rst round or two. You'll soon get used to it." And
without heeding Gerry's remonstrances, she insisted upon the girl
coming into the ring and taking her place at a rope.

"Hold on firmly with both hands to the bar," the prefect directed.
"Swing your body well forward when we begin to move and I'll give you a
good push-off."

Gerry hated this particular form of merry-go-round. It made her feel
sick and giddy, and she was unable to work her body backwards and
forwards rhythmically enough to keep her place in the magic circle.
She gasped for breath and held on tightly while Muriel ran her two or
three times round the ring, and endeavoured to work her body as the
other girls were doing. But the result was a hopeless failure, and
when the head girl, having given her pupil what she thought was a
super-excellent start, left go her hold, Gerry swung helplessly at the
end of her rope, getting into the way of the girl who was swinging
behind her, and finally bringing them both to an ignominious finish in
the middle of the ring.

"What a donkey you are!" said Margaret Taylor angrily. She stooped
down to rub her ankle, which Gerry had kicked rather hard in her
efforts to keep herself going. "I was having a perfectly lovely swing,
and now you've made me lose my turn." And she continued to glare
angrily at the unfortunate new girl until the other striders dropped
out one by one and the ring finally stopped.

Muriel made Gerry have one more try, but with no better results than
before. After that, the new girl was handed on to Monica Deane, who
was superintending the vaulting-horse. Gerry fared no better at this,
and although each prefect in turn tried their hand upon her, none of
them could find anything in the nature of apparatus upon which the new
girl could perform with any measure of success.

Muriel Paget had been keeping her eye upon Gerry, and saw the hopeless
exhibition the Lower Fifth girl was making of herself. But the prefect
was determined to conquer the nervousness which was such a handicap to
her protegee; and acting upon the plan which had succeeded so well with
Gerry at hockey, she cast about in her mind for something to set her to
do which would help her to make a start.

Finally she thought of the rope ladders.

"Nobody, not even the most hopeless duffer at gym, could make an utter
mess of them, surely," she thought to herself, and ordered the ladders
to be let down. But even here she had reckoned