"I'll take the ponies home, and then come to the cottage for you, Tina," said Puggy, who was recovering himself.
Christina could not speak.
When Miss Rachael received the two children, Dawn seemed in a better plight than his rescuer. He could give explanation, which Christina could not.
"I've sprained my knee against a stone. I couldn't swim," he said, "and Tina pulled me out of the water when I was drowning!"
Miss Rachael did the wisest thing she could. She put both children to bed and kept them there, sending a message to the Towers to say that she was keeping Christina for the night. The civil war came to an end. Puggy felt very ill used, because he had not been nearly drowned too.
Susy went back to Miss Bertha and told her all that happened, and Miss Bertha could not rest that night until she had been to inquire after her little friends. She met Mr. Maclahan at the door. He was coming away.
"I have just been up to see my little daughter," he said. "I am thankful she is all right. Miss Bertha, what do you think of her? A more extraordinary mixture of pluck and timidity, of childishness and wisdom, I have never come across! That boy in there owes his life to her!"
Miss Bertha nodded, well pleased. "I am not surprised," she said simply.
And then she went indoors, and Christina, looking at her sleepily from Miss Rachael's big feather-bed, drew her down to her and put her arms round her neck.
"I got wet, and Miss Rachael has given me something hot to drink, and I'm going to sleep here all night, and—and, Miss Bertha—the civil war is over!"