Down, down she came, gathering speed with every turn and adding to her peril with it.
“Oh, Rosa! Grab something!” yelled Nancy. “You’ll hit your head on those rocks!”
“No—no—I won’t,” Rosa managed to eject, each little word puffing out like a small explosion.
“I’ll stop you,” offered Nancy, jumping out in the path of the whirlwind.
“No, don’t! I must—go—all—the way!”
“But how silly! You’re a cloud of dust and—and—just see those rocks!” entreated Nancy.
Still Rosa kept on tumbling along, first down the very steep sand slope, and then over a sharp turn not intended to be used as a road. It was the end of the hill slope that twined in to the boat house, and the lakeside drive did not connect with this, as the lake and its drive were at right angles.
It was over that sharp edge of rocks that Rosa tumbled, then, with one more blind turn, her heavy little body splashed into the lake at least ten feet below!
“Oh, Rosa!”
Nancy’s yell was one of terror, but she did not wait to hear its effect, for the next moment she too was over the dock and into the water, grappling with the stunned girl, who seemed prone to go under the water every time Nancy attempted to assist her.