"You didn't—you didn't let—me!" panted Nan. "I did it myself!"
"Well, come on down!" begged Harry again.
"I—I can't!" half sobbed Nan, with a catch in her voice. "I—I'm stuck! Go get a ladder—get something to help me. I can't hold on much longer!"
"Shall we get the tennis net and let you fall into that?" asked Bert, starting toward the swing with half an idea that he could climb up the rope and loosen Nan.
"No, I don't want to fall!" cried his sister. "Get a ladder so I can climb down. Call daddy!"
"I'll call my father!" offered Harry. "He's got a long ladder!"
"Do something! Quick!" begged Nan desperately.
As Bert and Harry started to run toward the house to summon their fathers and mothers, Flossie and Freddie, tired of playing with the little boat in the brook, came up to the apple tree. Freddie saw Nan hanging there, some distance above the ground.
"Oh, Nan's doing circus tricks! Nan's doing circus tricks!" cried Freddie. "Look at her, Flossie. Nan's doing circus tricks an' I want to do 'em, too!"
"No, no, Freddie!" screamed Nan, as her little brother ran under the limb to which she was desperately clinging. "Go away! Don't stand under me this way! I might fall on you!"