“Whew!” Jimmy gasped, clutching his forehead with relief. “You fell down an old well.”
“Are you all right, Penny?” Philip asked anxiously.
“I guess so,” Penny called back. “But it’s so dark I can’t see anything.”
“Don’t worry,” Phil said in a reassuring voice. “We’ll have you out in no time.”
Marjorie arrived then with Pat who had brought along a long rope. Marjorie was very near to tears.
“Don’t let Penny know you’re frightened,” Phil cautioned her. “Keep calling down to her in a cheerful voice to keep her courage up.”
Pat tied a big loop on the end of the rope, then Mal lowered it into the well, and Phil called down instructions to Penny. Finally the rope reached her, and she put the looped end around her waist and held on to it as tightly as she could with both hands, while the men pulled her up. When, after what seemed an interminably long time, Penny’s head appeared, Marjorie burst into tears.
Tenderly they lifted Penny out, and she immediately assured everyone that aside from being bruised and shaky, she didn’t think she had any broken bones or other injuries. Ann Mary and Theresa and Kathleen had arrived on the scene with water and bandages, all of which were scorned by Penny who said,
“I did a foolish thing and I deserved what I got, but now that I know I’m all right you can all just forget about me. If you keep on making such a fuss I’ll feel like an idiot.”
Of course they all ignored her pleadings and made her sit right down for a few minutes while Ann Mary wiped her face with a cloth dipped in cold water. Then she examined Penny carefully to make sure that she could move her arms and legs without pain. The only real damage seemed to be to her appearance which was quite ludicrous. Now that they knew she was safe they had a good laugh about it. Penny’s face and hands and hair were covered with cobwebs, her dress was ripped and her shoes were sopping wet. When Phil asked her if there was any water in the well she said she thought she had stood in water and, of course, her wet shoes showed that she had. Then everybody went back to the house, and Penny took a hot bath which Ann Mary said would serve to relieve some of the aches and pains she was bound to develop later from such a fall.