I was used to wild outcries on the part of Judy and Jack, but on this occasion there seemed unusual urgency in the call, and I hurried accordingly.
“I thought you were never coming!” she greeted me. “Jack’s stuck in a rock, and we can’t get him out. I don’t believe anything ever will, unless they use dynamite, and then they’ll dynamite him too!”
“But how exciting!” laughed Vera. “Lead us to the painful scene, Judy, won’t you?”—and Judy suddenly turned upon her, her face aflame.
“You haven’t got anything to laugh at!” she flung at her. “If it was your brother stuck you wouldn’t think it was so jolly funny. I suppose you think it’s a joke for a little kid to be hurt!”
“Steady, Judy!” I said.
“Well, she laughed!” said Judy furiously.
“I wouldn’t have laughed, Judy dear, if I had known he was hurt,” Vera said contritely. “Come on, and we’ll see if we can’t get him out.”
We found the prisoner with his feet tightly wedged between two rocks, in a deep cleft. He had slipped from above, so that both feet were jammed: and since it was impossible for him to get any purchase on the water-worn granite, he was perfectly helpless. Three youngsters of his own age, lying flat on the rock above the cleft, were hauling at his arms, with no result whatever, except to cause him a considerable amount of pain. His rosy face was very near tears as he looked up at us.
“I thought a grown-up would never get here!” he said dolefully. “What am I going to do, Miss Earle? I can’t move an inch!”
“We’ll get you out, Jack, old man,” I said. “Don’t struggle, or you may be more jammed than ever.”