Half an hour later she heard them coming. Tommy’s chatter sounded louder than the conversation of all the rest of the party. Twilight had settled over the interior of the barn by the time the girls came trooping in.
“Br-r-r-r! This place looks spooky,” cried Margery. “We aren’t going to stay in here all night, are we, Miss Elting?”
“Yes, Margery. You are not afraid of the dark, are you?”
“There is nothing to alarm you. As we are all rather tired, I propose that we go upstairs and get to bed at once. I am sorry we shall not be able to get our baths this evening. This hotel isn’t provided with bath tubs. By the way. There are matches in our packs, so we will leave them below. One of the first things a Camp Girl learns, you know, is to be careful of fire both indoors and out. Strap your blanket rolls over your shoulders. You know it is quite a climb to your bedrooms.”
“Up there is where we sleep,” Harriet informed them. The top of the mow was not discernible from the barn floor now.
“What! Away up there?” demanded Margery. “How do we get up?”
“We shall have to climb the ladder,” answered Miss Elting.
“I’m glad it’s dark. If it were daylight I know I should fall,” declared Hazel. “Let me go first. I don’t want to stand here and think about what is before me. If I stop to think I’ll never have the courage to climb.”
“Don’t look down,” cautioned the guardian. “There. That’s fine.”
Hazel was going up rapidly. Margery, with many a groan, next essayed the climb. Harriet was directly behind her. Margery had not gone far before the wisdom of Harriet’s action became apparent. A wail from Margery brought a chorus of “ohs!” from her companions.
“I can’t go another step,” gasped Margery. “I’m going to fall. Catch me somebody.”
“Margery, keep on climbing. I’m right below you here. Go on,” urged Harriet.
“Buthter ith theathick,” observed Tommy from the barn floor. Harriet began lightly, tapping Buster with a switch that she had brought with her.
“Oh! Ouch! Stop it! I tell you stop it!” howled Margery.
Margery _did_ climb. She went up the ladder faster than she ever had climbed before, wailing and threatening every foot of the way. Tommy was delightedly dancing about on the barn floor during all this time, uttering a perfect volley of unintelligible lisps and jeering cries. Margery reached the top of the ladder and flung herself panting on the hay.