"Nolla, I fear there will be nothing left to carry away. Once the shale starts to slide down that gulch, it goes like the wind and buries everything under its weight and bulk."
"All the same, I will feel that I am doing something to help—let's go!"
So Polly and her companion turned and ran back along the Rainbow Cliffs trail, until they reached the spot whence they had called to Jeb. They stopped for a moment to catch their breath, and while straining their eyes towards the house, saw Mr. Brewster just leaving it.
His horse was waiting at the block, so both girls instantly began shouting to attract his attention. He had keen hearing, and turned to see what might be wrong in the direction of the Cliffs. When he saw the two girls wildly beckoning him to come, he sprang into the saddle and galloped the horse over the intervening space to meet them.
Their story was told in a few words, and Sam Brewster immediately surmised who the riders were. He told the girls to go on to the house and tell Mrs. Brewster to be ready with emergencies, in case either of the travelers were found. Then he turned his horse and galloped to the barns where he called several of the men to help in the rescue work.
Polly and Eleanor would have preferred to go back to the shale-fields and watch the men, but they had to go where they could be of most service in the case.
"Where shall we put them, mother, if father brings both back to the house?" asked Polly.
"There is only one thing we can do, and that is to prepare the cots in the harness-room for them. It is in times of need, like this, that I wish we had a large house."
Down on the shale-fields, Jeb had crept to the edge of the gully and peered over. Far, far below, where the stream roared over the rocks and down waterfalls like a miniature Niagara, he saw one horse doubled up in an unnatural heap. He surmised at once, that it was dead. But half-way up he spied hoofs protruding from the shale, and to this spot he tried to make his way.
As he thought, the rider was still entangled with the stirrups of the horse and could not jump free when the accident had occurred.