Star Girl

by Henry Winterfeld

“No, it won’t do any good,” replied Walter.

  “Then we’ll have to backtrack to the county road after all,” Otto put in with reluctance.

  “We can’t get through the swamp in the dark,” said Walter. He sat down, propped his head on his fists, and watched a spider crawl over his shoe.

  “We have to do something! We can’t sit here forever!” Erna cried out in despair.

  Up here the wind was much stronger than in the forest, and it was considerably cooler. Bats winged silently around their heads. Two tree trunks were rubbing against each other with an ugly creak, and from somewhere came the eerie shriek of a night owl.

  “Ugh, how hideous!” squeaked Lottie, covering up her ears.

  Mo turned pale. Her eyes grew bigger and bigger. “Are we not going to continue?” she asked nervously.

  “No,” said Konrad, “you have to stay on earth.”

  “But I can’t live on Earth,” Mo said, horrified.

  Walter gave Konrad an angry look. “Dope,” he snarled.

  Konrad was peeved. He had not intended to be mean. Actually he was a goodhearted lad, but, feeling hungry and tired, he was irritable. Again no one spoke.

  “I can hear water,” said Mo.

  “Where?” called Konrad. “I’m dying of thirst.”

  “Down there,” said Mo, and pointed toward the gorge.

  The others heard nothing. But Walter walked to the edge of the rocky platform and listened intently. “I think Mo is right; I can hear it too. Hurrah! It’s the Hollebrook,” he cried out with elation. “Mo must have fantastic ears!”

  “What good is the Hollebrook to us?” asked Otto. “I don’t feel like taking a dip now.”

  “The Easter path crosses the Hollebrook, don’t you see,” Walter explained in an elated tone. “That’s where the wooden footbridge is!”

  Otto jumped up, excited. “I get it!” he said. “All we need to do is follow the Hollebrook to reach the Easter path.”

  “You’ve hit the nail smack on the head, old man,” Walter said in high spirits. His courage was revived.

  “Yippee!” shouted Willy, and, without any further ado, he slid down the steep slope. He went faster and faster until, with a resounding splash, he landed in the middle of the Hollebrook· “Zowie! It’s cold!” came a shout.

  The rest of the children descended with great caution, as they had to help Lottie and Mo. They reached the bottom safely and found Willy lying on a rock completely drenched.

  “Very refreshing,” he said with a sheepish grin. But his teeth were chattering.

  With a grunt Konrad flopped on his belly and greedily drank of the clear mountain water. The others also quenched their thirst. Mo cupped her hand and tasted the water.

  “Do you drink water on Asra too?” Gretel asked.

  “Oh, yes,” said Mo, “except that our water has a sweeter flavor.”

  “I suppose your streams just overflow with soda pop,” said Otto mockingly.

  The cool drink cheered and revived the children, and they looked at Walter full of expectation. Walter stood near the brook looking rather undecided. He first glanced to the right and then to the left, scratching his head all the while.

  “What are you looking for?” Otto asked tensely.

  “I don’t know whether we should go upstream or downstream. The bridge could be up there or down there. If we head the wrong way now, it’s curtains,” he said. “We will make only very slow progress. The whole place is full of boulders.”

  Unperturbed, the waters of the Hollebrook gurgled down the rocky bed. Trunks of fallen trees lay between little waterfalls, which had formed here and there. On both sides towered the steep rock walls of the gorge.

  “It’s pretty dark down here,” Gretel said gloomily.

  “And frightfully cold too,” said Erna. Her skirt was still damp from the swamp.

  “I’m for going downstream,” said Otto. “That way, if we miss the bridge, we’ll at least be on our way home.”

  “No,” said Walter with grim determination.

  “Are we going upstream then?” asked Gretel.

  “No,” said Walter, even more grimly.

  “Then have it your way!” said Konrad, and sat down on a plank lying on top of two small rocks. There was a sharp crack, and he fell over backwards. “Ouch!” he yelled, and angrily hurled the board into the air.

  Walter examined the piece with interest. Suddenly, he picked it up and began to dance a jig.

  “Yippee!” he roared, obviously beside himself.

  The others thought he suddenly had gone stark-raving mad.

  “Jeepers creepers!” cried Gretel, terrified.

  “Upstream! We have to go upstream!” Walter shouted, waving the board triumphantly over his head.

  “How? Why?” the children cried out, dumbfounded.

  “This board!” Walter said excitedly. “It’s from the footbridge, There are nails in it. There are more of them back there; do you see them?”

  “Yes,” said the children, but they could not understand why this made him so happy.

  “Those boards were washed up here with the spring floods,” Walter explained. “Therefore, the bridge must be up there.” He pointed upstream.

  “Why?” asked Konrad. He was a bit slow on the uptake.

  “Have you ever seen boards float upstream?” Walter asked laughingly.

  “I’ve never been here before,” replied Konrad, completely befuddled.

  His stupid answer caused much merriment among the others, and they started happily on their way. But they made slow progress, as they constantly had to climb over big rocks and fallen tree trunks. The rock wall along which they were moving angled steadily toward the Hollebrook until finally they came to a dead end.

  “No room any more,” said Walter. “Well have to cross over.”

  On the other side the rock wall stood farther back from the stream. This time, before wading across, the children remembered to take off their shoes and socks, which made their footing more secure on the slippery stones under water. In order to have their hands free in case they should slip, they made Otto’s jacket into a kind of sack. They put all the shoes and socks into it and hung the whole thing around Otto’s neck. This made him furious, but as it was his own jacket all his complaining proved futile.

  When they waded through the brook, the children skillfully stepped from rock to rock so that only their feet got wet. They reached the other shore without mishap and walked over rock slabs worn smooth by the water. As they came around a corner they stopped dumbfounded. Here the world suddenly seemed to have come to an end. The rock walls on both sides of the stream projected so far that they almost touched. All one could see was a black gap no wider than the width of the hand. Only at the bottom was the opening wider, but there the Hollebrook came shooting out with a deafening roar.

  “That’s the gorge!” Walter shouted.

  “I’ll get through!” Willy shouted without fear.

  At this spot, the brook was making such a noise that the children could only make themselves understood with the greatest difficulty.

  “You couldn’t even jam a pencil through there,” shouted Otto.

  Walter put one leg into the hole where the brook came roaring out and called: “It’s only up to my knee!” Then, to explore farther, he put his head through the gap and looked into the gorge.

  “I think we can make it. If you hug the wall, you can squeeze through. Just two steps and you’re through the gorge!”

  “Wait, let me try,” called Willy. He jumped into the hole, pressed close against the wall, and pushed himself sideways into the gap. The water churned angrily around his legs, but Willy was unperturbed. He disappeared from sight, and a moment later they could hear him call, “Whoopee! The bridge is behind here! Follow me!”

  Walter rubbed his hands with satisfaction. “Never throw in the towel too soon!” he remarked.

  “Willy,” he yelled. “Listen, I’ll hand you Lottie; the water is too deep f
or her!” He picked up Lottie and passed her to Willy. Lottie closed her eyes, plugged her ears with her fingers, and shrieked. But she bravely submitted to everything. Willy took hold of her and skillfully carried her to a rock beside the brook, where he put her down.

  Mo also was too small; the water would have reached to her hips and might have knocked her under. Walter lifted her up, but, although he mustered all his strength, he was unable to get her close to Willy. She was too heavy.

  “Put her on your shoulders!” shouted Gretel.

  Walter tried this, but the gap was so narrow that her knees would not pass through.

  “Make her stand on your shoulders,” Otto yelled.

  But that proved no more successful, as the gap was even narrower at the top.

  “I have an idea,” called Willy. “Walter, hold out your arms!” Walter extended his arms, and Willy reached for them and grasped his hands. “This is a bridge!” he shouted. “Mo can walk on it!”

  “That’s the boy, Willy,” Walter exclaimed admiringly. He bent forward, and with Erna’s and Gretel’s assistance Mo climbed on his back. She stepped on the “bridge” that Willy and Walter had constructed with their arms, and, clinging to the wall, she gingerly pushed herself through the gap. She was not the least bit afraid and called: “This is a lot of fun!”

  Nevertheless, she had to sit on Willy’s head until he could free himself from Walter. Then Willy lifted her off and sat her down next to Lottie.

  “You did that very well,” Mo said with a grateful smile.

  Willy bowed like a clown in a circus. His hat fell into the water and with dizzying speed disappeared in the hole beneath the rock.

  “My hat!” shrieked Willy.

  Walter retrieved it in the nick of time at the other side. He put it on, but when he felt water trickling down his neck, he quickly handed it back to Willy.

  “Now it’s Gretel’s turn! Then Erna’s!” he ordered. “I’ll watch on this side so they won’t get dragged under!”

  Gretel tied up her skirt and pushed through the gorge. The thundering roar and the damp, cold rock walls did not amuse her, but she squeezed through without difficulty.

  Erna did not have to bother about her skirt, still damp from the pot hole into which she had fallen. She too managed without trouble, which filled her with pride.

  Waker followed with ease. Now it was Konrad’s turn. But he did not get very far. “Help! I’m stuck!” he roared.

  He was hopelessly wedged in and unable to move in any direction.

  Nineteen

  Too Many Stars in the Sky

  “Help!” roared Konrad, holding his hand out to Walter. Walter grabbed it and pulled while Otto, standing behind Konrad, put his shoulder against him. But Konrad only got wedged in tighter, and he cried: “I’m suffocating! Let go of me!”

  “Give it all you’ve got!” shouted Walter, and almost tore his arm out.

  “I can’t! I’m too fat!” groaned Konrad.

  Now Walter pressed his shoulders against him while Otto did the pulling until Konrad once more stood helpless at the entrance of the gorge with water roaring up to his knees.

  “Perhaps you can crawl through the hole?” yelled Otto.

  “Into that boiling rapid?” Konrad called out, worried.

  “Why don’t you try?” Otto encouraged him.

  Konrad was fat, but he was no coward, so, with desperate determination, he dove headfirst into the hole where the Hollebrook came roaring out. Immediately the current pushed him downstream, and like a small barrel, he drifted against a boulder. The water splashed over his head, and he shouted: “I’m drowning! I can’t get up!”

  Otto quickly waded up to him and pulled him free. “Try again!” he called.

  “No,” gurgled Konrad, and spouted a quart of water.

  Meanwhile, on the other side of the gorge, Walter and Willy had an idea how to help Konrad.

  “The only way,” Walter suggested, “would be to pull him through with something.”

  “How about my fishline?” shouted Willy with eagerness. He pulled the line out of his pocket.

  “Is it strong enough?” Walter asked skeptically.

  “Boy,” exclaimed Willy, “and how! I can catch the biggest pike on it.”

  “Let’s have it!” said Walter. To make sure, he doubled it. Then he hurried back to the gorge and called: “Hey, Konrad, we’ll pull you through the hole with Willy’s fishline!”

  “I’m no fish,” answered Konrad indignantly.

  “If you don’t want to, you’ll have to go home alone,” shouted Walter.

  “No!” Konrad shouted back in horror. “Throw it to me.”

  Walter let the water carry the free end of the string to Konrad. Konrad picked it up and held onto it with both hands. Then he crouched and waited for the pull.

  Willy, Walter, Gretel, and Erna all took hold of the fishline and began to pull. The line parted, and all four fell backwards into the water. They jumped out and shook themselves. Erna and Gretel shrieked: “Ugh, ugh!” Lottie clapped her hands and squealed with delight. Even Mo could not help laughing.

  “Stop your laughing!” snorted Erna in a rage. “What’s so funny about it?” Her beautiful red hair clung to her face like a wet mop.

  Lottie and Mo were frightened and stopped laughing. Gretel tried to squeeze the water out of her dress like a sponge. Willy met Walter’s angry look with a sheepish smile.

  “Your fishline isn’t worth a hoot,” Walter snarled.

  “Konrad isn’t a pike either,” protested Willy.

  “If only we had a strong rope …” sighed Walter, rubbing his soaked hair. His eyes fell on Mo’s coat. He stumbled over to her and asked: “Mo, do you still need your coat?”

  “Oh, yes,” replied Mo. “Don’t you remember? It belongs to the doll in the museum. I am obliged to bring it home.”

  “Too bad,” said Walter, “because it might have served to help Konrad. We could make a strong rope out of it and save him.”

  At once Mo took off the coat and handed it to Walter. “Please, please,” she begged, “save Konrad! Konrad is a good human. I will tell my father that we had to help him. After all, the doll is just a doll. It is not alive, is it?”

  “No,” said Walter. He was very touched. With great effort he tore the coat and the remaining sleeve into strips and knotted them securely together.

  “Willy, give it a good pull to see if it will hold,” he ordered.

  Willy heaved with all his might, and Walter was pleased. The rope held. He walked up to the gorge and shouted: “Konrad, we have a firm rope, guaranteed to hold!”

  “Let me have it! I’ll hang myself with it!” Konrad called back. He had lost all confidence.

  “You’re a drip,” Gretel called in a fury.

  “Who?” Konrad yelled.

  “You!” answered Gretel.

  “Wait, I’m coming!” roared Konrad in anger, and seized the rope of cloth that Walter had thrown to him. Again, Willy, Walter, Gretel, and Erna heaved, backing up step by step until at last Konrad’s head appeared. He snorted like a seal. Walter let go of the coat and quickly grabbed Konrad by his hair, while the others took him by his hands and arms. Then they happily got him through the hole. Exhausted, Konrad slumped on a rock. He tilted his head from one side to the other to let the water run out of his ears. His rage had cooled off.

  “I’ll show her who’s a drip,” he muttered faintly.

  Gretel laughed tauntingly. “Why don’t you try,” she hissed. “I’ll scratch and bite!”

  Now it was still up to Otto to squeeze through the gorge. He was short and had a hard time of it. The water came almost to his thighs. But he was tough and skillful and worked his way through slowly, but surely. In fact, all would have gone smoothly if the jacket containing the shoes and stockings, which he carried on his back, had not got caught on a sharp ledge. He jerked it in desperation, and the sack burst open, spilling the shoes and stockings into the roaring brook.

  �
��Holy catfish!” howled Otto. “There go all our shoes and stockings.”

  “My sandals! Save my sandals!” cried Gretel.

  Otto vanished, but after a while he returned and announced: “They’re gone! I can’t see them anywhere!”

  The children were terrified. This was an awful catastrophe. Although they were used to going barefoot out-of-doors, they realized only too well that shoes and stockings cost a lot of money.

  “Mommy will scold us terribly!” wailed Gretel. “How can she buy us new ones!”

  Erna was the most upset. “Mother bought my shoes at Wurmbach’s in Pocksburg,” she cried.

  “Anyway, they were much too stylish for you,” remarked Willy, but he was no longer quite his cheerful self.

  “They were not too stylish,” sulked Erna tearfully.

  “We’ll have to proceed barefoot,” Walter said, shaken.

  “On all those pebbles?” said Konrad gruffly. “After all, I’m no fakir!”

  “Did my shoes and stockings drown too?” asked Mo anxiously.

  “I’m afraid so,” confessed Walter.

  Mo was very perturbed. “Now the doll has no coat, no shoes, and no stockings any more,” she said sadly.

  Walter pulled Mo’s red cap out of his pants pocket and put it on her head. “But the doll still has the cap,” he said shyly.

  Otto got a cool reception.

  “Why didn’t you pay more attention?” Gretel jumped at him, speaking with fury.

  “Why didn’t you carry the jacket?” Otto replied hotly.

  “My shoes had rubber soles,” Lottie said, worried.

  All the reproaches were of no use. Meanwhile, it had grown quite dark, and many stars had already appeared in the sky. The children cast a last glance in the direction of the fatal gorge and then moved on. From here, the bridge was no longer distant, but the approach to it was tiresome and painful because of the many big and small rocks.

  Mo, with her small, tender feet, could hardly walk at all on the loose stones. Gretel and Erna had to help her by holding her arms. It was only after they had climbed the slope to the Easter path that they all drew a deep breath of relief.

  “It isn’t as bad here,” observed Walter.

  “Like this it’s very nice,” agreed Mo, finding grass on the path instead of rocks.