When she stretched out she had a vague, delicious sensation that that was the end of Helen Rayner, and she was glad.
Above her, through the lacy, fernlike pine-needles, she saw blue sky and a pale star just showing. Twilight was stealing down swiftly. The silence was beautiful, seemingly undisturbed by the soft, silky, dreamy fall of water. Helen closed her eyes, ready for sleep, with the physical commotion within her body gradually yielding. In some places her bones felt as if they had come out through her flesh; in others throbbed deep-seated aches; her muscles appeared slowly to subside, to relax, with the quivering twinges ceasing one by one; through muscle and bone, through all her body, pulsed a burning current.
Bo's head dropped on Helen's shoulder. Sense became vague to Helen. She lost the low murmur of the waterfall, and then the sound or feeling of some one at the campfire. And her last conscious thought was that she tried to open her eyes and could not.
When she awoke all was bright. The sun shone almost directly overhead. Helen was astounded. Bo lay wrapped in deep sleep, her face flushed, with beads of perspiration on her brow and the chestnut curls damp. Helen threw down the blankets, and then, gathering courage -- for she felt as if her back was broken -- she endeavored to sit up. In vain! Her spirit was willing, but her muscles refused to act. It must take a violent spasmodic effort. She tried it with shut eyes, and, succeeding, sat there trembling. The commotion she had made in the blankets awoke Bo, and she blinked her surprised blue eyes in the sunlight.
"Hello -- Nell! do I have to -- get up?" she asked, sleepily.
"Can you?" queried Helen.
"Can I what?" Bo was now thoroughly awake and lay there staring at her sister.
"Why -- get up."
"I'd like to know why not," retorted Bo, as she made the effort. She got one arm and shoulder up, only to flop back like a crippled thing. And she uttered the most piteous little moan. "I'm dead! I know -- I am!""Well, if you're going to be a Western girl you'd better have spunk enough to move.""A-huh!" ejaculated Bo. Then she rolled over, not without groans, and, once upon her face, she raised herself on her hands and turned to a sitting posture. "Where's everybody? .
. . Oh, Nell, it's perfectly lovely here. Paradise!"Helen looked around. A fire was smoldering. No one was in sight. Wonderful distant colors seemed to strike her glance as she tried to fix it upon near-by objects. A beautiful little green tent or shack had been erected out of spruce boughs. It had a slanting roof that sloped all the way from a ridge-pole to the ground; half of the opening in front was closed, as were the sides. The spruce boughs appeared all to be laid in the same direction, giving it a smooth, compact appearance, actually as if it had grown there.
"That lean-to wasn't there last night?" inquired Bo.
"I didn't see it. Lean-to? Where'd you get that name?""It's Western, my dear. I'll bet they put it up for us. . .
. Sure, I see our bags inside. Let's get up. It must be late."The girls had considerable fun as well as pain in getting up and keeping each other erect until their limbs would hold them firmly. They were delighted with the spruce lean-to. It faced the open and stood just under the wide-spreading shelf of rock. The tiny outlet from the spring flowed beside it and spilled its clear water over a stone, to fall into a little pool. The floor of this woodland habitation consisted of tips of spruce boughs to about a foot in depth, all laid one way, smooth and springy, and so sweetly odorous that the air seemed intoxicating. Helen and Bo opened their baggage, and what with use of the cold water, brush and comb, and clean blouses, they made themselves feel as comfortable as possible, considering the excruciating aches. Then they went out to the campfire.
Helen's eye was attracted by moving objects near at hand.
Then simultaneously with Bo's cry of delight Helen saw a beautiful doe approaching under the trees. Dale walked beside it.
"You sure had a long sleep," was the hunter's greeting. "Ireckon you both look better."
"Good morning. Or is it afternoon? We're just able to move about," said Helen.
"I could ride," declared Bo, stoutly. "Oh, Nell, look at the deer! It's coming to me."The doe had hung back a little as Dale reached the camp-fire. It was a gray, slender creature, smooth as silk, with great dark eyes. It stood a moment, long ears erect, and then with a graceful little trot came up to Bo and reached a slim nose for her outstretched hand. All about it, except the beautiful soft eyes, seemed wild, and yet it was as tame as a kitten. Then, suddenly, as Bo fondled the long ears, it gave a start and, breaking away, ran back out of sight under the pines.
"What frightened it?" asked Bo.
Dale pointed up at the wall under the shelving roof of rock.
There, twenty feet from the ground, curled up on a ledge, lay a huge tawny animal with a face like that of a cat.
"She's afraid of Tom," replied Dale. "Recognizes him as a hereditary foe, I guess. I can't make friends of them.""Oh! So that's Tom -- the pet lion!" exclaimed Bo. "Ugh! No wonder that deer ran off!""How long has he been up there?" queried Helen, gazing fascinated at Dale's famous pet.
"I couldn't say. Tom comes an' goes," replied Dale. "But Isent him up there last night."
"And he was there -- perfectly free -- right over us --while we slept!" burst out Bo.
"Yes. An' I reckon you slept the safer for that.""Of all things! Nell, isn't he a monster? But he doesn't look like a lion -- an African lion. He's a panther. I saw his like at the circus once.""He's a cougar," said Dale. "The panther is long and slim.
Tom is not only long, but thick an' round. I've had him four years. An' he was a kitten no bigger 'n my fist when I got him.""Is he perfectly tame -- safe?" asked Helen, anxiously.