“Say, do you suppose she has any idea where she is going?” the latter asked of Betty in a tone that was designed to reach Mollie’s ear.  But before she could say anything more, Mollie herself swung jubilantly round upon them.

“Here we are, girls!” she cried.  “Now see if you ever saw anything so pretty in all your lives.”

Once more the girls stood spellbound by the natural beauty of the scene.  As they walked they had become more and more conscious of the roaring noise made by rushing water, and now, ascending a small rise of ground, they came full upon the majestic beauty of Moonlight Falls.

The falls fell full thirty feet, and at the foot of it the river was churned into swirling, liquid foam that whirled around and around again in a sort of mad race and then went rushing off down the river in a shower of lacy spray.

It was wildly inspiring, exhilarating, and the girls thrilled with a strange new emotion as they watched.  It was so free, so gloriously unchained!

“There is our swimming pool over there,” Mollie said, raising her voice to make it heard above the roar of the water.  “You see there is a sort of little back eddy below the falls and to one side of it, and right there we’ll find the best swimming of our lives.  But,” she added, and her voice was impressively solemn, “heaven help any one of us who gets in the path of the falls.”

“Look!” cried Amy suddenly, her voice ringing out full and clear and startled above the uproar.  “That—­ thing—­ over there.  It is going into the falls—­ no, under them!”

“Where?” cried Mollie eagerly, leaning far forward.  “Oh, yes, I see what you mean.  Oh, girls, I’m slipping!” Her voice rose to a terrified wail.  “Betty!  Catch me!”

But Betty was too late.  She sprang forward just in time to see Mollie slide down the slippery bank and plunge into the maddened water of the river!

CHAPTER XVII

 The thing

It took the girls a moment to realize the extent of the awful thing that had happened.  Then Betty, obeying her first impulse, raised her hands above her head as though to dive, but Amy screamed to her to stop.

“You will only be lost too!” she cried frantically.  “Look—­ that flat stick—­ the long one——­”

Instantly Betty saw what she meant and stooped to pick up a long broken branch that was lying at her feet.  At the same instant Mollie came to the surface several feet away from the spot where she had fallen and threw her strength desperately against the rushing might of the river.

Betty ran along the river bank, Amy and Grace at her heels, shouting encouragement to Mollie as she ran.

“Hold tight!” she cried, adding with fresh dismay as she saw that the girl was being swept further from the shore:  “Over this way, honey, Swim to your right—­ to your right——­”

Blinded, chilled to the bone with the cold water, her hair in her eyes and her skirts clinging tight about her legs, Mollie struggled wildly, unable to hear the shouts of her chums above the ringing in her ears.