be discovered.

A cry from her companions told her that the time for action on her part had arrived. Without an instant's hesitation Harriet Burrell started for a fence which stood to the eastward of her place of refuge. A few moments later she had cleared the orchard and reached the open field. She saw the three bulls pawing the ground by the roadside fence in the distance. Her companions were standing in the middle of the road waving their skirts at the animals, not daring to get close to the fence.

"Run! Run, Harriet!" screamed Miss Elting.

As though they had understood the meaning of the guardian's warning, the bulls wheeled sharply. They saw the fleeing figure of the Meadow-Brook Girl and, leaving Miss Elting and her party, charged straight across the field towards Harriet, while the latter was still some distance from the fence towards which she was running.

"Run! Oh, run!" came the voice of Miss Elting in a terrified wail. "Run!"

Suddenly, Harriet, who had turned to glance over her shoulder to measure the distance between herself and her pursuers, stumbled and plunged headfirst into a little depression in the ground.

A scream rose from her horrified companions.