Dorothy Dales Camping Days | Page 2

Rose-Mary, whom the girls called Cologne. "I don't mind making a hill, but I hate to have the wagon make it in solo. I have had a try of that sort."
"Now say your prayers, Nita," ordered Tavia, "and don't forget to repent for snibbying my chocolates."
"Oh!" screamed Edna Black, alias Ned Ebony, "I do believe something is going to happen!"
"Sure thing," continued Tavia, in her joking way. "Do you suppose the girls from Glenwood ever go out without having 'something happen'?"
The old man was pulling at the reins, but his horses were starting to slide.
"Watch that fellow waltz," remarked Tavia. "Now, wouldn't he be great in a circus?"
The "waltzing horse" tried to sit down, but the farmer tugged at the lines, and otherwise objected to such conduct, and the unfortunate animal did its best to comply with the orders, which were now being flung at him, not only from the driver but from the girls in the wagon.
"Oh, hold them!" pleaded Nita.
"Let them run," suggested Tavia. "It will be over sooner!"
"Mercy!" exclaimed Dorothy, "there's a river!"
This remark was followed by a most significant pause. Evidently even Tavia saw the danger now.
And the old horses were frightened as well, for they backed, side stepped, and made every possible effort to avoid having the wagon, and its precious load, overturned into the deep river at the very side of the roadway.
"Don't yell so!" called Dorothy to the driver. "That won't help any and it hurts our ears."
"Is there no brake?" wailed Nita.
"There is likely to be one soon," Tavia assured her.
The girls were becoming more and more alarmed, and only Tavia kept up the jesting. The hill was very steep, the river fairly curled around it, and the horses grew more nervous each moment, under the strain that was being put upon them.
Deep in the bed of hay the girls from Glenwood School had ensconsed themselves. The horses were now going at such a pace that it would be rash to attempt to jump from the rick. Nita Brant actually made her way forward, and had now fairly grasped the old driver about the neck. She felt that he must know how to save himself, at least, and she determined to "take chances" with him.
Tavia did deign to sit up and notice the rate of speed the old horses had acquired. Her dark eyes shot glances of daring admiration, and she reminded her companions that Roman chariot races were "not in it," just then.
Dorothy stood up bravely and agreed to call out, when they should be too near the river.
Suddenly there was a crash, and then the horses bolted!
"Something snapped!" called Dorothy. "Something is broken!"
No need to announce this, for, with the ominous sound, one of the horses broke from its traces, and the other was now dragging the old wagon along by the straps that had withstood the jerks and plunges.
"Oh, we will be killed!" screamed Nita, "There's the river!"
The girls made ready to jump.
"Don't!" begged Dorothy. "You will be dragged along in this stuff. You cannot jump through these braces."
Truly they were imprisoned by the uprights of the old-fashioned hayrick! But if they could not jump what could they do? Each face showed its panic of fear. If only the one remaining horse would break loose, it might not be so dangerous to fall over in all that hay!
A shriek from Nita turned all eyes to her. "The man!" she screamed. "He has fallen--under the wheels!"
By a single impulse Dorothy and Tavia grasped one of the rungs of the rick, and they threw their full weight on it until it snapped--then broke!
"Quick!" cried Dorothy. "Jump after me!"
Tavia needed no second invitation. In an instant she had followed Dorothy Dale, and, as they landed in the dusty roadway, shaken up, but not otherwise hurt, the runaway horse, freed from the interference of its mate that had broken loose, continued to drag the hayrick toward the dangerous river, which bubbled over the black and sharp rocks, scarcely concealed by the foam that broke upon them.
"Oh, the girls! The girls in the wagon!" gasped Dorothy, and she pressed bravely on, followed by Tavia.
CHAPTER II
TAVIA GOES BO-PEEPING
Well might Dorothy exclaim in terror at the fate that seemed imminent for the girls left in the wagon--the girls of Glenwood School--her dearest chums. Those of my readers who are familiar with the previous volumes of this series, will, perhaps, pardon the rather unceremonious manner in which I have just introduced the young ladies of this book. To those who are reading of Dorothy Dale for the first time, a few words of explanation may be necessary. And, in presenting the young ladies of Glenwood School, I must at once apologize for, and criticise Tavia Travers.
From the very first book of the series entitled "Dorothy Dale, a