She stopped to watch two girls on horseback gallop along the bridle path.
"Shirley Duncan and some stranger," exclaimed Judith. "And how they are going—oh, mercy!"
"Oh, oh!" screamed all three, for at that moment both riders were vainly trying to check their horses in a sudden dash down one of the steepest grades, straight over a hill almost perpendicular in its slope.
"The horses have left the path," breathed Jane, watching with fascinated gaze the two mounts galloping down at a speed surely disastrous. One, the taller girl, seemed to have some control, but poor Shirley!
"Heavens!" screamed Judith, "she's gone!"
The horse had stumbled and its rider was rolling headlong down the hill, while the frightened animal pawed the earth in a wild attempt to regain its feet. The girls, terrified, started swiftly for the spot, but even as they ran the unfortunate rider went over a sharper turn and struck. Then—she lay in an inert heap against a jagged rock! In a moment they were at her side.
"Her head!" exclaimed Jane, frightened at the deathly face she now stared down at.
"Can we carry her? This is so far from a building," gasped Judith.
"Oh, Jane, see the blood!"
"I can easily carry her," answered Dozia quickly. "Let me pick her up, and take her or my shoulder."
"Wait," Jane cautioned. "It might be dangerous. We must stretch her out flat so that her head is down. There, she may soon regain consciousness. I wonder if one of us should run up to Madison?"