Poor 'Phemie was beyond her depth, although she rose "right side up" when she came to the surface. And when Lucas seized her she had sense enough not to struggle much.
"Oh, oh, oh!" she moaned. "The wa--water is s-so cold!"
"I bet ye it is!" agreed the young fellow, and gathering her right up into his arms, saturated as her clothing was, he bore her to the bank and clambered to where Lyddy was doing all she could to hold the restive ponies.
"Whoa, Spot and Daybright!" commanded the young farmer, soothing the ponies much quicker than he could his human burden. "Now, Miss, you're all right----"
"All r-r-right!" gasped 'Phemie, her teeth chattering like castanets. "I--I'm anything _but_ right!"
"Oh, 'Phemie! you might have been drowned," cried her anxious sister.
"And now I'm likely to be frozen stiff right here in this road. Mrs. Lot wasn't a circumstance to me. She only turned to salt, while I am be-be-coming a pillar of ice!"
But Lucas had set her firmly on her feet, and now he snatched up the old overcoat which had so much amused 'Phemie, and wrapped it about her, covering her from neck to heel.
"In you go--sit 'twixt your sister and me this time," panted the young man. "We'll hustle home an' maw'll git you 'twixt blankets in a hurry."
"She'll get her death!" moaned Lyddy, holding the coat close about the wet girl.
"Look out! We'll travel some now," exclaimed Lucas, leaping in, and having seized the reins, he shook them over the backs of the ponies and shouted to them.
The remainder of that ride up the mountain was merely a nightmare for the girls. Lucas allowed the ponies to lose no time, despite the load they drew. But haste was imperative.
A ducking in an icy mountain brook at this time of the year might easily be fraught with serious consequences. Although it was drawing toward noon and the sun was now shining, there was no great amount of warmth in the air. Lucas must have felt the keen wind himself, for he was wet, too; but he neither shivered nor complained.
Luckily they were well up the mountainside when the accident occurred. The ponies flew around a bend where a grove of trees had shut off the view, and there lay the Pritchett house and outbuildings, fresh in their coat of whitewash.