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Page 22
"I think we had better call for help," was Phil's practical suggestion.
"If we all scream together, we ought to make considerable noise. I am
afraid Miss Jones may become worried about us before any one comes to
let us out."
The girls called and called, until their voices were hoarse, but no one
answered them. Each girl remembered that she had not met a single
person in her journey through the woods.
Then the prisoners made a trip around the big room, poking and peering
about to see if there were any other possible method of escape.
"If I could only get up to one of those windows, I could easily break
the bars and try to jump out of it," speculated Madge aloud. "But,
alas, I am not a monkey! I can't climb straight up the side of a wall."
"You shall not try it, either," retorted Eleanor determinedly. "You
would break your neck if you tried to jump from one of those high
windows. Thank goodness, you can't climb up to them!"
"You were the wise one, Nell, and we wouldn't listen to you." Madge
eyed Eleanor mournfully. She had an overwhelming desire to burst into
tears.
"Don't take it so to heart, Madge," comforted her cousin. "Some one is
sure to come this way finally, if we only call long enough."
But the afternoon shadows lengthened and no one came. Gradually the
twilight fell, enveloping the big, bare room in hazy darkness. The
prisoners huddled together with white and weary faces. They thought of
their cosy houseboat with the little lamps lit in the dining room, and
the big lantern hanging in the bow, and of Miss Jones, who by this time
was no doubt anxiously waiting and watching for their return.
It was perhaps eight o'clock, although to the girls it seemed midnight,
when Lillian whispered:
"Girls, I hear some one coming this way. Phil was right; it was a
joke, after all. Whoever locked the door has come back to unlock it."
The girls smiled hopefully. After all, their experience did not amount
to anything. They would be back inside the houseboat in another hour.
The footsteps now sounded plainly just outside the cabin door.
"Won't you please unbar the door for us?" called Phil and Madge in
chorus. "Some one has locked us inside."
An elfish laugh answered them. Or was it the wind? Perhaps they had
heard no one after all. They strained their ears but heard no further
sound. Then the last bit of twilight vanished and night came down in
reality.
CHAPTER VIII
AN ANXIOUS NIGHT
Huddled together in the darkness, Phil and Madge endeavored to relieve
the strain of the situation by talking, but the very sound of their
voices dismayed them and they became silent. Finally Eleanor, who had
been leaning against Madge's shoulder, laid her head in her cousin's
lap and went to sleep. A little later Lillian, after receiving Madge's
assurance that she and Phil intended to keep watch, went to sleep also.
"Madge," Phil's voice trembled a little, "what do you suppose poor Miss
Jones will think? She won't have the least idea in which direction to
look for us. Goodness knows how long we may have to stay here. We may
never get out." Her voice sank to a whisper.
"Why, Phil," Madge feigned a hopefulness which she did not feel, "I am
surprised at you. You haven't given up hope. It is just the darkness
and being hungry that makes things appear so dreadful. I have been
thinking about our plight, and when daylight comes I am going to try to
climb up the wall to the window. The mud has broken away between some
of the logs, so that I can get my foot in the opening. We shall have
to dig it away in other places too."
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