The Meadow Brook Girls Across Country Part 4

All at once the girl caught sight of a dark object lying on the hay. She ran toward it. It was the huddled form of an old woman, her eyes wide and staring. Harriet feared she was dead. The fire had already crept perilously near to the woman. The flames at one point had communicated with the roof and were eating their way through it. The girls on the other mow now realized that the barn was on fire. A chorus of wails reached Harriet. But she knew her companions were in good hands, that Miss Elting would get them out safely.

Harriet grasped the old woman under the arms and began dragging her toward the edge of the mow.

"I've got her!" she screamed. "Come and help me as soon as you can, Miss Elting. Get the girls down and make them go outside. You will have to hurry. The roof may fall in. Make a rope of the blankets. We shall have to lower her to the ground. She is helpless."

"I'll be with you in a moment," called the calm, confident voice of the guardian. Miss Elting was always to be depended upon in an emergency.

She had gotten the other girls safely down before Harriet had called out to her, thinking that Harriet might need her undivided a.s.sistance in rescuing the woman from her perilous position.

"Outdoors, girls, every one of you," she commanded. "Don't you dare come near the barn! Harriet is rescuing some one from the other mow. I am going to help her. Leave the blankets, but take the packs with you." She gave the protesting Tommy a push toward the door. Hazel grasped Grace by the arm and hurried her out of the barn. Margery needed no a.s.sistance.

She was in as great a hurry to leave the barn as Miss Elting was to have her do so.

The guardian climbed the ladder as rapidly as possible, after having knotted the five blankets into a kind of rope. She tested each knot with her full strength; then being satisfied that the rope would stand a heavy strain, she began climbing the ladder holding one end of the blanket rope. At the top of the ladder the heat was suffocating, the smoke blinding. Harriet was coughing and choking. She was on the verge of collapse, having inhaled a great deal of smoke.

"Will-will it reach?" Miss Elting gasped.

"I think so."

"Ti-ie it under her arms. Go below to catch her if she falls. I'll let her down," promised Harriet.

"Get down yourself as fast as you can," commanded the guardian.

Harriet did not move. She buried her head in her skirt and crouched down close to the edge of the mow in an effort to get some fresh air, but without very great success.

"Now go, please," urged Harriet. "You are strong enough to catch her if the rope breaks. I'm not. I know how to handle it at this end. Hurry, Miss Elting. We haven't a second to lose."

Miss Elting hesitated, glanced quickly at her companion, then started down the ladder. Harriet took a quick turn of the rope about a beam.

Without the least hesitation, she slid the unconscious woman over the edge of the mow feet first. The girl prayed fervently that the rope might hold. It did. Little by little, though as rapidly as she dared, the girl lowered her burden. Sparks were flying all about her. She stood enveloped in a cloud of smoke, but not for an instant did the girl give thought to her own perilous position.

"I've got her," screamed Miss Elting. "Come down. Be quick, oh do be quick."

Harriet's fingers released the rope. She staggered toward the ladder groping blindly for it. Reaching it she sank down choking.

"Can you make it?" called the guardian.

"Yes," was the faint reply. "Get-get her out."

Miss Elting seeing that Harriet was coming down the ladder, hastily dragged the unconscious woman out into the open air. The way seemed endless to the descending girl. About half way down her fingers relaxed.

Harriet fell, landing heavily in a heap on the barn floor. She lay where she had fallen, with the flames crackling overhead as they leaped across the intervening s.p.a.ce and began devouring the mow on the opposite side.

CHAPTER III-A BLESSING AND A THREAT

From end to end of the great hay barn the roof was now wrapped in flames. Now the stacks at the rear began blazing. The entire building was doomed to destruction. In the meantime, Miss Elting, having dragged the woman to a point of safety, was working to revive her. So engrossed was she that, for the moment, all thought of Harriet Burrell escaped her until she was reminded of Harriet by Tommy.

"Where ith Harriet?" piped Tommy.

"Harriet? Oh!" gasped the guardian.

Tommy understood without further explanation and darted toward the barn, with Miss Elting running after her to bring her back. But there was no stopping Tommy when once she had started to carry out a resolve. She ran to the barn on winged feet and plunged into the dense cloud of smoke that issued from the burning barn. The little girl had no idea what she would do when she got there, and perhaps she might have been injured before Miss Elting reached her, had Tommy not fallen accidently over Harriet. The latter was unconscious from the smoke she had inhaled.

Tommy grabbed her by the arms and began dragging her out. The little girl had gotten to the door with her burden as Miss Elting reached the scene.

"Brave Tommy!" cried the guardian. "You shall have a whole string of Camp Girls' beads for this. Let Harriet lie where she is for the present. Place her on her back so the rain may beat in her face. She will be all right in a few moments."

Miss Elting did not know that Harriet had fallen, and that it was not only the smoke but the shock of the fall as well that had overcome her.

"But, thuppothe the barn fallth down!" exclaimed Tommy.

"Yes, you are right. We must get her farther away." Together they carried Harriet out to the place where the old woman lay. When they reached there the old woman was sitting up looking about her in a dazed manner. Shouts and cries off toward the highway told the little company that men were hastening to the scene of the fire.

Harriet became conscious in a short time, but she had frequent coughing spells for some minutes.

"That ith right. Cough up all the thmoke," suggested Tommy wisely.

"You'll feel better after you get the thmoke out of your thythtem. I know, for I thwallowed a lot of thmoke once."

The men ran past the party of women, shouting and gesticulating. There were a dozen of them. Others could be heard approaching the scene of the fire. Harriet, as soon as she was able to talk, and the coughing spells became less frequent, went over to the woman she had rescued. The swarthy complexion, straight black hair, and piercing black eyes of the woman were the same characteristics that Harriet had observed in the man who had fallen from the ladder.

"Do you feel better?" questioned Harriet, smiling a little.

The old woman nodded, her eyes never leaving the face of her questioner for an instant.

"You have this young woman to thank for being alive," Miss Elting informed the old woman, stepping up to her and nodding toward Harriet.

"You saved me, eh?" questioned the stranger, looking searchingly at the girl.

Harriet did not reply, but Miss Elting answered for her.

"You saved Sybarina from fire from the skies?" insisted the woman.

"She means the lightning," suggested Hazel.

"Yes, she did," repeated Miss Elting. "She climbed the ladder to the hay loft and let you down with blankets tied together. Our blankets are there yet."

"Oh, I forgot them," cried Harriet. "How thoughtless of me! Now we shall have nothing to sleep in."

"Never mind the blankets. We have others in the car."

"You saved Sybarina?" repeated the old woman, staggering to her feet.

She had been temporarily paralyzed from the electric bolt, and was as yet barely able to stand on her feet.

"Please don't mention it," urged Harriet, flus.h.i.+ng.

The old woman seized Harriet's hand and gazed deeply into it by the light of the burning barn. As she gazed she swayed her body from side to side with quick, nervous movements.

"Ah! Sybarina sees that which pleases her," crooned the old woman. "She sees a n.o.ble girl whom the fires from the skies cannot frighten. And she sees more. She sees wealth and happiness and a great future for her who fears not the fire from above. Sybarina gives you her blessing."