"Oh, if they come any nearer I'll faint—I know I shall!" murmured Miss Dixon.
"That's the surest way to be trampled on," remarked Alice, calmly. "Just faint, and fall down and——"
She paused significantly.
"I sha'n't do anything of the kind!" cried the other actress with more spirit. "I won't do it just because you want me to! There!"
It was a silly thing to say, but then, she was half-hysterical. In fact, all four were.
"That's what I wanted to do—rouse her up," observed Alice to her sister. "It's our only safety—to remain upright. And we might try to frighten the cattle."
"How?" asked Ruth.
"Let's shout and yell—and wave things at them. We've got parasols. Let's wave them—open and shut them quickly. That will make flashes of color, and it may frighten the steers. Come on, girls—it's worth trying!"
The others fell in with her plan at once, and the spectacle was presented of four young ladies, perched on a hill, toward which a thousand or more steers were rushing, waving their parasols, opening and shutting them and yelling at the top of their voices.
"Are—are they stopping any?" asked Miss Pennington, anxiously.