“It is the pack,” said Elfreda. “Don’t you see that Kitty’s pack is pressing right against the rocks?”
“That’s right,” agreed Tom Gray. “We must unload the beast before we can do a thing with her. Confound her!”
“Now, Tom,” admonished Grace Harlowe.
“Stacy! Get that pack off and be careful about it too,” ordered Lieutenant Wingate.
Stacy could not manage the pack alone, so Grace and Elfreda assisted him in removing it. This undertaking, perilous as it was, was accomplished after more than two hours had been lost through Kitty’s clumsiness. It was then discovered that the white mare had gone lame, but Hippy found that she had suffered nothing more serious than a bruised hip.
“We must be on our way,” he urged.
“As it is, we shall not get across this ridge before dark,” declared Elfreda, glancing at the lowering sun.
“Oh, don’t say that,” begged Nora. “We must.”
Tom Gray shook his head.
“To make haste would be dangerous,” he warned.