The Meadow-Brook Girls in the Hills Part 6

The water was running in little rivulets from Harriet's clothing. But her interest was centered not on herself but on the two men who were standing by the groaning horses, trying to decide what could be done to get the animals out. Miss Elting slipped an arm about Harriet's waist.

"How thankful I am that you are safe," whispered the guardian, kissing Harriet impulsively.

"The water was very cold," s.h.i.+vered Harriet. "I really didn't know what had happened until I went in all over."

"Were you thrown directly through the opening?" questioned the guardian.

"No. I think I fell on a horse first. I rolled off before I could get hold of anything to stop myself. Then----"

"Then you fell in," finished Tommy.

"Yes, I did, and with unpleasant force. Fortunately, the water was deep and the current not very swift. But it was so dark that I couldn't see which way to swim. I found the direction of the sh.o.r.e by swimming across the current; otherwise I might have gone up or down stream, for I could distinguish nothing. I touched bottom just a little way from where I fell in. Had I struck just a little way to the right I think I should have been killed. You girls are fortunate that you didn't fall through the bridge. Was any of you hurt?"

"Yeth, Jane lotht thome thkin from her nothe, but she can grow thome more, and it will thoon be better again." Tommy's reply drew a smile from her companions, but they were all too much disturbed to feel like indulging in merriment. Besides, there were the suffering horses.

"May I make a suggestion?" asked Harriet, releasing herself from Miss Elting's embrace.

"Somebody will have to make one pretty soon," declared Ja.n.u.s, brus.h.i.+ng a sleeve across his forehead. "What is it?"

"I should think that if you were to place the ends of planks under the horses, we might pry them up a little, so that, one by one, you could shove other planks under them. In that way we might get enough planks down to enable the horses to get a foothold."

"Can't be done," answered the driver.

"There will be no harm in trying," urged Harriet.

"It's a good idea," nodded Ja.n.u.s, after having stroked his whiskers reflectively. Ja.n.u.s always consulted his whiskers when in doubt, and among the graying hairs usually found that for which he sought. He was the first to go after a plank. The near horse was the one to feel the support of the plank as the guide worked it under one side of the animal. Ja.n.u.s turned the end of the plank over to Harriet Burrell while he ran for another plank. This was repeated, the driver, after a time, taking part in the operation, until four planks had been worked in under the horse.

"Now, all work together," urged Harriet. "Mr. Grubb, see if you and the driver can't get a couple of planks clear under the horse. If you can get the end of a plank on one of the beams you will have done something really worthwhile."

Miss Elting, Jane, Hazel and Harriet each were a.s.signed to "man" the end of a plank.

"Now, all together! Hee--o--hee!" shouted Ja.n.u.s. A plank slid easily underneath the stomach of the near horse and came to rest on a beam.

"Hooray!" cheered the guide. "That's what comes of having a head on one's shoulders. Young woman, you've got one. Let him down a little.

Here, Jim, you get some planks around under that other horse. We'll have them up, but we may break their legs in the final effort. I don't know. Somebody will have to settle for the damage done here to-night."

"The wagon is broken," Margery informed them.

"Never mind the wagon. It's the horses we must save," answered Miss Elting. "We can't leave them to suffer."

Fifteen minutes of hard labor sufficed to raise the horses a little and to place them in greater comfort. The sharp edges of the beams no longer cut into the flesh, and their breathing was less labored. The party paused to rest from their efforts.

"If we had some rope and pulleys we could get the animals out without much difficulty," reflected Ja.n.u.s. "But how to do it now I don't know.

I swum! I'm dead-beat."

"Can you lift?" questioned Jane.

"Tolerable."

"Then why not pick up first one fore-foot, then another, and place them on the planks. You'll see what the horses will do then."

Ja.n.u.s scratched his head and fingered his beard.

"I swum, Jim!" he grinned, "let's try it."

Each man took hold of a fore-foot of each horse, and, without much difficulty, raised it to the planks before each animal. They were about to go after the other fore-foot when Tommy, who had been standing back at a safe distance, attracted their attention by uttering a little cry.

"Oh, look! it ith growing light," she exclaimed.

"Daylight? Why, it is getting light," cried Margery.

A faint glow was flickering at the end of the bridge, casting rays through the farther portion of the covered structure. The light was of a reddish tinge. At first, not realizing that the night was still young, the Meadow-Brook Girls welcomed that light with shouts of approval. But there was something strange about the glow that caused Miss Elting, Harriet and the men to gaze in open-mouthed wonder.

As they gazed the glow seemed to grow stronger. Then it flamed into a great glare of red.

"Fire! Fire!" yelled Jane McCarthy.

"The bridge is on fire! Run for your lives!" shouted the guide.

"Never mind the horses. Run!"

With one common impulse the girls and their guardian started toward the other end of the bridge, which was not more than twenty feet from them.

Margery uttered a scream of terror. Jane grabbed her by one shoulder, giving her a violent shake.

"Don't make things any worse than they are. Tell when you begin to burn, but don't make us think we are burning till the fire gets to us."

"Go on, girls," cried Harriet. "I'm going back to the other end. We must think about saving our packs and our horses." Unheeding their warning shouts, the girl ran back toward where Ja.n.u.s and the driver were still engaged in trying to lift the horses. Miss Elting had followed Harriet, and the two women now implored Ja.n.u.s to hurry with the rescue of the animals.

"It's no use!" he exclaimed angrily. "We can't do it before the fire gets to us. We are likely to lose our packs, too, unless we let these horses go and attend to them."

"Never mind the packs," said Harriet stubbornly, as she laid a firm hand on one of the guide's arms. "We are going to save these poor animals. Let us keep on trying, and I feel sure we can not fail. Now, think hard. What is the quickest and best thing to be done?"

CHAPTER V

ON THE BURNING BRIDGE

"We'll have to do our own thinking," then said Jane McCarthy, who had come upon the scene at that moment. She glared at the guide and the driver, who stood staring dumbly at Harriet.

"We must save those helpless horses," repeated Harriet, her eyes turning anxiously toward the two patient animals.

"But you girls must not stay here too long," cautioned Miss Elting.

Suddenly Crazy Jane burst forth into a loud hurrah, and, running to the wagon, returned to the driver with a hand-saw. By this time Margery, Tommy and Hazel had come cautiously back to where the horses were.

"Saw the timbers out from under the horses," advised Jane. "It may hurt them to drop into the river, but it's better for them to drown than to be burned alive! Move quickly, now!"

"Ja.n.u.s," muttered the driver, "we're a pair of mutton-heads!"