om home. How could she leave her cousin in this
dreadful plight? Before help could come, she might be lost indeed, drawn
bodily under by the treacherous ooze. She turned away, but came running
back suddenly, for she heard a sound coming from the opposite direction,
a cheerful whistle.

"Oh, Rita!" she cried; "help is near. I hear some one whistling, a boy
or a man. Oh, help! help! Come this way, please!"

The whistle changed to a cry of surprise, uttered in a familiar voice.
The next minute, Peggy came running through the wood, her hands and face
red with strawberry juice.

Margaret could only gasp, and point to Rita, for her heart seemed to die
within her when she saw that the newcomer was only a girl like
herself,--only poor, awkward Peggy.

They were no better off than before, save that now one could go for
help, while the other could stay to cheer poor Rita. Rita was now deadly
white; she had ceased to call. The black ooze had crept to her knees,
and she no longer made any effort to extricate herself. Margaret was
turning to run again, but Peggy stopped her. "Stand still!" she said.
"I'll get her out."

Ah, poor, awkward, ill-dressed Peggy, your hour has come now! Not for
nothing were you brought up on a prairie, your eyes trained to
quickness, your arms strong as steel, your wits ever on the alert where
there is danger! Poor Peggy, this is your hour, and the haughty beauty
and the gentle student must own you their superior.

Peggy cast a keen glance around; she was looking for something. Spying a
stout stake that had been broken off and was lying on the ground, she
caught it up, and the next moment had thrown herself flat on her face.
Lying flat, she began slowly and cautiously to wriggle out across the
surface of the quaking bog. The black water seethed and bubbled under
her; but her weight, evenly distributed, did not bear on any one spot
heavily enough to press her down. Slowly, carefully, she worked her way
out, while the other girls held their breath and dared not speak. Once,
indeed, Rita moaned, and cried, "No, no, one is enough! Go back! I
cannot let you come!"

But Margaret had seen that in Peggy's eyes and mien which kept her
silent. She stood trembling, with clasped hands, praying for both. She
could do no more.

"Lie down now, Rita!" Peggy commanded. "Lie flat, just as I am! Stretch
out your arms,--so! Now, catch hold!"

Rita obeyed to the point. It was terrible to lie down in that awful
bla