u will fall,"
said Harriet.

"How far will I fall?" quavered Tommy.

"Only a few feet," replied Harriet. "You aren't more than six or seven
feet from the ground. The ground is soft. It's all moss and mold under
this tree."

"I don't want to fall," wailed the little girl "I want to thtay here.
Don't you dare touch me, Harriet Burrell."

"Then wait until the others get here. They are almost here now."

"There it is," cried a voice. Harriet thought the voice belonged to Miss
Elting. It proved to belong to Cora Kidder. "My gracious, girls what is
it?"

"It ith I," answered a plaintive voice from above their heads.

"Oh, oh, oh!" cried the girls as they gazed up at the limb of the tree
from where Tommy was suspended.

"Young woman what are you doing up there?" demanded Mrs. Livingston. "Are
you Miss Thompson?"

"I wath. I don't know who I am now, Mithith Livingthton. Pleathe help me
down."

"If you will stand below to catch her I think I shall be able to release
her," called Harriet from her perch in the tree.

Harriet had not been seen before in the darkness, screened by the foliage
as she was, Mrs. Livingston called to know who she was. Harriet gave her
name. Then the Chief Guardian directed that Harriet should release the
prisoner from her difficulty while several of the guardians stood in a
circle under the tree with arms outstretched ready to stop the fall of the
little figure hanging over their heads.

"Are you going to drop me?" questioned Tommy in great alarm.

"Yes, but it won't hurt you," answered Harriet.

"I don't want to. I----"

Tommy did not complete the sentence. Instead she finished with a scream as
Harriet unfastened the cord from the stub that had held it and with one
hand lowered Tommy into the arms of her friends. This Harriet did with one
hand, clinging with the other to one of the lower limbs of the tree. As
several of the girls held up their lanterns to aid the others in catching
Grace, there were exclamations of admiration at Harriet's exhibition of
strength.

"Who would think her so strong?" exclaimed a guardian.

"Harriet is as plucky as she is strong," answered Miss Elting.

So Tommy did not fall after all. Harriet had not been certain that the
cord would hold, hence she had requested the guardians to stand ready to
break the smaller girl's fall. After Tommy had been lowered, Harriet
swung herself down and joined the excited group below.

"Miss Burrell, kindly explain what