Marie waddled along with great effort, making slow headway.
"We shall have to go further along before we can get up the bank. That is, unless you want to take the chance of falling into the creek again."
It was some distance to the place where the creek curved under the railroad bed, and they would be obliged to go beyond that if they expected to get the Fat Woman out without a repetition of the previous disaster.
After a while they reached the spot for which Teddy had been heading.
Marie surveyed the bank up which she must climb.
"Can you make it?"
"I—I'll try."
"That's the talk. Take a running start, but slow up before you get to the top, or with your headway you'll go right on over the other side and down that embankment. You ought to travel with a net under you, but it would have to be a mighty strong one, or you'd go through it."
Marie uttered a little hopeless moan and began climbing up the bank once more, but bracing each foot carefully before throwing her weight upon it. Teddy, in the meantime, had run up to the top where he sat down on the end of a tie watching the Fat Woman's efforts to get up to him.
"Oh, help!"