ss Elting informed the guide that she
did not think Hazel's ankle would permit of her going any further that
day, there was a flurry in the mountainside camp.

The guide declared that they must go on until a suitable camping place
were reached, but how he did not say until he had consulted his
whiskers and studied the valleys below. He then gravely announced that
he would carry Hazel on his back. She promptly declared that she would
not permit it, and Miss Elting agreed with her. Then Janus rose to the
occasion by telling them that he would make a litter if one of the
young ladies thought she could bear up one end of it. Both Harriet and
Jane settled the matter by declaring they could carry the litter with
Hazel in it.

Janus made the litter by first laying two ropes on the ground about
eighteen inches apart. On these at right angles he tied sticks until
the affair resembled a carrier belt on a piece of machinery. A loop
with a stick rove into it was arranged at each end and a blanket was
thrown over the litter, which was then pronounced ready. None of them
ever had seen anything like it. The girls feared the litter would sag
so that no one could ride on it without being dragged along the ground.
Janus said the advantage in a rope litter was that they could go around
a bend with it and not break the side pieces, and, furthermore, that it
was soft and had plenty of give. Jane winked at Harriet, Hazel looked
troubled, while Tommy's face assumed a wise expression.

"Now for the start," called the guide, taking the front end of the
litter, after all was in readiness. "The one who takes the other end
had better not carry her pack, but lay it on the litter."

"I prefer to have my pack on my back. I know where it is then,"
remarked Harriet.

"Now, hadn't we better strap Hazel to the litter?" proposed Jane
thoughtfully.

"It is not necessary. There's no danger," declared the guide promptly.

"All right, then," nodded Harriet. "But, Hazel, if you wish my advice,
you'll take pains to hold fast."

The leader of the Meadow-Brook Girls lifted the loop over one shoulder,
passing it under one arm with the end stick resting slantingly across
her back. Janus took up the other end after Miss Elting had carefully
helped Hazel upon the litter, which tilted dangerously.

"Be careful not to drop me," begged Hazel. "It's a shame I'm so
helpless that I have to be carried, though Mr. Grubb says it isn't far
to the camp