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.