Aunt Jane's Nieces
Page 15
CHAPTER XV.
PATSY MEETS WITH AN ACCIDENT.
"Get out of here!" shouted the boy, angrily, as Patsy appeared at thefoot of his stair.
"I won't!" she answered indignantly. "I've come to speak to you aboutthe mare, and you'll just treat me decently or I'll know the reasonwhy!"
But he didn't wait to hear this explanation. He saw her advancing upthe stairs, and fled in his usual hasty manner to the hall and up theladder to the roof.
Patsy stepped back into the garden, vexed at his flight, and the nextinstant she saw him appear, upon the sloping roof and start to rundown the plank.
Even as she looked the boy slipped, fell headlong, and slid swiftlydownward. In a moment he was over the edge, clutching wildly at theplank, which was a foot or more beyond his reach. Headforemost hedove into space, but the clutching hand found something at last--theprojecting hook of an old eaves-trough that had long since beenremoved--and to this he clung fast in spite of the jerk of hisarrested body, which threatened to tear away his grip.
But his plight was desperate, nevertheless. He was dangling in space,the hard pavement thirty feet below him, with no possible way ofpulling himself up to the roof again. And the hook was so small thatthere was no place for his other hand. The only way he could clingto it at all was to grasp his wrist with the free hand as a partialrelief from the strain upon his arm.
"Hold fast!" called Patsy. "I'm coming."
She sprang up the steps, through the boy's room and into the hallway.There she quickly perceived the ladder, and mounted it to the roof.Taking in the situation at a glance she ran with steady steps downthe sloping roof to where the plank lay, and stepped out upon it farenough to see the boy dangling beside her. Then she decided instantlywhat to do.
"Hang on!" she called, and returning to the roof dragged the end ofthe plank to a position directly over the hook. Then she lay flat uponit, an arm on either side of the plank, and reaching down seized oneof the boy's wrists firmly in each hand.
"Now, then," said she, "let go the hook."
"If I do," answered the boy, his white face upturned to hers, "I'lldrag you down with me."
"No you won't. I'm very strong, and I'm sure I can save you. Let go,"she said, imperatively.
"I'm not afraid to die," replied the boy, his voice full ofbitterness. "Take away your hands, and I'll drop."
But Patsy gripped him more firmly than ever.
"Don't be a fool!" she cried. "There's no danger whatever, if you dojust what I tell you."
His eyes met hers in a mute appeal; but suddenly he gained confidence,and resolved to trust her. In any event, he could not cling to thehook much longer.
He released his hold, and swung in mid-air just beneath the plank,where the girl lay holding him by his wrists.
"Now, then," she said, quietly, "when I lift you up, grab the edges ofthe plank."
Patricia's strength was equal to her courage, and under the excitementof that desperate moment she did what few other girls of her sizecould ever have accomplished. She drew the boy up until his eagerhands caught the edges of the plank, and gripped it firmly. Then shereleased him and crept a little back toward the roof.
"Now swing your legs up and you're safe!" she cried.
He tried to obey, but his strength was failing him, and he could do nomore than touch the plank with his toes.
"Once more," called the girl.
This time she caught his feet as they swung upward, and drew his legsaround the plank.
"Can you climb up, now?" she asked, anxiously.
"I'll try," he panted.
The plank upon which this little tragedy was being enacted was in fullview of the small garden where Aunt Jane loved to sit in her chair andenjoy the flowers and the sunshine. She could not see Kenneth's wingat all, but she could see the elevated plank leading from the roof tothe oak tree, and for several days had been puzzled by its appearanceand wondered for what purpose it was there.
Today, as she sat talking with John Merrick and Silas Watson, shesuddenly gave a cry of surprise, and following her eyes the two mensaw Kenneth step out upon the roof, fall, and slide over the edge.For a moment all three remained motionless, seized with fear andconsternation, and then they saw Patsy appear and run down to theplank.
This they watched her move, and saw her lie down upon it.
"She's trying to save him--he must be caught somewhere!" cried thelawyer, and both men started at full speed to reach the spot by theround-about paths through the garden.
Aunt Jane sat still and watched. Suddenly the form of the boy swunginto view beneath the plank, dangling from the girl's outstretchedarms. The woman caught her breath, wondering what would happen next.Patricia drew him up, until he seized the plank with his hands. Thenthe girl crept back a little, and as the boy swung his feet upward shecaught them and twined his legs over the plank.
And now came the supreme struggle. The girl could do little more tohelp him. He must manage to clamber upon the top of the plank himself.
Ordinarily Kenneth might have done this easily; but now his nerveswere all unstrung, and he was half exhausted by the strain of the pastfew minutes. Almost he did it; but not quite. The next effort would beeven weaker. But now Patricia walked out upon the plank and Aunt Janesaw her lean down, grasp the boy's collar and drag him into a positionof safety.
"Bravely done!" she murmured, but even as the sound came from her lipsthe girl upon the bridge seemed in the exertion of the struggle tolose her balance. She threw out her arms, leaned sidewise, and thenfell headlong into the chasm and disappeared from view.
Aunt Jane's agonized scream brought Phibbs running to her side. Ata glance she saw that her mistress had fainted, and looking hastilyaround to discover the cause she observed the boy crawl slowly acrossthe plank, reach the tree, and slide down its trunk to pass out ofview behind the high hedge.
"Drat the boy!" growled the old servant, angrily, "he'll be the deathof Miss Jane, yet."