There was an ominous snapping sound; then the rung of the ladder gave
way and the man fell backward to the floor.
"Oh! He has fallen!" gasped Harriet, in dismay, as she scrambled hastily
toward the edge of the mow. "He must be seriously injured."
"What ith that noithe?" demanded Grace.
"Sh-h-h!" warned Harriet softly.
Nothing more was heard from Grace for the time being. She had dropped to
sleep again. Fortunately none of the others had been awakened by the
racket, but Harriet's heart was beating rapidly. She leaned over the
edge of the mow. What the next flash of lightning revealed relieved her
anxiety somewhat. She saw the man get up and rub his back. She saw, too,
that he had fallen on a heap of hay, the latter undoubtedly having saved
him from severe injury. A moment later he limped across the floor and
began climbing up the ladder on the other side of the barn.
"Thank goodness!" muttered Harriet. "I hope no more of them come in here
to-night. I shall scream if they do. I know I shall."
The man threw himself, grumbling, on the hay; silence once more settled
over the barn so far as the occupants were concerned. The thunder was
now growing louder, the lightning flashes became more frequent. Harriet,
however, felt no particular alarm. She was unafraid of thunder storms,
and gave no thought to the fact that barns are more frequently struck by
lightning than are dwelling houses.
By this time her companions had begun to stir restlessly. Miss Elting
sat up.
"Harriet, is that you?" she asked in a low tone.
"Yes."
"What are you doing?"
"Just looking about a little," replied Harriet in a whisper, not deeming
it advisable to alarm the guardian by telling her what she had just
discovered.
"How long has it been storming?" asked the guardian.
"Only a little while. I do not believe it is going to amount to
anything. I hope this old barn doesn't leak."
"No, I do not believe it will. There is too much valuable hay here. The
owner undoubtedly has seen to it that the roof is sound. Are you going
to try to sleep?"
"Yes."
Harriet lay down, but she did not sleep. The memory of the old woman and
the two men over in the other mow, banished all thought of sleep from
her mind. She did not know whether the woman knew the men were there or
not. Perhaps they might belong to the same party. However, there had
been no conversation between them and while the two men were near the
outer edge of the mow, the woman was at the far end of the barn as
nearly as Harriet was able to determine.
Soon after that, rain drops began to patter on the barn roof. Then it
began to rain heavily. Harriet nestled deeper into the blanket and lay
listening. There was no sound from their neighbors on the other side.
At last the listening girl closed her eyes. No sooner had she done so
than she opened them again. A flash of lightning, more brilliant than
any she had yet seen, was playing along the rafters of the barn. The
thunder followed the flash just as Harriet threw an arm over her eyes to
shut out the light. It was not a particularly heavy clap of thunder,
just a quick, sharp report. Above the report a shrill scream of terror
rang out. Then all was silent.
Instantly every one of the Meadow-Brook Girls sat up wide awake.
"What--what is it?" cried Margery.
"Girls! Girls! are you all right?" called the guardian.
"Oh, what ith it? Did the barn fall down?" wailed Tommy in great alarm.
"What has happened?" questioned Hazel Holland excitedly.
Harriet did not speak. She was listening to what the others of her party
had not noticed, a sudden sound of voices in the other mow, and the
hasty clambering down the ladder of the two men she had seen go to the
opposite mow. At least she believed it to be the two men. Evidently they
had become alarmed, either by the lightning, the scream of the woman, or
by the cries of the Meadow-Brook Girls. They ran out of the barn, making
no attempt to go quietly. Once on the outside she heard one of them
shout.
"I heard thome one!" exclaimed Tommy.
"So did I," agreed Hazel.
"I thought I, too, heard some one cry out," said Miss Elting. "Perhaps
it was a night bird fleeing from the storm."
"It was no night bird, Miss Elting," said Harriet in a low tone. "Did
you hear that scream? Some one is in trouble. There is a woman on the
other side of the mow. What shall we do?"
"A woman?"
"Yes, yes. She climbed up to the mow a long time ago. Oh, look, look!"
A tiny red eye had suddenly appeared at the far end of the hay barn. It
appeared to have risen out of the hay at the extreme end of the opposite
mow. The girls gazed at it in silence. They did not understand the
meaning of the strange dull red spot. Even Harriet was for the moment,
puzzled. Then all at once she understood.
"Quick! Get down to the floor! Don't waste a minute! Miss Elting please
look after the girls. There's a rung on the ladder broken. Watch that no
one falls. I'm going."
"Harriet! Harriet! What do you mean?"
"The woman! I must get her. I may want you to help me. If I call you,
come at once. Oh, I must hurry, Miss Elting."
"Thee! That red eye ith getting bigger," cried Tommy.
"It is fire, Miss Elting," whispered Harriet. "The barn is on fire. The
last bolt of lightning must have set fire to the hay. Don't tell the
girls now, but get them down to the barn floor as quickly as possible.
There is going to be an awful fire."
Harriet bounded toward the ladder.
"Harriet! Don't go. I will go," shouted the guardian.
"I know where she is," cried Harriet, swinging herself to the ladder
using care not to lose her footing on the broken rung.
"The broken rung is the fifth one down," she called. Grasping the sides
of the ladder she permitted herself to slide all the way to the bottom,
wholly unconscious of the fact that the skin was being scraped from the
palms of her hands.
Reaching the barn floor the girl dashed across it to the opposite side.
A few precious seconds were lost in groping for the ladder there. She
found it, ran up with the speed of a squirrel, then went stumbling and
falling across the mow toward the red eye that was now growing into a
great red glare.
"Where are you?" she cried, raising her voice to a high pitch.
There was no response from her side. From the other mow came the answer
from Margery, who did not understand: "We're here."
The red eye was now lighting up the far end of the mow so that Harriet
was able to see much more clearly. Little piles of hay formed deceiving
shadows. She ran first to one, then to another, in this way losing
precious seconds.
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 assistance 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 assistance.
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 space and began devouring the mow on the opposite side.