tentively while Gwen gave instructions as to what they were to ask
the stationmaster to send.

"It's such a comfort you know!" said Hilda. "I wish I'd learnt
ambulance."

It seemed an interminable age to poor Miss Roberts and the girls
before a railway porter and two labourers who had been working on the
line, arrived with a stretcher, which fortunately was kept in the
inspector's office at Riggness. It was a tedious slow journey along
the shore, and up to the station. The patient was nearly worn out by
the time they placed her in the waiting-room, and was thankful to have
the cup of tea which the stationmaster's wife brought her. A doctor
arrived from Stedburgh half an hour afterwards, armed with proper
splints and bandages, and he carefully examined and reset the broken
limb.

"I must thoroughly congratulate the young lady who contributed first
aid," he said. "She managed most skilfully. This would have been a
serious thing but for her prompt measures. If the bone had been jolted
about before it was put in splints, the consequences might have been
permanent lameness or even loss of life. I wish it were obligatory for
everybody to study ambulance."

The doctor took Miss Roberts back to her home in Stedburgh in his own
car, and the girls followed by the next train, all equally anxious to
get away from Riggness. They were much distressed about their teacher;
the excursion had been a fiasco, and the whole party felt limp and out
of spirits, like sheep without a shepherd.

"I'm thankful to get the whole crew packed off safe," said the
stationmaster to his wife. "My word! It was a nasty accident to
happen, down there on the shore. Good thing one of those lassies had a
head on her shoulders!"

"An ordinary enough looking girl, too," remarked his wife. "I wouldn't
have guessed she'd be the one to come forward. But there, one never
can tell!"

"There must be more in her than shows on the outside," agreed the
stationmaster.

CHAPTER XVII

A Pressing Account

When Gwen took her place at her desk on the following Monday morning,
she was aware of a subtle difference in the general attitude towards
her. She had earned the respect of the Form, and though nobody gushed,
she felt she was no longer regarded as an interloper and upstart.
Especially was this noticeable in the case of the nicer girls, several
of whom spoke to her in quite a pleasant manner, and included her in a
discussion about the tennis tournamen