outed
upstairs, "why don't you be a passenger? Aren't you getting tired of
living up in the mountain hotel? Don't you want to come home and see
your family?"

"Yeth, I do want to come home," piped a small voice from far away up
under the roof. "So does my Hilda Rose," and Clary's little fair head
peered over the top banister.

"Come along then!" recklessly shouted the boys. "Can't you get aboard
the funicular yourself and start your journey?"

"What sillies girls are; just like women, always expecting somebody to
hand them in and hand them out!" grumbled Mark, who, being the guard,
felt bound to go up and start the lady passenger.

"Now then, ma'am," he said briskly, "you and your little girl had better
get in. Train's going to start when I wave this green flag!"

"Oh, please hold my Hilda Rose until I get my seat," nervously said the
passenger. "Oh! Mark--I mean Mr. Guard, do you think that Hilda Rose and
me can go down wifout falling?"

"Why, of course!" scornfully answered the guard. "Haven't you been on a
funicular before--the real thing? What's the use of bragging about the
dangers you've been through if you can't face them a second time? Now,
then, are you ready, ma'am?"

[Illustration: _Oliver was stooping over the senseless little figure._]

"Oh, no; not yet! Oh, but we sitted the other way in the real railway!"
tearfully remonstrated the passenger, who had been settled by the guard
on the banister face downwards.

"Can't help that, ma'am. It's the way we run trains. We gen'lly do
things different from the foreigners. Now then, I'll tie your little
girl on your back with her sash-ends, and, if you hold on tight, you
will both get to the bottom all right!"

And she might have got to her destination in safety had the passenger
been a boy accustomed to banister sliding instead of a weak, fragile
little girl.

"Ready below there?" shouted down the guard. "There, ma'am, I've
telegraphed down that you're coming!"

Mark's hand let go the wildly clinging passenger. A green flag was
waved. A shrill whistling rang through the house.

The funicular was off!

Then came faint, muffled cries of terror: a swish through the air as the
two passengers came sliding down: a louder shriek: and, lastly, a thud
on the hall floor that made the hearts of the waiting group of boys
stand quite still for a second or two.

At their feet was a huddled heap of blue frock and white pinafore, over
which trailed a wisp of lon