19 a heroine!

daphne stood quite still and listened. the cry came again on the wind, very faint. “here! here!”

it seemed to come from somewhere in front. daphne struggled on against the wind, and then came to a place where the cliff edge swung inwards. she followed the edge round cautiously, not daring to go too near, for the wind was so strong. still, it seemed to be dying down a little now.

she suddenly heard mary-lou’s voice much nearer. “help! help!”

daphne was afraid of being blown over the cliff if she went too near the edge. but the voice seemed to come from the edge somewhere. daphne sat down on the wet ground, feeling that the wind would not then have so much power over her and began to edge herself forward, holding on the tufts of grass when she could.

she came to where the cliff had crumbled away a little, and made a series of ledges, going steeply down to the sea. she crawled to this place, lay flat down and shone her light over the broken cliff.

and there, a few feet below, was poor mary-lou, clinging for dear life to a ledge, her white face upturned to the glare of the torch.

“help!” she called again, feebly, seeing the torch. “oh, help me! i can’t hold on much longer!”

daphne was horrified. she could see that if mary-lou did leave go, she would hurtle down to the rocks a long way below. her heart went cold at the thought. what could she do?

“i’m here, mary-lou!” she called. “hold on. i’ll fetch help.”

“oh—daphne! is it you! don’t go away, daphne, i shall fall in a minute. can’t you do something?”

daphne looked down at mary-lou. she felt that it would not be the slightest use leaving her and going for help for it was clear that mary-lou might leave go at any moment. no, she must think of something else and do it at once.

she thought of her mackintosh belt, and her tunic belt. if she tied those both together and let them down, mary-lou might hold them and drag herself up. but would they reach?

she undid her mackintosh belt and took off her tunic belt with fingers that fumbled exasperatingly. all the time she kept up a comforting flow of words to mary-lou.

“i’ll save you, don’t you worry! i’ll soon have you up here! i’m making a rope with my belts and i’ll let it down. hold on, mary-lou, hold on, and i’ll soon save you!”

mary-lou was comforted and held on. she had been so frightened when the gale took her and rolled her over and over to the edge of the cliff. how she had managed to hold on to the tufts of grass she didn’t know. it had seemed ages and ages till she heard daphne’s voice. now daphne was here and would rescue her. whatever gwendoline had said, daphne was her friend!

daphne lay down flat again. she found a stout gorse bush behind her and she pushed her legs under it till her feet found the sturdy root-stem growing out of the ground. heedless of scratches and pricks, she wound her two feet firmly round the stem, so that she had a good hold with her legs and would not be likely to be pulled over the cliff by mary-lou.

a frantic voice suddenly came up to her. “daphne! this tuft of grass is giving way! i shall fall! quick, quick!”

daphne hurriedly let down the rough rope, made of her two belts. mary-lou caught at it and looped the end firmly round her wrists. daphne felt the pull at once.

“are you all right?” she called, anxiously. “you won’t fall now, will you?”

“no. i don’t think so. my feet have got quite a firm hold,” called back mary-lou, much reassured by the belt round her wrists. “i shan’t pull you over, shall i, daphne?”

“no. but i don’t think i’m strong enough to pull you up!” said daphne, in despair. “and the belts might break and let you fall. i don’t see that we can do anything but just hang on to each other till somebody finds us.”

“oh, poor daphne! this is awful for you,” came back mary-lou’s voice. “i wish i’d never thought of taking that parcel.”

“it was kind of you,” said daphne, not knowing how to get the words out. “but you’re always kind, mary-lou. and mary-lou, i’m your friend. you know that, don’t you? gwen told me the beastly things she said. they’re not true. i think the world of you, i do really. i’ve never been fond of anyone before.”

“oh, i knew gwen told me untruths, as soon as i heard your voice and knew you’d come to look for me,” said mary-lou, out of the darkness. “i think you’re a heroine, daphne.”

“i’m not,” said daphne. “i’m a beastly person. you simply don’t know how beastly.”

“this is a funny conversation to be having on a cliff-side in a stormy night, isn’t it?” said mary-lou, trying to sound cheerful. “oh dear—i am so sorry to have caused all this trouble. daphne, when will people come to look for us?”

“well, only gwen knows i’ve come out,” said daphne. “if i don’t come back soon, surely she will tell nosey parker, and they’ll send out to look for us. i do hope she’ll have the sense to tell someone.”

gwendoline had. she had felt very worried indeed about first mary-lou and now daphne. when daphne had not come back after half an hour, gwendoline had gone to miss parker. she told her where mary-lou had gone and that daphne had gone to look for her.

“what! out on the coast road at night! in this weather! what madness!” cried miss parker, and rushed off to miss grayling at once.

in two or three minutes a search-party was out with lanterns, ropes and flasks of hot cocoa. it was not long before the two girls were found. miss grayling gave an agonized exclamation as she saw them. “they might both have been killed!”

daphne’s arms were almost numb with strain when the search-party came up. they saw her lying flat on the ground, her legs curled tightly round the stem of the prickly bush, holding the two belts down the cliff-side—and there, at the other end, holding on for dear life, was mary-lou, the sea pounding away far below her.

a rope was let down to mary-lou, slipped right over her head, and tightened over arms and shoulders. another one looped tightly round her waist. daphne got up thankfully, her legs almost asleep, and miss parker caught hold of her. “steady now! hold on to me!”

mary-lou was pulled up safely by a hefty gardener. she lay on the ground, crying with relief. the gardener undid the ropes and lifted her up. “i’ll carry her,” he said. “give her a drink, mam, she’s freezing!”

both girls felt glad of the hot cocoa. then, holding on to miss parker, daphne staggered back to school, followed by the gardener carrying mary-lou, and then by the rest of the party.

“put both girls to bed,” miss grayling said to matron. “they’ve had a terrible experience. i only hope they don’t get pneumonia now! daphne, you saved little mary-lou’s life, there’s no doubt about that. i am very proud of you!”

daphne said nothing at all, but, to miss grayling’s surprise, hung her head and turned away. she had no time to puzzle over this, but helped matron to get mary-lou undressed and into bed. both girls were soon in warm beds, with hot food and drink inside them. they each felt extremely sleepy, and went off to sleep quite suddenly.

the second-formers were in bed, worried and sleepless. gwen had told them about mary-lou going off, and daphne following her to see if she could find her. they knew that a search-party had gone out. all kinds of horrible pictures came into their minds as they lay in bed and listened to the wind.

they talked long after lights out. sally did not forbid them. this was not a usual night—it was a night of anxiety, and talking helped.

then, after a long time, they heard miss parker’s quick footsteps coming along the corridor. news! they all sat up at once.

she switched on the light and looked round at the seven waiting girls. then she told them the story of how mary-lou and daphne had been found, and how daphne, by her ingenious idea, had saved mary-lou. she described how she had laid herself down on the wet ground, her feet curled round the gorse bush stem, and had held the belts down to mary-lou until help came.

“daphne’s a heroine!” cried darrell. “i never liked her—but, miss parker, she’s been marvellous, hasn’t she! she’s a real heroine!”

“i think she is,” said miss parker. “i did not guess that she had it in her. she’s in bed now, in the san., but i think she’ll soon be all right again. we’ll give her three cheers and a clap when she comes back to class.”

she switched off the light and said good night. the girls talked excitedly for a few minutes more, thankful that they knew what had happened. fancy daphne turning out like that! and doing it for mary-lou! why, gwen had always said that daphne only put up with mary-lou because she helped her with her french.

“daphne must be fond of mary-lou,” said darrell, voicing what everyone thought. “i’m glad. i always thought it was mean to use mary-lou and not really like her.”

“i wonder what became of the parcel,” said belinda. “mary-lou can’t have posted it, because the post-office was shut. i bet nobody thought of the precious parcel.”

“we’ll go and hunt for it tomorrow,” said sally. “i say—what a small dormy we are tonight—only seven of us. ellen gone—and daphne and mary-lou in the san. well, thank goodness they’re there and not out on the cliff.”

the wind rose to a gale again and howled round north tower. the girls snuggled down closer into the beds. “i do think daphne was brave,” said darrell, “and i can’t imagine how timid little mary-lou could possibly have dared to go out in this gale. mary-lou of all people.”

“people are queer,” said irene. “you simply never can tell what a person will do from one day to the next.”

“you never said a truer word!” chuckled darrell. “today you put your french grammar away in the games cupboard and tried to put your lacrosse stick into your desk—and goodness knows what you’ll do tomorrow.”