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.