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Page 49
Shouts and yells from Hippy Wingate, and a scream from Emma Dean,
brought Grace, Elfreda, Anne and Nora to their feet, hurriedly
throwing on sufficient clothing to make themselves presentable.
"Girls! Hurry, hurry!" shrieked Emma.
"Coming! Hold fast!" shouted Elfreda Briggs, running out ahead of
the others.
CHAPTER XIV
THE MYSTERIOUS HORSEMAN
"For mercy sake, what is it?" cried Elfreda.
Emma was dancing about in a high state of excitement.
"Hippy's gone down! Hippy's gone down!" she cried.
"Gone down where?" demanded Grace, appearing on the scene at that
juncture.
"He must have gone very suddenly, for I surely heard him yell less
than five minutes ago," averred Elfreda.
"Look, look!" urged Emma, pointing to Hippy's tent, only the top
of which was visible above the ground.
Grace was already running towards the tent, believing she knew
just what the trouble was.
"Hippy, are you there?" she called.
"I am that, what's left of me," answered a voice that sounded some
distance away.
"Are you hurt?"
"No, Brown Eyes, I am not hurt. Please clear away the wreckage, so
we can see what we have here."
Grace and Elfreda hauled the tent out of the hole in the alkali
crust and peered in. Hippy was sitting at the bottom, about five
feet below the surface, and the instant Grace thrust her head into
the opening she uttered a cry.
"Water!" she exclaimed. "I smell it!"
"I tasted it when I landed on my head in the wet sand," answered
Hippy. "It was good, but I'd a heap sight rather drink my water
standing. One doesn't take in so much sand that way."
"Wa--ater!" gasped Emma Dean. "And it isn't another mirage?"
"It is water, my dear, but how much of a supply there is remains
to be seen. What were you doing out so early?"
"I was going out to get some water food from that horrible looking
pumpkin plant, or whatever it is."
"Ping! Oh, Ping! Fetch the water buckets. Hurry! Mr. Lang has
gone, so we must do what is to be done before the water
disappears. What happened, Hippy?" asked Grace.
"This did, Brown Eyes. I turned over on my blanket, then the earth
yawned and swallowed me down. I slid in head first."
"Here are the buckets and the canvas. I think I will get down
there and assist you. Girls, drink your fill, then water the
ponies. No, you carry the water out and let Ping do the watering."
Hippy assisted Grace down. She dropped to her knees and
immediately began digging in the sand, which was wet and sticky.
With Hippy's aid, she patted the canvas blanket down as she had
seen Hi Lang do it, and in a moment the water began seeping
through. Grace observed that it seeped much more rapidly than when
the guide had performed a similar operation.
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