163“Sh!” said Katherine. “There’s no time to crawl down. We’ve got to hurry. Go half way down and jump the rest of the way. It’s all soft sand underneath.”
“We’ll be killed,” said Gladys.
“Nonsense!” said Katherine scornfully. “Didn’t I say it was all soft sand underneath? Sh! I’ll go first Sh-h!”
She swung over the edge, poised on the little ledge, flung out her arms and leapt into the darkness below. There was a crash, a smash, a plump, and a startled wail.
“What is it?” cried Gladys, throwing caution to the winds and shouting.
“I’m in the lake, I guess,” called Katherine from below. “First I jumped in and then the sky fell on me.” Her voice sounded oddly muffled and far away.
Gladys flashed her little bug light over the cliff and then shrieked with laughter at the spectacle below. Flat on the beach sat Katherine, her feet straight out in front of her and a tin washtub upside down on her head, completely hiding the upper half of her. From the edge of it the water was dripping in tiny streamlets. The main deluge had already descended. All around her lay the clothes which had been soaking in the tub ready to be washed out bright and early the next morning.
Of course her yell and the shouts of those above 164 brought the rest of the family on the run, and after one look at her nobody had strength enough to lift the tub off her head. Uncle Teddy recovered first and removed the eclipse.
“I forgot to tell you folks I had set the tub there,” said Aunt Clara. “But how could I guess that one of you would jump into it? Whatever induced you to jump off the cliff in the dark anyway?”
“I was just ‘exploragin’,’” replied Katherine meekly, rising and shaking the water from her clothes like a dog.