03 The Princess of the Chalet School (22 page)

They set off, Rufus galloping on ahead. Joey had the good sense to insist on their keeping close to the wall, so they were not seen when a badly-scared Ternikai came rushing out to the edge of the little plateau and stared along to see if the Princess, whom he had just missed on awaking, where there. He did not see them, so he hurried back to the cave to get his boots and his coat, before hastening along to the full extend of the
alpe
to find her.

By the time he had emerged once more, the two children had gone over the edge, near the wild-strawberry bed, at a spot Jo had noticed on coming back. It was a very little easier than the way at the end of the
alpe
, for it had one or two naked tree-trunks springing out of the earth, and she reckoned they could help themselves with them.

It never dawned on the man to look over. He fully expected to find the child wandering about the
alpe
, and that she would try to escape he didn’t dream for one minute. So he hurried past them at full speed, calling loudly to her, while they were scrambling and slipping down the bare rock slope, Elisaveta clinging to Jo, and Jo holding fast to Rufus’s mane. The sagacious dog chose the easiest way, and although they were bumped and scratched and bruised, they were managing to get down in some fashion.

Ternikai, finding nothing when he arrived at the south-eastern extremity of the
alpe
, was horrified. To do him justice, he was afraid that the Princess must have tried to get away by the path up which they had brought her the previous evening, and in that case she would certainly have hurt herself – perhaps badly. He tore back to the head of it, calling ‘Highness! Princess! Answer me!’

By the time he had reached it the two children had gone half-way down the bare slope, and had reached the worst bit of their journey.

‘How on earth are we to get down there?’ demanded Elisaveta, eyeing it askance. ‘There’s not an atom of foothold, Joey. It looks rather as if we should have to
roll
!’

‘We won’t do that if we can help it!’ declared Joey. ‘I want a
little
skin left on me, thank you! Now, what shall we do?’

It certainly was a nasty place. The ground had broken off here, and there was a precipitous drop of some ten feet. If they had had a rope it would have been all right. But they hadn’t one. However, no Guide was going to be done that way. ‘Take off your stockings,’ Joey ordered, sitting down and taking off her own.

When she had the two pairs before her she produced her knife and slit them up. Then she tied the pieces together with reef-knots, which have the advantage of pulling tighter the more strain you put on them. Still, that was not nearly long enough. They would land on a fairly steep lope, and they dared not risk a drop.

‘Our frocks?’ suggested Elisaveta.

Joey shook her head. ‘No; I don’t think we’d better do that. People might have fits if we wandered to Briesau in only knickers and camis.’

This was so true that the Princess said no more, but cast about in her mind for some substitute. ‘What about our vests?’ she said.

Joey brightened up at once. ‘Good scheme! What an idiot I was not to think of them myself. We must buck up and undress. Only do be careful and don’t slip down. It would be awfully easy to do that.’

They undressed, and removed their cellular vests, getting into their clothes again at top speed. The knife came into use again, and then they had a rope just long enough. It looked frail, but neither was very big, and both were thin, so they hoped for the best.

‘I’ll wind it round this stump to get a purchase on it,’ said Joey. ‘Then you go down first, and I’ll follow.

Rufus must scramble. Luckily he’s used to that, so it won’t matter so much.’

Elisaveta obeyed without a word. They had done rope-climbing in their gym, so she was able to get down very well on the whole. She had to drop a couple of feet, but managed to steady herself against a piece of rock that jutted out. Then she called to Joey. ‘It’s all right, Joey! Come down!’

Jo proceeded to knot the improvised rope round the rock, then she took a deep breath and let herself down.

It was a risky proceeding, for the rope was wearing thin, but there was nothing else for it. She had got halfway down when it suddenly gave, and she fell. Luckily Elisaveta kept her head. Clutching at her rock with one hand, she grabbed Joey’s frock with the other, and managed to check her fall. Jo bumped her elbow badly, and scratched her face, but she got on to her feet and leant against Elisaveta for a moment. Up above, Rufus was whining unhappily. He wanted to get to his mistress, but he did not see how he was to do it. Joey, fully recovered, looked up at him. ‘Come along, old man,’ she called.

‘Wouf – wouf!’ bayed Rufus.

Then, like the girls, he decided to make the best of a bad job. There was a flurry, a scramble, and a young earthquake came sliding down on the top of them. They both screamed, and grabbed at his long hairy jacket.

A minute more and they were all three standing on the narrow ledge, shaky but safe. After that it was a comparatively easy matter to clamber down the slope, still clinging together, until they came to one of the little wayside streams which bubble up out of the earth on all sides in this district. They stopped here, and all three drank.

‘Isn’t cold water
delicious
?’ sighed Joey, as she lifted a dripping face from the water.

Elisaveta was still drinking greedily, so she said nothing.

They took off their shoes and bathed their feet as well as their hands and faces. Then Joey stood up and took her bearings. ‘The sun is nearly overhead,’ she said, looking down at her shadow. ‘That means it’s about noon. I think we had better go on till we get to the forest, and then rest a bit. We ought to find
Blaubeeren
there, so we could get something to eat. I don’t know about you, my lamb, but I could eat an
elephant
, I’m so hungry!’

‘I don’t think I’m as hungry as all that,’ replied Elisaveta. ‘I
am
so tired! Joey, do you think it will be long before we are back at the school?’

Joey shook her head. ‘Couldn’t say. You see, I don’t know how far along the pass we are. We must be a good way along, but I don’t know how much. And we may have to get back when we are going through the wood. I don’t know this part at all.’

She looked at her friend anxiously as she said this. Elisaveta was very white, and it was plain, even to Joey’s inexperienced eyes, that she couldn’t stand a great deal more. Her severe illness in the early part of the year had sapped her strength, and she had not yet fully recovered. Also, she was less accustomed to stand on her own feet than Joey, and the experiences of the last two days had told on her.

‘I only hope to goodness she isn’t ill after all this!’ thought Joey worriedly. ‘
Blow
that Cosimo! He ought to be shoved into a lunatic asylum and kept there!’ She held out her hand to the Princess. ‘Come along,

‘Veta,’ she said coaxingly. ‘We can’t stay here. It’s too open. There’ll be shelter in the wood, and we can have a sleep. Rufus won’t let anyone touch us, so it’ll be quite all right.’

Elisaveta remembered that she was a princess and that princesses must keep up when it is necessary.

Besides, the thought of what her father would suffer, if he got his cousin’s demands before the wire Miss Bettany would be sure to send once they were safely back at school, helped to spur her on. Joey had her own reasons for wanting to get back as quickly as possible. For the first time since the adventure had begun she was beginning to doubt if she had done
quite
right in going off by herself as she had done. She only hoped that Madge had not worried too much, and it was a forlorn hope. Where her small self was concerned, the elder sister was given to troubling greatly. Jo knew this, and she was longing to get back and see the dear face meet hers with the smile she knew so well. As for Rufus, adventures were all very well, but he had had enough for one time. What
he
wanted was his comfortable shed, and the big plate of meat and bones his own servant, Marie, always prepared for him once a day. All three, therefore, were anxious to finish with this, and get back to safety once more. They went on very slowly, for the two little girls were footsore and weary, and at length came to the wood.

It was cool and pleasant under the trees; and the ground, carpeted with pine-needles, was soft to their feet after the hard way they had come. Joey led the way to a little clearing where the ground looked dry and warm, and they sank down beside the fallen trunk of a tree. Elisaveta fell asleep almost at once, with her head on Joey’s lap, and Jo herself was not long in following her example. They slept for two hours. Then Rufus woke them by baying lustily. Joey woke in a fright. She thought that Cosimo or Ternikai must have got on their track, but it was only a bird that had flown rather near, disturbing the big dog.

The sun showed that it was long past
Kaffee
, and Jo decided that they must get home to-night. She shook Elisaveta awake, and they set out once more. It wasn’t so far from where they had come to the head of the pass, and, though they did not know it, help was very near.

Joey left the guiding part of the business to Rufus, trusting the dog’s wisdom to get them on to the road.

She did wisely in doing this. If they had tried to manage themselves the chances are that they would simply have wandered round in a circle, for they were both too done to be able to steer by the sun.

As it was, Rufus led them straight to the edge of the forest, and they found themselves on the pass, just above the valley.

‘Come on,’ said Joey with some return of briskness when she discovered this. ‘We shall soon be home now.’

They made what haste they could, and then, just as they had reached a bend in the road, there came a sound that was sweeter than the sweetest music in Jo’s ears. A man’s voice said, ‘Don’t worry, Madame. We will take you back, for you are worn out, and then Russell and I will come back and look till we find them. I promise it.’

The dearest voice in all the world answered him. ‘You are very kind, Captain Trevillion, but I cannot go back till I know they are both safe.’

‘Madge!’ Joey did not pause to consider how she had got there. Grabbing at Elisaveta she rushed forward.

‘Madge!’ she cried. ‘Madge! We’re here! We’re safe!’

Some one caught the Princess from her grasp and she tripped on a stone and fell forward into a very haven of safety – Madge’s arms. She was held closely to her sister; kisses were literally showered on her face, and Madge’s voice cried, ‘Safe at last! Oh, thank God! – thank God!’

‘Joey-Baba!’

Joey, lying nestled in her sister’s arms, looked up. ‘Madge! It’s so nice to be with you again! Once or twice when we were coming down the mountain and we slipped I thought it was going to be the wind-up!’

Madge held the child tightly to her. ‘We won’t say anything about it, Joey. I don’t want even to think of it!’

Jo’s eyes darted swiftly to her sister’s face. ‘It has been – bad?’

Jem Russell spoke authoritatively at once. ‘Jo! You are not to talk about it at all. Why can’t you follow Elisaveta’s example?’ He glanced down at the little Princess who was lying sound asleep in his arms.

Joey shook her head. ‘I can’t!’

‘Well, don’t talk, at any rate.’

Joey lay quiet, but Madge, holding her, could feel her heart beating rapidly, and naturally felt very anxious about it. If Joey were to be ill, she didn’t know what she would do. She felt that she could stand nothing more. It was a relief when they came to the road that led to the lake shore, for that meant that they would soon be home now.

It was growing late, and the dusk had fallen when they finally arrived at the gate of the school. Captain Trevillion wanted to take the child from Madge, but she refused. ‘She’s wide-awake, and I think she would rather walk. – Wouldn’t you, Jo?’

Joey nodded as she was put down. She felt dreadfully tired, and she was beginning to wonder if she would ever leave off aching, but she had enough go left in her to walk up the path and into the house. She looked round at the dear, familiar surroundings with a deep sigh. ‘How lovely it is!’ she said involuntarily.

Madge smiled. ‘It’s home, isn’t it, Joey? Come along; you and Elisaveta must have something to eat, and then get off to bed at once.’

‘Rufus, too,’ said Joey. ‘He’s been a
hero
! I could never have got Elisaveta away if it hadn’t been for him!’

‘Rufus shall have as much as ever he can eat,’ returned her sister, pulling one of his soft ears. ‘I shall love Rufus always for this.’

Dr. Jem had carried Elisaveta into the house by that time and laid her on the couch in the study. Now he came back for Joey. She refused to let him carry her, but he insisted on her going in at once. Marie was ready for them, with big bowls of soup, and when they had taken this they were packed off to bed.

The Princess – who had to wakened before they could get her to take her soup – was to go into the sanatorium with Miss Maynard, to sleep with her; while Jo was to share her sister’s room. The doctor thought it better that they should be separated for a day or two. He felt anxious about them, particularly Joey, who was highly excitable and easily ran a temperature.

Elisaveta was so tired that she fell asleep while they were undressing her, and never wakened when Miss Maynard sponged her down and dried her, and put her into clean pyjamas and tucked her up comfortably.

Captain Trevillion waited until he was allowed to see her fast asleep in bed, then he went off to Eben, where his aeroplane and the mechanic who had come with him were waiting for him. It was a beautifully fine night, with blazing stars, and a bright moon to come up later on. He hoped to be in Firarto very shortly, and be able to relieve the anxiety of the King himself. In case anything delayed him, Madge was to wire to the Crown Prince’s secretary in the morning a message which would tell no one outside anything. Above all, it was hoped that nobody but the people most concerned would ever get to know of this outrage of Prince Cosimo.