I swan!" exclaimed Long Sam, who was at the wheel, "if you Dolly
ain't the rippenest little mortal! However you managed to keep a grip on
that there kid is more'n I can tell!"
"I'm sure I can't tell you," and Dolly smiled, out of sheer happiness at
Gladys' safety.
They reached the shore in a few moments and Mrs. Rose was there with a
big blanket in which to wrap the baby while they carried her up to the
house. Sarah the nurse was there, and soon Gladys, warmed and fed and
arrayed in dry clothes, was pronounced by all to be none the worse for
her thrilling experience.
Dolly, however, was exhausted. Mrs. Rose, after leaving the baby to the
nurse, hurried Dolly home and put her to bed.
"Yes, my dear," she said as Dolly objected; "you have an ordeal to go
through with as heroine of this occasion. When Mrs. Norris comes home,
she will come over here to give you a medal for bravery and heroism and
general life-saving attributes. So you must go to bed now and get rested
up to receive her thanks. You're going to have a cup of hot broth and a
good rest and perhaps a nap, and you'll wake up just as bright and happy
as ever."
And Mrs. Rose's treatment was just what Dolly needed. She slept an hour
or more and then awoke to find Dotty's black eyes gazing into her own.
"You beautiful, splendid Dollyrinda!" she exclaimed. "You're a Red Cross
heroine and a Legion of Honour Girl and I don't know what all!"
"Nonsense, Dot; I didn't do any more than you did. If you hadn't had the
gumption to run and get your father, Gladys would--well,--things would
have been different."
"It was all my fault, though," and the tears came into Dotty's eyes. "I
did the wrong in putting the baby in the canoe in the first place."
"I did that just as much as you did. We both did wrong there, I expect.
And we both did wrong in scrabbling over the rope. Oh, we did wrong all
right, but neither of us was worse than the other. What will Mrs. Norris
say to us?"
"She's here now," said Dotty, "waiting for you to come down. She doesn't
blame us, she blames Sarah for going away and leaving the baby."
"That isn't fair!" and Dolly sprang out of bed; "we told Sarah she could
go. Tie up my hair, please, Dotty, I want to go down and tell Mrs.
Norris all about it."
But as it turned out, Mrs. Norris was so glad and happy that little
Gladys was safe, that she wouldn't allow the two D's to be blamed at
all. And as the girls besought her not to blame the
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