it was amy’s voice, frantic, terrified, that roused jessie to a more immediate sense of her great peril. her foot had caught in a crotch of a branch as she fell, and by this she hung, head downward, hands clasped desperately about the branch that had stopped her descent. in that position she could neither let herself down nor draw herself up. and she was still a dangerous distance from the ground.
amy had climbed up to her, had taken in the situation in one startled glance. nell, who had been following jessie, clung to a branch, staring down, weak and sick with fright.
“hang on, jess, honey,” begged amy. “we will get you out all right. hold on for just another minute.”
jessie held on desperately while amy tugged at her foot, and nell, mastering her fright, descended slowly. miss alling was calling out advice and commands. a horrible dizziness was engulfing jessie. she felt as though all the blood in her body was pounding in her ears. the sight of the ground so far below set her senses reeling, made her fingers feel like putty.
“are you holding hard?” she heard amy’s voice asking as though from a long distance. “i have your foot loose, jess and nell is waiting below to catch you and let you down easy. can you hold on?”
jessie must have said yes, though she never afterward remembered having done so, for the next moment she felt her foot released, felt herself swing downward, felt nell catch her in one strong young arm and hold her tight against the tree the while nell’s voice urged frantically:
“there, put your foot on that branch—to the right—to the right!”
she felt it at last—something solid under her foot! she clung there, fighting the dizziness that swept over her again, thankful for nell’s supporting arm.
the vertigo lasted for only a moment, and with the help of the girls she managed somehow to make the rest of that descent and reach the ground. there miss alling caught her in her arms and half led, half carried her into the lodge.
phrosy, all whites-of-eyes and sympathy, made her a cup of tea and fussed over her until jessie declared she would begin to think herself an invalid before long, instead of a perfectly healthy outdoor girl who had met with a simple accident.
“if that was simple, i hope i never meet anything complex!” was amy’s comment.
in spite of the dreadful fright and shaking up they had had, the girls insisted upon finishing the work of installing the radio before the boys returned.
“for, after all our boasting, they must never know how near i came to grief,” was jessie’s decision, and in this both amy and nell heartily agreed with her. it was easy to win miss alling and phrosy over to their side, and it was solemnly vowed that absolute silence should be kept concerning the accident.
they worked feverishly after that, hoping to make up for lost time. the dangling aerial wires were attached to the roof of the lodge. amy and nell took charge of this, laying down the law that jessie was to do no more climbing that day. jessie herself adjusted the lead-in wire.
at last all was in readiness and the girls sat down to “listen in” with a pride and pleasure that more than paid them for their exertion.
aunt emma’s interest was also flattering, although she had a few sharp things to say about the inconvenience of using head phones.
they were thoroughly enjoying themselves when the boys came back, declaring that they had had a most delightful hike through the woods. they were really surprised to find the set erected and in working order in such a short time, and very heartily said so. in fact, everything was going splendidly when darry made the announcement that he and the other boys intended to take a short run to gibbonsville.
“but, when?” asked amy, staring at him.
“why, right away. it won’t take long,” returned darry, at which his sister quite pointedly turned her back on him.
“you may all go when you like and stay as long as you please,” she informed him icily.
a few minutes later the girls stood watching darry’s car as it disappeared in a cloud of dust down the road.
“i reckon i know why darry has gone to gibbonsville,” said jessie, slowly. “he has gone to see that girl!”
“you mean that girl who passed the bad five-dollar bill on me?” demanded amy.
“yes.”
“but why should he go to see her?”
“i don’t know. it is certainly a mystery,” answered jessie, and turned away. somehow, she felt that she did not care just then to say more. she went in and set to work to adjust the radio set so that they might listen in with greater ease and clearness. she had found that she could always “lose herself” when working over the radio.
“i think it is mean of the boys to desert us,” said amy, some time later, as she got into her snug-fitting black bathing suit and pulled a rubber cap over her heavy hair. “there! how do i look?” she added, turning slowly around so that jessie and nell might admire the effect.
“stunning. you always do,” answered nell, as she laced up her bathing shoes. “but i am wondering how long that suit will last in the water.”
the girls had felt the lure of the cool waters of the lake as they had not felt it since their arrival. they wanted, as amy said, “to swim and swim and keep on swimming.”
so now they ran down to the dock, debating whether to take out one of the canoes or to swim around near the dock.
“might as well swim close to home,” said nell, as she stood close to the edge of the dock, hands over her head in a diving posture, and regarded her reflection in the water. “then we’ll be on hand to keep a lookout for the boys.”
she leaned a bit too far out over the water and lost her balance. jessie and amy saw her fall forward suddenly and heard her give a little cry that was more of astonishment than fear. then the water closed over her.
the two girls ran forward, laughing, for the water at this point was only four or five feet, and it was impossible for a swimmer like nell to drown in that depth.
what they had not seen was this—that, as she went down, nell struck her head upon the edge of the dock. they saw only that she had not come up.
“she must be swimming under water,” said jessie, not yet seriously alarmed. “run around to the other side of the dock, amy.”
amy obeyed, and still no sign of nell. as she came running back she saw that jessie was already poised for a dive. there was a splash. jessie disappeared, then rose to the surface, shaking the water from her eyes.
“she—must be—under the dock!” she gasped, and disappeared again.
“under the dock!” thought amy, a swift fear at her heart. she had heard of people swimming around and around under a dock, unable to find their way out, drowning because they could not come up for air. but this was such a little dock! almost with the thought she also struck the water.
she came up for air and saw jessie dragging something inert. she caught one glimpse of a white face and turned sick with dread.
together they got nell on the dock.
“she is dead!” sobbed amy, as they worked over her feverishly. “no live person ever looked like that!”
“see that bruise on her forehead?” whispered jessie. “amy, i think, i believe, she was unconscious when she struck the water.”
the bruise was up close to her hair, swollen and turning black. it stood out startlingly in the pallor of her face.
panic-stricken, jessie was about to rush to the lodge for help and some stimulant from the medicine chest when amy called to her.
“she moved! oh, jess, come here quick! there is color in her face.”
jessie returned and sank quickly to her knees, taking nell’s cold, inert hand in both her warm ones.
“nell, nell, open your eyes!” she begged. “tell us you are all right!”
as if that urgent call could not be denied, nell opened weary eyes and looked vaguely about her.
“what is the matter?” she asked faintly, sitting up and putting a hand to her head. “i fell—i can’t remember——”
“don’t try, dear. it is all right now,” said jessie, soothingly, while the happy tears ran down her face.
“just rest and don’t worry,” said amy, surreptitiously wiping the tears from her own eyes. “you did give us a terrible scare, nell.”
a sharp rumble of thunder broke the stillness of the forest, and the girls realized with a shock of surprise that the sun had gone under a cloud and the sky was overcast.
nell struggled slowly to get to her feet, the girls helping her. she was shivering, either with weakness or the sudden chill that had crept into the air. the wind had risen and was sighing ominously through the trees.
they supported nell back toward the lodge, but before they reached the shelter of it the sudden storm increased in fury. the wind rose to a tempest, the lightning flashed vividly, streaking in jagged rents across the sky. there came a crash of thunder that made them shiver with the impact of the noise upon their ears.
“our radio!” cried jessie, suddenly remembering. “we have no lightning arrester. oh, girls, let’s hurry!”
they needed no urging. even nell, alive to the danger from the lightning, momentarily forgot her narrow escape from death.
they dashed into the lodge, pursued by the menacing roar of the elements. they slammed the door shut behind them and turned to confront aunt emma and the shuddering phrosy.
“fo’ de lan’s sakes, ah is glad to see you young ladies back agin. ah sho did t’ink dose storm debbils done carry yo’ off fo’ fair!” after delivering herself of this comment, poor phrosy was sent off into the kitchen by the relentless miss alling, there to suffer in silence.
jessie and amy rushed to the radio set, while nell sank into a chair, covering her eyes with her hand.
“what are you going to do?” asked amy, as jessie produced a pair of scissors.
“cut the in-wire!” she said, and, a moment later, had suited the action to the word. the danger from lightning was past, for that time, at least.
“what is that?” cried nell, starting nervously from her chair.
there came a terrific flash of lightning, a reverberating thunder clap, a crackling as though the forest were on fire, a thud and a slithering sound as of a heavy body striking the roof.
“de end of de world am come, it am fo’ sure!” shrieked phrosy, dashing in upon them, her eyes rolling wildly. “ah’m gwine away f’om here! ain’t nobody gwine stop me! ah’s gwine!”
