"There's something mighty queer about it," he answered hastily. "I can't
understand how in the world it has come about, but if that child is
right, there's been a landslide or a cave-in of some sort here and Doris
and the rest are caught in it. Good heavens! If that's so, we can't act
too quickly!" and he ran round to the front of the house shouting to the
chauffeur, who had remained in the car:
"There's been an accident. Drive like mad to the nearest house and get
men and ropes and spades,--anything to help dig out some people from a
cave-in!" The car had shot down the road almost before he had ceased
speaking, and he hurried back to the garden.
The next hour was a period of indescribable suspense and terror to all
concerned,--all, at least, save Genevieve, who sat placidly on Mrs.
Craig's lap (Mr. Craig had brought out a chair from Miss Camilla's
kitchen) and, thumb in mouth, watched the men furiously hurling the soil
in great shovelfuls from the curious "hole." She could not understand
why Mrs. Craig should sob softly, at intervals, under her breath, nor
why the strange gentleman should pace back and forth so restlessly and
give such sharp, hurried orders. And when he jumped into the hole, with
a startled exclamation, and seized the end of a heavy plank, she
wondered at the unnecessary excitement.
It took the united efforts of every man present to move that plank, and
when they had forced it aside, Mr. Craig stooped down with a smothered
cry.
And the next thing Genevieve knew, they had lifted out some one and laid
her on the ground, inert, lifeless and so covered with dirt and sand as
to be scarcely recognizable. But from the light, golden hair, Genevieve
knew it to be Doris. Before she knew where she was, Genevieve found
herself cascaded from Mrs. Craig's lap, and that lady bending
distractedly over the prostrate form.
Again the men emerged from the pit, carrying between them another form
which they laid beside Doris. And, with a howl of anguish, Genevieve
recognized the red-bronze pig-tail of her sister, Sally.
By the time Miss Camilla had been extricated from the débris as lifeless
and inert as the other two, the chauffeur had returned at mad speed from
the village, bringing with him a doctor and many strange appliances for
resuscitation. A pulmotor was put into immediate action, and another
period of heartbreaking suspense ensued.
It was Doris who first moaned her way back to life and at the
physician's orders was carried back into the house for further
ministrations. Sally was the next to show signs of recovery, but over
poor Miss Camilla they had to work hard and long, for, in addition to
having been almost smothered, her foot had been caught by the falling
plank and badly injured. But she came back to consciousness at last,
and her first words on opening her eyes were:
"Do you think we can get that Spode dinner-set out all right?" A remark
which greatly bewildered Mr. Craig, who happened to be the only one to
hear it!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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