Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: “THE DAM IS GONE!” CRIED THE GIRL. “FLY FOR YOUR LIVES!” _Page 7._] The Blue Grass Seminary Girls’ Vacation Adventures OR Shirley Willing to the Rescue By Carolyn Judson Burnett AUTHOR OF “The Blue Grass Seminary Girls’ Christmas Holidays,” “The Blue Grass Seminary Girls in the Mountains,” “The Blue Grass Seminary Girls on the Water.” A. L. BURT COMPANY PUBLISHERS NEW YORK Copyright, 1916 By A. L. Burt Company THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS’ VACATION ADVENTURES THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS’ VACATION ADVENTURES CHAPTER I.—THE BROKEN DAM. “The dam! The dam! The dam has broken!” Shirley Willing, with flaming eyes and tightly-clenched hands, jumped quickly forward, and with her right hand seized the bridle of a horse that was bearing a strange boy along the road, which ran near the river. The horse reared back on its haunches, frightened at the sudden halting. “The dam!” cried the young girl again. “Quick! The people must be warned!” The face of the rider turned white. “What do you mean?” he shouted, fear stamped on every feature. Shirley’s excitement fell from her like a cloak. She became quiet. “The Darret dam has been washed away,” she answered, “and unless the people in the valley are warned immediately they will perish. There is one chance to save them. You are mounted. You can outrun the oncoming wall of water and save them. Away with you, quick! There is not a second to spare!” “But,” protested the boy, “the water may overtake me and I shall drown. We can climb to higher ground here and be safe.” He tried to turn his horse’s head to the east. But Shirley clung to the rein. “And leave those people to drown, without warning?” she cried. “You coward! You are afraid!” “I——” the boy began, but Shirley cut his protest short. Releasing the bridle of the horse, she sprang quickly to the side of the animal, seized the rider by the leg with both her strong, young hands and pulled quickly and vigorously. Unprepared for such action, the boy came tumbling to the ground in a sprawling heap. Quick as a flash Shirley leaped to the saddle and turned the horse’s head toward the valley. As she dug her heels into the animal’s ribs, sending him forward with a jump, she called over her shoulder to the boy, who sat still dazed at the sudden danger: “Get to safety the best way you can, you coward!” Under the firm touch of the girl’s hand on the rein the horse sped on down the valley.