It was a critical situation, and had it not been for Molly's presence of mind a tragedy might have resulted. As it was, she bravely grasped at Marjorie as she passed her; and with a sudden bump, as the two buckets hit together and then fell apart, Molly clutched at Marjorie, and the buckets paused side by side, while the girls shivered and shook, partly with fear and partly with fun.
"What are we going to do?" said Molly. "If I let go of you, you'll go smash into the water, and I'll fly up to the top!"
"Keep hold of me, then," replied Midget, who had a wonderful power of adapting herself to a situation.
And so the two girls, each with one hand grasping a bucket chain and their other hands tightly clasped, stood face to face half-way down the old well.
"I don't think this is such an awfully nice place," said Marjorie, looking round at the slimy green walls which shone wet in the semi-darkness.
"Well, it's cool," retorted Molly, who was shivering in her wet clothing.
"Of course it's cool, but my feet ache, standing on my toes so long. I wonder if I couldn't sit down on the side of the bucket."
"Don't try!" exclaimed Molly, in alarm. "You'll keel over and upset us both into the water!"
"You said the water wasn't deep; perhaps it's only up to our knees; that wouldn't hurt us."
"Yes, and perhaps it's over our heads! I don't know how deep it is, I'm sure; but I must say it looks deep."