“Don’t fuss! I’ll try again, but this balcony is so narrow that I can’t swing my arm. Now, ready? Here goes!”

Up sailed the coil of rope, straight into Jo Ann’s outstretched hands.

“Whew! It’s a good thing I didn’t miss again,” gasped Peggy. “That was work, believe me!”

Quickly she fastened the parasol to the lowered end of the rope, and Jo Ann drew it up over the edge of the roof.

Perched on the wall of the roof, high above the city, her feet dangling and the parasol over her head, Jo Ann presented a queer, almost ridiculous appearance, but to Florence and Peggy her position seemed anything but amusing.

So dangerous did it look that Peggy cried out in alarm, “Jo! For goodness’ sake get off that wall! Haven’t you got into enough trouble for one day?”

“Oh, this would be great,” Jo Ann called back, “if the wall weren’t so hot. There’s a gorgeous view and a delightful breeze—what more could you ask for?” She drifted gaily into one of the popular songs of the day.

“Just picture a penthouse, ’way up in the sky,

With hinges on chimneys, for clouds to go by.”

“How can you joke about anything so serious?” asked Florence in a troubled voice. “Oh, here comes Dad with a patient! We’ll have to leave.”

“I’ll give you the signal as soon as we come back,” Peggy called softly.

Since the office opened with full-length, double doors directly onto the balcony, making it almost a part of the room, they hurried toward the door. Before they reached it, however, they met Dr. Blackwell and a tall, dignified man, who, with true Mexican courtesy, bowed politely and begged their pardon for having disturbed them.

As soon as the two girls were inside the bedroom, Florence asked anxiously, “What are we going to do about Jo Ann? I’m afraid she’ll be sick if she stays up there much longer in that hot sun.”

“I am, too,” Peggy replied, “but I don’t know what on earth we can do. Isn’t there any other possible way except the scaffold that she can get down?”

Florence shook her head.

Every few minutes they stopped talking long enough to peep out to see if the coast were clear. After what 

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