At this moment a scream came from the barn-door above them.
“Oh, Cricket, look out for the new cow!” but too late came Mamie’s warning. The new cow, frantic at the strange sight of a bright-coloured spot moving up and down before her very eyes, with a rush bolted across the yard and caught the descending board right on her horns. The next second Cricket was spinning through the air and came down against Eunice with a force that stunned them both.
A sudden peal of impish laughter rang out from the barn, changing almost instantly to a shrill cry of terror. Mamie, hopping about, as usual, on one foot, had lost her balance, and plunged downward, head-foremost.
The shrill cries still continued when Cricket, a few moments after, sat up slowly and looked around her.
“Why, what in the world—” she began, pushing back her curly mop with both hands, in the greatest bewilderment,—then she looked down at Eunice, who lay white and unconscious on the ground. The back of her head had struck sharply against a stone, for she had caught the full force of Cricket’s fall. The latter, consequently, had escaped being seriously hurt.
CRICKET FINDS EUNICE UNCONSCIOUS.
“Eunice!” cried Cricket, wild with terror, “speak to me! What’s the matter, Eunice?” and she tried to lift her sister in her arms. She had never seen unconsciousness before, and for one terrible moment she thought that she was dead. Eunice, at the movement, opened her eyes and tried to speak.
Meanwhile Mamie’s cries were ringing out,—
“Ow! ow! Cricket, come take me off! she’s a-hooking my feet!”