NIGHT IN THE MOUNTAINS
The sun was nearing the western horizon when at last the two girls
swung from their ponies and entered the log cabin which did indeed
look deserted and desolate standing alone so high on a mountain
surrounded only by stunted pines.
Margaret glanced around fearfully thinking that the wild creature
they had met might have selected this cabin as a safe retreat, but
the place was empty.
“Good,” Virginia exclaimed brightly. “Malcolm has left us plenty to
eat. Here is cold fried rabbit enough for our supper and I certainly
am hungry. There are good beds for us, too. The pine boughs are
fresh under the blankets. You will be surprised to find what
comfortable beds Malcolm can make with boughs. He knows just how to
place them one on another to make a mattress both soft and springy.
Megsy, suppose you get out the sandwiches that we brought and spread
them on this rustic table while I feed the ponies, and too, I’ll
bring some water from a spring just above here.”
Margaret was on the verge of saying that she hoped the spring wasn’t
far away, as she dreaded being left alone even for a moment, but
instead she said: “Very well, Virg, I’m hungry too, and we’ll have a
fine feast when you return.”
Margaret had begged Virginia to permit her to come to the mountains
and so the eastern girl determined to appear brave if she succumbed
in the attempt. She wondered what Babs and the other girls in
boarding school would think if they could see her at that moment,
and the thought so amused her that she almost laughed aloud, when
suddenly, something crashed behind her and with a cry of terror she
whirled about, sure that she would behold the mountain lion crouched
to spring upon her, but instead she saw a small box lying on the
floor beneath the open window. Believing that it had been blown from
the ledge by a breeze that was rising, Margaret, with a sigh of
relief, went to pick it up when she saw, fastened to it, a piece of
yellow wrapping paper on which a message was scrawled in a language
unknown to her. Again she was frightened. What if the rumored outlaw
had reached in and had left that message as some sort of a warning
for the girls.
Tiptoeing to the open window she looked out. Not a sound was to be
heard nor a creature seen and yet there was the message. Where had
it come from?
A moment later Virginia appeared with a pail of water. “We’ll have
to hurry, Megsy,” she said, without looking at her friend, who stood
in the middle of the room, pale and trembling; “that is if we are to
eat our fine feast before the sun sets, and I’d heaps rather eat it
by daylight than by the one lone lantern that Malcolm seems to have
left for us.”
While Virginia talked, Margaret was trying to regain her courage and
to the surprise she heard herself saying quite calmly: “Virg, here
is a message of some sort.”
The western girl took it and exclaimed: “Oh! Malcolm’s writing.”
Then, after glancing it over, she added in a matter-of-fact tone,
“You see he thought one of the cow-boys would be here tonight and so
he has written some directions in the Mexican lingo which we all
understand.”
Margaret was greatly relieved. “Is it anything important?” she
asked.
If Virginia hesitated before replying, it was for so brief a second
that the eastern girl did not notice it. “Not so very,” she replied.
“Malcolm expects to be back early tomorrow morning.”
Then together they sat on the rude bench by the rustic table that
leaned against the wall and if Virginia seemed thoughtful, Margaret
decided that it was because her responsibility was really more than
a girl should assume. Had Margaret known the real character of the
message left by Malcolm, she would have been unable to partake of
the sandwiches and fried rabbit with the zest that she did.
Virginia after a thoughtful few moments began an assumed merry
conversation and then, as soon as the sun was set, she suggested
that they retire early that they need not light the lantern.
“Why?” Margaret asked, on the alert at once. “Do you fear that some
one might see it and find out where we are?”
Virginia’s laugh sounded natural. “A light always attracts bugs and
beetles,” she exclaimed merrily, “and we will sleep better if they
stay away. I do not want to close the one window, since it has only
a wooden blind and we will need the air.”
Margaret did not openly protest, but to herself she thought: “I’ll
never sleep a wink, I know, with that window open, for how easy it
would be for the mountain lion to spring in and eat us up before we
knew it.”
But after a time, the fragrance of pine boughs lulled the tired girl
to sleep, and when Virginia was sure that the slumber was not
feigned, she rose very quietly and tiptoed toward the door.