ead, then she'll be more
comfortable. What we want next are the splints."

Many willing hands obeyed Gwen's orders. In less than a few minutes
the sand was heaped under Miss Roberts's head and shoulders, while
Louise constantly wetted her forehead and lips with water. Gwen, with
a few assistants, had gone in quest of splints. She had spied some
hazel bushes farther up the gorge, which she thought might suffice for
her purpose. Up the steep bed of the stream the girls climbed,
splashing recklessly in and out of the water, to save time being their
main object.

"They'll have to be thick pieces, and long too," said Gwen. "They
ought to go from above the knee to below the foot. Whose penknife is
sharpest?"

Nobody's was very sharp, and the girls had to hack and hew away slowly
and painfully before they could make the least impression on the tough
hazel boughs. At last Gwen secured several lengths which satisfied
her, and she returned to her patient.

"Now, I want all your handkerchiefs to make bandages. Thanks!
Charlotte, pull her foot just a trifle more, no--her toes should be
up--so! That's better. I'm sorry to hurt you so dreadfully, Miss
Roberts! I shall very soon have finished. There! I think those
bandages are right. Give her some more water, Louise, quick!"

Poor Miss Roberts had indeed nearly fainted again with pain, but she
recovered herself, and even smiled as she thanked her helpers.

"I've spoilt the excursion!" she murmured.

"What's to be done next? Can we carry her?" asked Hilda.

"Better not try. The quieter that leg is kept the better. She ought to
be lifted on a stretcher."

"There isn't even a farm near here."

"I know. I think for the present she's best where she is, while some
of you go to the station at Riggness for help. Possibly they may have
a railway ambulance, or at any rate they could bring a door."

"Is there a doctor there?"

"I'm afraid not, it's only a tiny village, but the stationmaster would
telegraph to Stedburgh for one. Perhaps he could come by motor, if
there's no train."

It was amazing what thoughtfulness and self-reliance had come to Gwen
with the emergency. She made her plans and arrangements as calmly as
if she were accustomed to deal every day with accidents. No one
questioned her authority, and all were willing to do what she told
them. Iris Watson and two others who were judged the quickest walkers
volunteered to go to the station for help, and they listened
at