THE TRAGEDY OF CHOCORUA
"Pull harder!" screamed Tommy. "I'm getting a ruthh of blood to my
head. Pull fatht, Mr. Januth."
This sally was greeted with another shout from the girls. Tommy,
having turned her head to one side to glance up the slope, had
discovered something. That something was a little nub or projection
that protruded from the rock directly in her path. Unless they changed
her course she would be scraped over the projection, which the girl
well knew would cause her some pain as well as tear her skirt. But it
was not of this latter that she was thinking when she called to the
guide to hurry. The little, lisping girl had evolved a plan; but, that
they might not suspect her of any trickery, she screamed the louder.
In her quick survey of the situation above her she also discovered that
the upper end of the rope was tied to a rock, so that the rope could
not get away.
"Fathter, fathter!" urged Tommy.
"The little one is planning mischief," declared Jane, gazing narrowly
up the slope.
"Yes, I know. Get to one side," replied Harriet laughingly.
"What is it, honey?" whispered Jane.
"Wait! You'll see some fun in a moment. You may trust Tommy to get
even every time. There he comes!"
Janus, under Tommy's urging, had leaned well forward. He was grinning
even more broadly than before, pulling on the line with all his might,
the perspiration dripping from his forehead. All at once Tommy swung
in the foot that was free and thrust it straight up the slope. The
little projection caught her foot. Tommy stiffened one leg and stopped
short with a jolt which shook her slender body. But she didn't care.
"Thave me!" howled the little, lisping girl.
Janus, caught off his balance, did exactly what Harriet Burrell had
foreseen he would do. The guide was jerked from his feet, and,
throwing out both hands before him to protect himself, went shooting
down the incline headfirst.
"Grab the rope!" he shouted, as he pitched over.
In the meantime something was happening to Grace Thompson. No one
having grabbed the line, she, too, shot backward head first.
Harriet, fearing that the girl's head would be crushed when she reached
the bottom of the slope, sprang forward, and, bracing herself, stooped
over with her hands close to the ground. It all happened in a few
seconds. Jane had barely time to collect her thoughts when Tommy was
caught in Harriet's net. Harriet had caught her by the shoulders and
stopped the force of the slide, but in doing so she herself toppled
over backward.
Jane uttered a war whoop. Her joyous shout died a sudden death when
the oncoming Janus collided with her, bowling Crazy Jane over. She
quickly rolled out of the way while the guide continued on over the
edge, tumbling down a second incline to the surface of a flat rock
about eight feet below.
Tommy got up, gazing about her in mild amazement.
"Did thomebody fall down, Harriet?" she asked.
"No, somebody fell up," jeered Jane.
"Look after Mr. Grubb," cried the guardian; "I fear he is hurt."
Janus pulled himself slowly to a sitting position, and took an
inventory to make sure that he was all there and still fastened
together. For the moment he was not quite clear as to what really had
occurred. When he saw the blue eyes of Tommy Thompson peering over at
him, he remembered.
"Oh, that ith too bad, Mr. Januth," she said with a voice full of
sympathy. "You thouldn't have let go. I might have broken my
prethiouth neck."
"Let go?" roared the guide. "Consarn it, I didn't let go! The rope
pulled me over."
"Ithn't that too bad? Did you hurt yourself?"
"No."
Jane was sitting on the rocks, rocking her body back and forth,
laughing, trying to keep her voice within reasonable limits.
"Are you all right, Tommy?" called Miss Elting anxiously.
"No, I'm all pulled to pietheth. Tho ith Januth, I'm afraid."
"Oh, girls, what am I going to do with you? Please hurry. It is
getting dark, and we must reach the shelf," implored Miss Elting.
The guide scrambled to his feet and began clambering up to Miss Elting
and Margery. This time Tommy was directed to sit down, as had Margery.
She did so, chuckling to herself, and was quickly hauled to the top.
Hazel followed, sitting. Harriet and Jane ran up with the support of
the rope, and in a few moments the entire party was together.
"You must follow me in single file," directed the guide. "It's a
narrow trail to the shelf, so no nonsense. Here, pass the rope along
and keep a tight hold on it, every one of you."
They did as directed. None had any desire to play pranks, now that
they could barely see where they were placing their feet. The guide
led them safely to the shelf rock, a huge slab of granite as level as a
house floor, about thirty feet long and ten feet deep. At the back
towered a solid sheet of granite for a hundred feet or more, while in
front the rocks dropped sheer for almost twice that distance.
The girls shivered a little as they peered over the edge of the slab.
The guide unslung a bundle of sticks that he had gathered somewhere in
the vicinity and threw them down.
"Unload and get ready for grub," he directed. "Here's enough wood for
the supper fire; I'll get some more later on; I know where to look for
it. Better keep away from the edge. There won't be any coming back,
if one of you falls over there."
"Yes, girls. Keep well back. We have had quite enough excitement for
one afternoon's climbing. How do you feel?" inquired Miss Elting.
"Well, Buthter hath a thore nothe," answered Tommy, speaking for her
companion in distress. "I have thkinned thoulderth and theveral
bruitheth. I don't know how Jane and Harriet feel."
"I feel as if I'd been run over by my own motor car," decided Jane
McCarthy.
"My arms and my feet are tired," admitted Harriet. "And, now that we
have discussed our miseries, let's think about supper. We shall all
feel better after a good meal and a rest. Here Margery." Harriet
spread a blanket, which Buster welcomed by promptly crawling over to it
and lying down. "The rock is awfully hard," she complained.
"Never mind, dearie; we'll pour some water on it and soften it for
you," comforted Jane McCarthy.
"Speaking of water, that reminds me: Where are we to get our water for
the coffee?" questioned Harriet.
"There's a spring on the other side of these rocks. There isn't much
water in it, but I reckon there will be enough for us. Never mind.
Don't you get it. Don't you go puttering around where you can't see,"
Janus warned.
A little blaze sprang up from the pile of sticks he had heaped and
fired with a match. The light from the fire soon threw the outer world
into black darkness. They could not make it seem possible that there,
almost within reach of their hands, was a precipice dropping down
nearly two hundred feet. But the thought caused them to keep well to
the rear of the shelf.
The guide gathered the cups, and, with these and the coffee pot, went
to the spring, a mere trickle in the rocks, where he first filled the
coffee pot, then the cups, carrying them back and placing them in a row
against the wall. Harriet put the water over the fire to boil. Miss
Elting sliced the bacon, while Jane prepared some rice for boiling.
The latter occupied considerable time in cooking and was not
particularly palatable. Janus said that in the morning they would cook
enough of it to last for a day or two.
Hazel put the bacon in the frying pan. Each one, except Margery, found
something to do and found joy in the doing despite their aches and
pains, from which not a member of the Meadow-Brook party was free that
evening. The climbing had brought into activity little used muscles,
as the girls had by this time discovered.
The supper was late that evening. Janus had brought the small lantern.
This he secured above their heads by thrusting a stick into a crevice
and suspending the lantern from it, thus shedding a little light
besides that given off by the campfire. The party sat down with their
feet curled under them and thoroughly enjoyed the somewhat slender meal.
"How good everything does taste!" remarked Margery.
Jane averred that Margery's accident had done her good.
"I've been thinking about the accident to our guide," said Miss Elting.
"I don't know yet how it occurred."
"I caught my foot on a nub," Tommy informed her. "That pulled Mr.
Januth down on hith fathe."
"Oh! I see."
Mr. Grubb regarded Tommy suspiciously. Her face wore an innocent
expression, but when Tommy winked solemnly at Harriet, Janus was
enlightened.
"Well, I swum! I swum!" he repeated, "I believe you did that on
purpose."
"Why, Mr. Januth!" protested Tommy.
"Do ye deny it?"
"No, Mr. Januth, I don't deny it. Athk me and I'll tell you the truth."
"All right, I ask ye. Did ye pull me down?"
"No, thir. You fell down, didn't you? But I let my foot catthh on a
nub. I knew it would pull you over. You made fatheth at me tho I
helped you to fall down. Oh, it wath funny!" Tommy laughed merrily.
"Grace Thompson! I am amazed!" exclaimed Miss Elting.
"Tho wath Mr. Januth. But I'm thorry, now. I won't do it again, if
you won't make fatheth at me."
"Well, I swum! Shake, little pardner! You got the best of Janus Grubb
that time, but his time will come."
"You've got to promithe," insisted Tommy.
"All right. I promise."
"Tho do I."
Peace had been declared, greatly to the relief of the rest of the
party, who did not know to what lengths Tommy Thompson might go to pay
the score she thought she had against the guide who had grinned at her
on seeing her in an unpleasant predicament that afternoon.
The meal finished, Janus went away to secure fresh fuel for the fire,
the girls in the meantime setting the camp to rights, which meant
spreading the blankets for the night and clearing away the dishes.
"There is one advantage about this kind of living," observed Hazel; "we
do not have any glassware to polish."
"Nor silver," added Margery.
Janus returned with an armful of wood. The fire was built up, flaring
into the air just as Tommy uttered a scream. The scream was followed
by a distant clatter.
The girls jumped. For a second they thought Grace had fallen over, but
great was their relief to see her standing a few feet from the edge of
the precipice trying to peer over.
"What is it, dear?" called the guardian.
"Oh, I lotht the frying pan," wailed Tommy.
"What!" shouted the girls.
"I lotht it. I did. I wath emptying it when it fell down. But never
mind, Mr. Januth will go down for it."
The girls groaned.
"Now you have done it," exclaimed Jane. "Whatever are we going to do
without a frying-pan?"
"I told you Mr. Januth ith going down after it," insisted Tommy.
"No, Janus is not," answered the guide. "There isn't enough of that
frying-pan left to make grit for chickens. Two hundred feet and then
the rocks. Well, I swum! You'll go without eating to-morrow, so far
as the frying-pan is concerned."
"We ought to do something to Tommy for that," declared Harriet. "What
shall it be, girls?"
"Oh, let her alone. Tommy will punish herself if you give her time,"
averred Margery.
Tommy nodded. "Yeth, leave it to me," she urged. "I can take care of
mythelf. Buthter ith right, for once in her life. Leave it to me."
They agreed to do so. Harriet turned to Miss Elting.
"You promised to tell us the legend that belongs to this shelf of rock
on which we are encamped. If not too long a story, will you relate it
now?"
The girls crept to the fire, about which they sat in a circle with
their feet tucked under them in true council-fire style.
"You probably have read," began Miss Elting, "that the Sokokis, a
powerful Indian tribe, once held possession of these hills. Chocorua,
for whom this mountain is named, was chief of a mighty tribe. The
chief, in revenge for the loss of his son, who had been slain by the
whites in battle, killed a white settler's wife and child. This white
man swore to have the life of the powerful Chocorua. Shouldering his
gun, he followed the mountain trails for many days and nights. The
chief knew that an avenger was on his trail; his braves knew it. They
made every effort to catch the avenging white man, but he was too
clever for them. Yet not an Indian was molested. The white man wanted
only Chocorua, and Chocorua knew it. The chief fled from place to
place, ever pursued by the persistent avenger. Then, at last, the
white man found the trail when it was hot. He followed the trail, and
one day, when the morning was young, came face to face with the savage
chief."
"Do you know where they met, young ladies?" interrupted Janus, who was
familiar with the legend.
The girls shook their heads.
"Right here where we are sitting now."
"Grathiouth!" muttered Tommy, glancing about her apprehensively.
"They aren't here now, my dear Tommy," observed Miss Elting smilingly.
"The white man pointed his gun at the Indian," she continued, "but the
old chieftain never flinched. He sent back a look so full of hatred
that the white man almost feared him. The chief, with upraised hands,
called down the curses of the Great Spirit on the head of the white man
and all his kind. Then Chocorua turned and sped swiftly to the far end
of the shelf, near where we got the water for our supper, and, without
an instant's hesitation, leaped far out into space."
"Oh!" exclaimed the girls shudderingly.
"The body of the chief dashed from rock to rock, finally dropping into
the lake which you saw as we came up. Then a strange thing occurred.
The white settlers finally conquered the Indians; then they brought in
their stock and began to graze them. But after that every animal that
drank from the lake died. It came to be known as the 'Lake of the
Poisoned Waters.' The Indians declared this to be the revenge of the
Great Spirit."
"How strange!" pondered Harriet.
"A number of scientific men, passing through this section years
afterward, unraveled the mystery. They say that the lime formation of
the rocks, through which the water seeps into the lake, has poisoned
the water. But you cannot make an Indian believe that."
"Ith thith a fairy thtory, or a really-truly thtory?" demanded Tommy.
"It is only a legend, Tommy," was Miss Elting's smiling reply.
"It has been a most interesting story," nodded Harriet. "I love Indian
folklore."
"Girls, it is time for you to turn in," reminded Miss Elting.
"I don't like such stories before going to bed," objected Margery. "I
know I shall have the nightmare. Oh!"
"We will roll you over if you do," answered Jane. "There's nobody but
ourselves to hear you, either, so you may yell all you please, and----"
"No!" protested Tommy. "If Buthter yellth I'll yell, too, and wake up
all the retht of you."
"Then you'll be attended to then and there," Jane warned her.
"You let me alone. I will let you know when I get ready for your
thervithes. You needn't go on talking about me, either. You make me
nervouth, ath Buthter sayth."
Janus began his preparations for the night. These consisted
principally in taking each girl's rope and securing it to his own belt,
which he had taken off for the purpose of making the ropes fast to it.
They watched him with keen interest.
"Just a precaution," he explained. "If any one of you moves in the
night I shall know it."
"My grathiouth!" shuddered Tommy, "ithn't it exthiting?" She made a
ridiculous face at the guide's broad back.
The girls tried hard not to laugh, but Margery giggled audibly,
bringing a frown from the guardian. Tommy, however, declared that she
would not roll up in her blanket, that she would fold it over her, so
she could get up without disturbing the camp.
"Roll up when you are ready," directed the guide.
Each girl, except Tommy, lay down on her blanket, and, tucking in one
edge, proceeded to roll herself up in it Indian-fashion, leaving only
her head and face exposed to the air. Tommy sat up, observing them
solemnly.
"You look like a lot of mummieth," she declared.
"And we feel like them, darlin'," answered Jane.
The guide now proceeded to wrap the free end of rope about each girl's
waist over the blanket, except in Tommy's case. She preferred to have
the rope about her waist before rolling up in her blanket, determining
in her own mind to slip the loop off after the others had gone to
sleep. Fortunately, however, Tommy Thompson's eyes grew heavy and she
dropped to sleep ahead of her companions. The guide lay down with his
blanket half folded over him without a single worry on his mind,
knowing that his charges could not get far away without a pulling on
the lines that would awaken him.
But when the pulling on the lines did come, Janus Grubb was not
prepared for it, and the camp of the Meadow-Brook Girls was thrown into
wild excitement by what followed.