The Head Girl at the Gables

by Angela Brazil

  CHAPTER XVIII

  An Adventure

  To give Madame Bertier her dues, it was she who suggested thewild-flower ramble upon the cliffs. It was for seniors only, and it hadthe immense advantage, in schoolgirl eyes, that it was held upon aThursday afternoon; Madame had urged Thursday and stuck to the point.

  "It was real sporty of her," chortled Patsie. "Miss Kingsley or MissJanet always try to fix up rambles or things of that kind for Saturdays,and then it's taking away a holiday instead of giving us one. We've allgenerally got something on at home for Saturday afternoons, and though,of course, we like rambles all right, it isn't quite good enough to haveto throw up our home engagements for them. Three cheers for Madame!"

  "Bless her!" murmured Audrey, ecstatically. "We shall miss French onThursday afternoon and I hadn't done a single line of my exercise orlearnt my poetry. It's moved a weight from my mind."

  "Don't congratulate yourself too soon, old sport! She'll probably tellus to give in the exercises."

  "Well, she can't hear the poetry at any rate."

  "Unless she makes us say it on the cliffs!"

  "Oh, surely there won't be time for that?"

  "Um--I don't know! Never trust a teacher to give one a _real_ holiday!Miss Janet always tries to 'combine instruction with amusement', as theold-fashioned children's books used to put it. Madame will probably tryto teach us the French names of the flowers at any rate."

  "Perhaps she doesn't know them!" said Audrey hopefully.

  There were eighteen seniors in the school, and on the Thursday inquestion they were all ready by half-past two, armed with baskets or tincases in which to put their flowers. Their exodus was watched with envyby the juniors, who had appealed in vain to be allowed to join theexcursion.

  "Eighteen are quite a big enough party to keep together," decreed MissKingsley, "and you juniors had an aquarium expedition only last week."

  "But that was on a Saturday!" objected a valiant spirit, anxious toobtain a Thursday holiday.

  Miss Kingsley, however, couldn't or wouldn't see the point, and witheredthe speaker with an extra-scholastic glare.

  The elder girls were not at all sorry to be going alone. They clung totheir privileges as seniors most tenaciously.

  "We don't want the whole rag-tag and bobtail of the school trailingafter us," said Dorothy. "It's quite enough in my opinion to include theFifth. I hate marching about in a troop, like trippers."

  "Well, we can spread out when we get on to the cliffs. There's no needto be so fearfully particular to keep together."

  Madame Bertier, among her many other accomplishments, possessed someknowledge of botany. She had studied the wild flora of the district, andknew where to take the girls to secure a variety of the best specimens.The walk she chose was down a lane, over some fields and across aportion of the moor, where Lorraine, who thought she knew all theneighbourhood of Porthkeverne, had never happened to go before. As inmost rambles of the sort, it was a difficult task for the mistress tokeep all the members of her flock in sight. Some were always on ahead,and others lagging behind, while a few would make detours over gates orbanks in quest of particular specimens. There was the usual amount ofjodelling, cuckooing and calling, and running back to fetch laggers;there was frantic excitement over a patch of wild strawberries, andgreat congratulation when several rare flowers were found and carefullyput away in tin cases. As generally happens in natural history rambles,there was decided rivalry among the numerous budding botanists. Eachwanted to be the first to secure a new specimen and to take it intriumph to show to Madame. Lorraine, who was not superior to the commonweakness, had not yet had any luck at all. Seeing the others heading ina bee-line for a small tower on the hill, and, knowing she could catchthem up there, she determined to branch off to the left, cross a dykeand go by herself over a particularly interesting-looking piece of themoor. If she were quick she would probably reach the tower as soon asmost of the others; they would be sure to sit down there to rest andcompare specimens. She would have asked Claudia to go with her, butClaudia was on in front talking to Dorothy.

  "If I jodel to her it will give the show away," thought Lorraine. "No! Imust do it on my own."

  So she jumped a dyke, scrambled down a bank, and in a few minutes hadreached a tract of wild heather-clad land that adjoined the cliff. Smallbushes, bracken, and brambles mixed among the heather made walkingdifficult, and there were several boggy places which she was obliged toskirt. This took her farther than she had intended. Looking round shecould not see her landmark, the tower.

  "It must be over there to the right," she said to herself. "Hallo, whata gorgeous silver fritillary! I'll get it if I possibly can."

  Lorraine was rather keen on entomology, and though she had no net withher, she pulled off her hat and ran in eager pursuit of the butterfly.It was an exciting chase, several times she nearly secured it, but itmanaged to elude her and flitted tantalizingly away. At last it pausedand hovered, then settled on a spray of wild rose. Lorraine crept upstealthily, hat in hand. Surely she had her prize now? But just at thecritical moment, again the lovely wings fluttered; she made a grab and adash forward simultaneously, then suddenly the earth seemed to open andswallow her up.

  As a matter of fact, she fell about nine feet, and lodged on a heap ofshale. It was so totally unexpected, and so amazing, that she lay therefor a moment or two almost stunned. Then she moved cautiously and satup. She realized what had happened. In her mad rush after the butterflyshe had not noticed where she was going, and she had fallen down theshaft of an old tin-mine. Above her were its rocky sides, with bushesand a patch of blue sky at the top. Below the ledge where she sat itsloped away towards a black hole. Lorraine, still a little dazed,shuddered as she looked down in the direction of that dark pit. She wasunhurt, and she was safe enough on the edge of the shale, but how wasshe to get up to the level of the ground above? The sides of the shaftwere far too steep to climb, and a slip might mean a plunge down, down,down into that horrible depth that loomed below.

  She stood up cautiously and shouted with all the force of her lungs.There was no reply. Again and again she called, but beyond thealarm-note of a blackbird there was no response. She began to growseriously frightened. She must be some distance from the tower, and shehad wandered from the rest of the party. Suppose nobody heard hercalling? The bare idea sent her breath in gasps. In time, no doubt, theywould notice her absence, but they would not exactly know where tosearch for her. They might even imagine that she had gone home. Supposethe night came on before she was found? Suppose even days were to passand nobody remembered the disused mine or thought of looking for herthere! With white cheeks and trembling hand she leaned against the sideof the shaft and called with what breath she could still muster.

  There was a rustling among the heather above, and a face suddenlyblocked the blue of the sky--a vacant face that peered down with thecuriosity of a child. Lorraine gave a fluttering cry of relief.

  "Landry!" she called. "Landry!"

  How or from where he appeared she could not guess, though it waspossible that he had seen the school passing near Windy Howe and hadfollowed Claudia in the distance. He stared down at Lorraine with acertain amount of interest, but as much unconcern as if she were a birdor a rabbit.

  "Landry!" she cried again. "Claudia is up by the tower. Go and tell herI have fallen down the old mine!"

  The bushes rustled, and once more that patch of blue sky appearedabove. Landry had gone indeed, but would he bring help? Lorraine fearedthat all he cared about was to find Claudia, and that with his customarytaciturnity it was quite within the bounds of possibility that he mightnever mention her predicament at all.

  SHE STOOD UP CAUTIOUSLY]

  She waited a while and then shouted, and kept on calling at intervals.Her wrist watch told her she had been nearly an hour down the shaft.Would help never come? She was very tired and her head swam. If she wereto faint, nothing could save her from falling down into that black gulfbelow. Her voice was growing wea
ker. It seemed stifled inside the shaft.What was that sound in the distance? Surely a shout! With all herremaining energy she raised her voice in a wild halloo. Next momentDorothy peeped over the bushes and turned with a cry to summon Claudia.

  Though she was found, it was more than an hour before adequate helpcould be fetched from a farm, but at last two men appeared carrying aladder, which they lowered down the shaft on to the ledge of shale. Thenone of them descended and helped Lorraine to mount. Madame and athrilled group of girls were waiting for her at the top.

  "Did Landry tell you?" Lorraine asked Claudia.

  "Yes, he told me and brought me to the place," said Claudia. "Landry maybe very proud of himself to-day, the dear boy!"

  "That mine did ought to be fenced round," remarked one of the men whohad brought the ladder. "Mr. Tremayne's been warned about it many atime, but he's always put off having it done."

  "Ah yes, it must be fenced!" exclaimed Madame, hysterically. "_Moneleve!_ If she had fallen a little farther, what then?"

  The man shrugged his shoulders, but Lorraine, who had been sitting onthe grass, sprang to her feet.

  "_Don't!_" she implored. "_Don't_ please say any more about it. I wantto get away from the place. I know I shall dream it over again allnight! Let me go straight home. I don't want to get any more flowers. Iwant just to be quiet and forget about it if I can."