Page:Boy scouts in the White Mountains; the story of a long hike (IA boyscoutsinwhite00eato).pdf/96

 found Art and the pink girl waiting for them at the mouth of a cave.

Behind them they could hear the screams and laughter of the rest, and Mamma's voice exclaiming, "I never can get through there, I tell you!"

Alice put her face to the hole and shouted back, "Come on, Mamma, we'll pull you through if you stick!"

Then she looked at her feet. "Gee, Grace," she called to the pink girl, "I'm soaked up to my knees!"

"I was soaked up to my neck two days ago," Peanut laughed. "You'll dry. Anyhow, we can build a fire when we get out, and you can take off your wet things, and sit with your little pink tootsies to the blaze."

Alice, with a laugh, gave him a slap on the cheek.

"Why, Alice!" exclaimed the pink girl, shocked.

"Oh, he's a fresh one, he needs it," said Alice, and turned with a shriek of delight to see the first face of the following party emerge through the hole. It was "Mamma"! Her face was flushed with exertion, and wore a look of agonized fright. Her hair was disarranged, and hanging into her eyes. From behind her issued voices, "Hurry up, Ma, you're blocking the passage!"

"Come here, you laughing monkey, and help your mother down!" she cried to Alice. "How do you suppose I can get out of this hole head first?"