cursed his evil fortune and dug in his finger and toe nails and wondered if he could continue to hold on until she got through with her tomfoolery!
At last, with a parting salute to the sun, she turned and ran back, not toward the stairway, as Dick had hoped, but in the direction of the corner from which she had appeared; and approaching the row of tall crotons at the left of the canvas awning, flung up her hand, and in an instant there flickered into sight the bright rain of a shower-bath, transformed into a rainbow by the brilliant rays of the sun. Then her hands went up and began to lift the shoulders of the pink night robe.
The sweat stood out upon Dick's brow. The moment was appalling. There was no alternative. He clutched the trunk of the tree to his bosom and called wildly, "Help!"
He had intended the sound to be loud and enlightening; but he was cramped and he was hoarse and he was deeply perturbed, and as a consequence the sound which issued from his throat was decidedly weak and somewhat creaky. However, it reached the girl's ears, and she started and turned incredulously in his general direction, but apparently seeing nothing from which such a strange squawk could have emanated.
Exasperated, he once more essayed the call, this time purposely lower, being of no mind to have it reach the ears of the old Chinaman.
