atch. Then I said, "Hello, hello."

The same voice kept saying, "Hello, hello, is this you, father?"

I said, "No, it isn't. How long does it take to get the operator in this
berg?"

The poor girl was almost crying by now. She said, "I've been trying for an
_age_ to get my father. Won't you _please_ let me get him? I want my
father! Why _don't_ they give me my father?"

Gee whiz, you'd think I had her father in my pocket. I said, "I'm trying to
get my sister, too. If you happen to see her, tell her, will you?"

She said, "Oh dear; it's just _exasperating_. Won't you _please_ get off
the wire. I want Central. Why can't they help me? We're in such a _dreadful
predicament_."

I said, "I guess Central went to the movies or somewhere. I'm a boy scout
and I'm in a dark station somewhere or other near Haverstraw--"

"Oh, isn't that just too _provoking!_" she said. I said, "Oh, it isn't so
bad in here, only it's dark."

"Is there _anything_ I can _do_?" she said; "we're lost on the top of
Eagle's Nest Mountain. Oh, I wonder if you'd be willing to go to Haverstraw
and tell my people--Judge Edwards. It's _dreadful!_ We've been here since
five o'clock. We haven't had a thing to eat and we're nearly perishing. The
boys made a mistake about the trail. Oh, it's _terrible!_ We're frightened
out of our lives. I'll _never, never_ come up this _horrible_ mountain
again!"

I said, "Are the boys scouts?"

She said, "No, they're regular young men and they're _utterly bewildered!"_

I said, "Now I _know_ they're not scouts. But anyway, you don't need to
worry, because we'll come up and get you. Trails are our middle names. You
should worry about Central. But, one thing, I'd like to know how there
happens to be a 'phone up there."

She said, "Oh, you're just a _dear."_ That's just exactly what she
said--honest.

I said, "Mountains aren't horrible. I've met a whole lot of them and
they're all right. Don't you worry. I was trying to get my sister on the
'phone to tell her Many Happy Wishes, because it's her birthday, and she's
having a party. She's just seventeen. We're on a hike."

"Oh, I'm just seventeen, too," she said; "and you're perfectly _wonderful_.
I _know_ you'll save us. We're up here at the fire observation station. If
you'll go to my father and go to the police--"

"We should worry about the police," I said; "the only trail they can follow
is a trail around the block. One of us fellows will go to your father's
hou