_gets_ to the jump--that part's awfully
steep," consoled one boy, speaking the fear that was in each heart.

"If she kills herself you'll be her murderer," cried Gyp passionately to
Ginny Cox.

Ginny was wishing very much that she hadn't made that silly, boastful
dare--trying to make someone else do what she was afraid to try herself!
She was very fond of Jerry. The red faded from her face; she clenched
her hands tightly together.

Tibby commenced to cry hysterically. One of the older girls declared
they ought to call Jerry back. The boys shouted, but Jerry, catching the
sound faintly, only waved her hand in answer.

At the top of the hill Jerry turned and looked down the long stretch.
She had skied over many of the trails of Kettle, but none of them had
had "jumps" as difficult as this. Quite undaunted, however, she told
herself that she needed only to "keep her head." She adjusted her skis,
then tried the weight of her pole, carefully, to learn its balance. She
began to move forward slowly, her eyes fixed on the narrow tracks before
her, her knees bent ever so little, her slim body tilted forward. Only
for one fleeting moment did she see the group below, standing immovable,
transfixed by their concern--then their faces blurred. The sharp wind
against her face, the lightning speed sent a thrill through every fibre
of Jerry's being; her mind was intensely alert to only one thing--that
moment when she must make the jump! It came--instinctively she balanced
herself for the leap, her back straightened, her arms lifted, her head
went up--as though she was a bird in flight she curved twenty feet
through the air ... her skis struck the snow-crusted tracks, her body
doubled, tilted forward ... then, amid the unforgettable shouts of the
boys and girls she slid easily, gracefully, on down the trail.

Ginny Cox was the first to reach her. She threw her arms about her and
almost strangled her in a passionate hug.

"You _wonder_! Oh, if anything had happened to you----"

The boys were loud and generous in their praise.

"Now we've found someone that can put it all over Hansen," shouted one
of them. "Let's challenge South High right off!"

"Who'd ever believe a little _kid_ like you could do it," exclaimed Dana
King with laughable frankness, but he stared at Jerry with such open
admiration that any sting was quite taken from his words.

Jerry could not know, of course, that, all in a moment, she had become a
"person" in L