Page:The House Without Windows.djvu/33

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
The Meadow
25

Eepersip’s anatomy, though no one suspected it at the time--namely, her feet. Mrs. Ikkisfield dropped them, and for the fraction of an instant which Eepersip needed they were allowed to touch the ground. Eepersip wrenched herself free and leaped to the back of the trembling, excited creature, and they bounded away quick as a flash. The others, agitated, turned to chase the doe; but she, with Eepersip on her back, had vanished.

"Whew, that was a narrow escape!" Eepersip whispered in one of the doe’s long ears, as they lay down together.

The next day it rained hard. Eepersip's parents and their friends spent much time making plans for a day when they could go out. Mrs. Ikkisfield now made a suggestion

"It is," she said, "very like the plan that we tried last night--namely, to find Eepersip while she is sleeping. But we must have more people, more people! If we can get some friends from the village at the foot of the mountain, they can drive the deer that we meet away from the people that are carrying Eepersip. In that way she cannot be saved by deer."

"That is true,” said Mrs. Eigleen; "but, you know, often an angry herd of deer is a terrible thing to drive back."