Villanova Digital Library - The Girls' companion, v. 16, no. 25, June 23, 1917. :: Digital Library@Villanova University

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Full Title	The Girls' companion, v. 16, no. 25, June 23, 1917.
Contributor	Dustin, Agnes Barden, 1877-.
Date Added	14 August 2021
Format	Journal
Language	English
Publish Date	1917-06-23
Publisher	Elgin, Ill. and Chicago : David C. Cook Publishing Co.
Source	Dime Novels and Popular Literature
Alternate Title	In time of need / by Agnes Barden Dustin.
Topic	Children's literature > Periodicals.
About	More Details Permanent Link
Disclaimers	Disclaimer of Liability Disclaimer of Endorsement

OCR 5 3 8 aoe Pav ash hess Pree comma ec ae roe sone pantie. gee » gale, we ageteeyss FS tt me Fae 4 tet y oom . \ . Bowe Vee ae tae Pend! 5 ft 4 i bi ii ts \ PUBLISNED ~ <Wol, 16, No, 25. } Punusne URRY, Marcia; but oh! be. “-eareful! > Nememter* | how, slippery the rocks are. The tide is. coming in..so you'll have to take the long way.'gver the cliffs.” mutely, urged her brown mare. close to the: . steps of the cottage. sprang into the sad- Sale, and galloped’ down the sandy’ beach, -~. beaten smooth and hard by ‘the recent rain- storm. Ragged ‘clouds yet scurried over a gray sea, that battled with a raging wind. Marcia turned. and’ waved a reassuring | hand at her white-faced sister, pulled her_ tap closer. over her flying bair, and set her- self determinedly. to cover the seven miles _ That lay -between the isolated cottage and the little. fishing village at Barden: Cove. “T wish father had never come’ to this” - he*choked, remembering the- still Was it genial plac dorm ‘she had lett at the cottage. ently that morning that the _ big... le?-- Flours ~ afterward, alarmed we his nonappearance at luncheon, the sisters had found him among the rocks where he had fallen, unconscious and. with ‘a broken arm.- The two girls had some- how got him into the warm living room of “the cottage. for there-was no one-to help, and Ina. must minister to’him alone’ while Marcia~ brought the Moctor from the far’ - away cove.” “Pather's life’ depends on: us, Gipsy. 7 Marcia patted her mare’s © sleek. neck.* “We'll. do -our best.: Marcia tarned to Jook off at the ocean, The air was full of flying spray,-and there “was wild and never-ceasing tumult all “along. the shore; the- roar and boom. of ‘2 breakers: the: seething’ and boiling of the distracted waters thaf: lashed .the rocks and ~ * dashed," beaten’ to foam, -high “into- the- dir, to. be carried far inland by the: shrieking : win For a: -mile Marcia found the way” “not hard ‘to travel, except for the force of the Then the character of the” shore changed. Instead of beaten pavement there were places of deep sand ‘to retard progress. At times Gipsy slipped ‘on wet shale; glary as'if coated with ice; there were bowlders “second points. “to be avoided, and’ wide. expanses where ~ horse ‘and rider were dashed by: the cold. salt spray that went smoking past.. .8o- high was the wind that though it was ebb- tide no more than half of the usual area of beach was exposed, while. from under’ the gray. curtain ofcloud on the horizon did not. escape dry shod. great, “eombers . came “racing “in, leabing high,’ tumbling: one upon another,. white-+- crested, and breaking.on the beach, sent’ - long surges of foaming water flowing | over _ the san It- seomel” an age to her before the’ ‘cliffs. that she, dreaded. loomed up ahead. Was a road that led ‘around ‘the cliffs, but it. wound far inland to avoid a rocky bill.» The shortest distance from that point-to~ © * the fishing willage by two miles’ was" along the shore. Once around .the high’ cliffs, -a promontory that thrust itself out: into the sea in five. points, like the fingers of .a- hand, the. Test. of the way would be com-:- fast, The'girl in the khaki Sime suit nodded ~ artis te father hed “joked~ hiss daughters “at” “+ the” break. . We'll :win through . if wind ‘and tide ‘dispute every. inch ‘of our’. Copyright, 1912, by David C. Cook Publishing. Company. ~. DAVID ©, COOK PUBLISHING COMPANY, paratively: | asy. to travel. . _She halted in the lea of the first point. and surveyed the inrolling break rs. tide is coming in, and the -wind is driving it but -we can make’ it; Gipsy,” | she determined. and iustead of striking into the. maddy” hill road-‘she put the mare, to a smart * “trot, guiding’ her: down. the strip of “sand between. the -Toaring - sea and thes = towering rocks, for ‘time -was precious. — She rounded the* ‘first point, - A “huge roller: came racifg toward, her, ‘and : to escape itsshe urged _ Gipsy, up into * the -wide chasm-that lay between the first and - ceded, the “gallant: little’ mare ‘splashed: in -its.wake, ‘and .made the second headland. * Almost ‘at once. the rollers, one piling upon © another, raced. them: up the cove that lay “between... ‘so “deep .as the chasm had been, and they roller swept over- the” sandy? floor. and leaped; seething, about the- foot “of the rocks. For the first time fear came to Marcia. - Driven by the gale the tide was coming in like a race horse. It would be _but-a few minutes before ‘the:chasms be- _Theres* “tween the points would be boiling caldrons ~ and the flood mounting higher and higher _against the unscalable cliffs, “Shersummoned ‘all her courage. There were but a few hundred feet more to go. Not, yet’ had the tide reached the. rocks, . only the highest waves touched their basé.* Surely she could watch her chance and. slip through between the breakers. Once more ~ *- enough, “The ne Marela galloped down the sandy beach, .- - : When, the breaker. ree” This cove was wider,» but not . The foremost * Evain, ILLINOIS. she urged her. trembling mare toward the ~ outer point, but they “were not quick™ A big? green comber drove them back. The ‘leaping smother caught at “Marcia’s stirrup, ‘and set the. frightened -, ‘horse to snorting and curvettiug in’ terror. “ Courage, Gipsy ;, we'll make it next * time.” Marcia patted and-~ soothed |. the _ quivering mare, ‘The swirling water grew, “ quitter. As it drew back Gipsy, snorting in protest, but obedient ‘to the word: of “command. went with ‘it, the water sucking . “and pulling at her legs. “They neared the point. “Another “hige ‘breaker was already racing-toward them, and behind that. others were charging in. There would be no-~more -long intervals’ between the rollers,’but rather a continu- ~ ous. wind-driven flood - of: ever-mounting _ billows of green ‘water. “Gipsy!” Marcia : " brought’ her light whip down | smartly, The - nervous. mare. leaped ° “~ forward. They rounded :« the jutting promontory - ‘and dashed. on ‘across a wider cove. A. rock confronted them: Gipsy came -down on a. slip- pery ledge of shale and-~ flew: from: under | ber.* fp * She. went. downs to her E----nees, féilvover on, her * side, and rolled off the. ledge. ..As_ the? wave struck her - she strug- “gled~ up. and -with a, shrill neigh. of - terror dashed through the surf “around -the headland , and on’to safety... > Marcia was thrown ‘from her ‘saddle’ and -lay+ helpless “on the sand, half-stunned © by her fall, The incoming « wave rolled. her - over” and over and carried - Choking. and - gasping, she seized hold“ ‘of .a bowlder - and dragged herself up its rough ‘side out of reach of the beating, swirling, ~ foaming _w: ater ‘at {ts foot. ; As-she sat crouchéd on the” rock, panting “to regain hersbreath, she realized that*she -could: never round; the last promontories | - ., that inexorably shut her in with the roar- * ing. sea. . Without. her - horse* there ~ was * absolutely no hope of escape, for she could ° pot swim, and already the tide. was_boil- against’the point and’ had‘nearly cov- ered ‘the cove, :up: the, bowlder ‘on: which she had. taken. “refuge, and it was but a, question of a little _while ,before- they would. sweep ‘over and, “she would beat their merey.. Yes Marcia: looked’ wildly” about her, ~ Wer . only resource to save her own life. was to _ climb far enough up thé cliffs to be“out of | reach of the tide. “.Her’bowlder was some’ ten.feet distant from the cliff, and already the fiood was knee high- between. ~ She Scanned the cliff sharply as far a& she “could “Bee, At some little distance to her right By screvice offered a slippery and. perilous « - path upward—she could not tell how far."** -, The. white. crest of a gigantic comber ~ curved over’ her.rock and laved her feet. ~, Marcia hesitated no longer.- As the spume fled back to sea-she plunged into the flood, waded to the cliff and scrambled into the ’ crevice, A’ heavy, rush Bs water nearly. . te . -\ leaped it;-but ‘her feet - her back to -the cliff. :, -Eyery breaker dashed far. - . Sune 23, 1917. tore her. from her uncertdin hold, but she flattened. her ‘body against*the rock, dug her fingers and: toes into.the wide crack, ,and held on. ‘When the wave had “sucked out, she clambered up above present danger,” _ and stopped to-rest’on a narrow ledge. © It was an inexpressible relict to the ex- hausted girl to be out,.of reach’ of the smothering waves, and for a little tine ‘she was’. well content. Then, with “a pang, a, she’ remembered. her father. . Uér ‘ own danger had driven the thought of her: mis- sion from.her mind.*:She must. go on. \ It :would be hours before the tide would. ebb ‘and she could’ make cher’ way around’ the . headland, and in all that time Ina would be . waiting and watching, and her father—she _ groaned and looked up at the towering clit”, above her. It seemed impossible that, any human-~ being could scale “that frowning buttress of nearly perpendicujar. rock, but Marcia determined that if it eould be done -~* she> would do, ity for” the ‘sake of the great need of those in the far-away cottage. She wrung her dripping’ skirt, pinned her flying haiy tight back from het. eyes,* and with her. whole mind concentrated on each effort, “began to ereep_ sturdily up. the crevice. . Where the crevice ended narrow “dedize of‘ rock zigzagged ap and off to the’ left across {he-face of the cliff, Marcia stood ~ up, «and? with her face to “the rock and. . “glinging® to ‘every ‘tiny projection’ rack, gi After progressing for some twenty or thirty feet in this. fashion, her hands came in contact with a higher ledge, quite’a broad shelf,’ safer and easier to travel than the one she | was on. “It was about four feet above, _but with infinite caution she worked her ‘way up to it, and with a great sigh of - relief :lay down’ upon its secure founda- tion to- recuperate her strength and con- gratulate, herself. that now she was out | of reach of the highest tide that had ever battled against the cliffs, + “She shuddered, as for the first time she ° looked down, at the surf below, and hugged * the shelf tighter beneath her. The break- ers, lashed to fury by the wind, hurled ‘themselves upon the cliff until it seemed to. the crouching girl as°if the roar-of the < surf drowned her very thoughts, and that ° a . “Worean make it, Gipsy" the- grim rocks trembled “with the shock. “Great columns of foam and spray’ leaped: * far up*the cliff as if they would drag her back into the: welter of boiling, frothing water. . ~ © T must make no. misstep,” she told her- self, though the cannonading of the sea . vet he -

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