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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/23894-8.txt b/23894-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1ebc09d --- /dev/null +++ b/23894-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6177 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Billie Bradley at Three Towers Hall, by Janet +D. Wheeler + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Billie Bradley at Three Towers Hall + or, Leading a Needed Rebellion + + +Author: Janet D. Wheeler + + + +Release Date: December 18, 2007 [eBook #23894] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BILLIE BRADLEY AT THREE TOWERS +HALL*** + + +E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 23894-h.htm or 23894-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/8/9/23894/23894-h/23894-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/8/9/23894/23894-h.zip) + + + + + +BILLIE BRADLEY AT THREE TOWERS HALL + +Or, Leading a Needed Rebellion + +by + +JANET D. WHEELER +Author of "Billie Bradley and Her Inheritance," "Billie Bradley on +Lighthouse Island," Etc. + +Illustrated + + + + + + + +New York +George Sully & Company +Publishers + +Copyright, 1920, by +George Sully & Company + + + + +[Illustration: The girls swept past them, and ran down the steps of the +school.] + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I ALMOST A FORTUNE + + II THE WRECK + + III RECOVERED TREASURE + + IV THE "CODFISH" + + V AMANDA SURPRISES + + VI OFF FOR THREE TOWERS HALL + + VII MISS WALTERS + + VIII THE DILL PICKLES + + IX A NEW ACQUAINTANCE + + X LAKE MOLATA + + XI LIGHTS OUT + + XII TOO MUCH TO EAT + + XIII FOUR ENEMIES + + XIV BILLIE SNORES SUCCESSFULLY + + XV A PLOT FAILS + + XVI MYSTERY + + XVII THE QUARREL + + XVIII THE "CODFISH" AGAIN + + XIX ROBBED! + + XX CHET PLAYS THE HERO + + XXI RAIDING THE PANTRY + + XXII A CHALLENGE + + XXIII A PRISONER OF WAR + + XXIV THE CAPTURE + + XXV HAPPY AGAIN + + + + +BILLIE BRADLEY AT THREE TOWERS HALL + + + + +CHAPTER I + +ALMOST A FORTUNE + + +"Oh, Dad, I can't believe it's true!" + +In the rather dim light of the gloomy old room the boys and girls looked +queer--almost ghostly. They were gathered about a shabby old trunk, and +beside this trunk a man was kneeling. As Billie Bradley spoke, the man, +who was her father, rose to his feet and thoughtfully brushed the dust +from his clothes. Then he stood looking down at the hundreds and +hundreds of postage stamps and old coins that filled the queer old +trunk. + +"Is it really true, Dad?" Billie continued, shaking her father's arm +impatiently while the other young folks looked eagerly up at him. + +Mr. Bradley nodded slowly. + +"Yes, you really have made a find this time, Billie," he said. "Of +course I'm not an expert, but I'm sure the coins in that old trunk are +worth three thousand dollars, and the postage stamps ought to bring at +least two thousand more----" + +"At least two thousand more!" broke in Chet Bradley, excitedly. "Does +that mean that Billie may get more for the postage stamps?" + +"I shouldn't wonder," replied Mr. Bradley, nodding his head. "However," +he added, smiling round at the girls and boys, "you'd better not count +on anything over five thousand." + +"But five thousand dollars!" interrupted Laura Jordon, in an awed voice. +"Just think of it, Billie! And because your Aunt Beatrice left you this +house and everything in it, every last cent of that five thousand +belongs to you." + +"Yes," said Teddy Jordon, turning to Billie with a chuckle. "I suppose +you won't look at any of us now you've got this money. How does it feel, +Billie?" + +"I--I don't know, yet," stammered Billie, still staring at the wonderful +trunk. "You'll just have to give me time to get used to it, that's all." + +As those readers who have read the first book of this series, entitled +"Billie Bradley and Her Inheritance," will probably have gathered, the +girls, Billie Bradley, Laura Jordon and Violet Farrington, and their boy +relatives and chums, Chet Bradley, Ferd Stowing and Teddy Jordon, were +still at the old homestead at Cherry Corners where so many weird and +mysterious experiences had befallen them. + +For the benefit of those who are meeting the girls and boys for the +first time, what had happened up to the time of this story will be +sketched over briefly. + +The young folks had grown up in North Bend, a town of perhaps twenty +thousand people, and about forty miles by rail from New York City. The +girls had seen the great metropolis several times, though their visits +had been all too short to satisfy their eager curiosity. + +Billie Bradley was called the most popular girl in North Bend, and, +indeed, after one had been with Billie five minutes, one would never +again wonder where she got the title. + +Whether it was her sparkling brown eyes with the imp of mischief always +lurking in them, or her merry laugh that made every one want to laugh +with her, or the adventurous spirit that made her eager to embark on any +kind of lark, it would be hard to tell--perhaps her popularity arose +from a combination of all of these. But the fact remains that everybody +loved her and she had not an enemy, except, perhaps, Amanda Peabody--but +more of _her_ later! + +Then there was Laura Jordon, Billie's best chum, blue-eyed and +golden-haired, who, despite the fact that her father was very wealthy +and owned the thriving jewelry factory in North Bend, was not the +slightest bit spoiled or conceited. She adored Billie, and although the +two would sometimes enter into rather heated discussions, it was usually +Laura who gave in to Billie in the end. + +The last of the trio, but decidedly not the least, was Violet +Farrington, who, tall and dark and less hasty and impetuous than the +other two, often found the doubtfully blessed office of peacemaker +thrust upon her. And though her slowness and tendency to hang back +sometimes exasperated her chums, they nevertheless were very fond of +her--and showed it. + +Chetwood Bradley, known as Chet to his friends, was Billie's +brother--and very proud of it. He was a splendid, fine looking, rather +thoughtful boy whom everybody liked. + +Ferd Stowing was a comical, jolly, all-around good fellow, who, though +he was not related to any of the girls, had been drawn into the group +through his friendship for the boys, Chet and Teddy. + +And--Teddy! Teddy, who was the handsomest and gayest of all the boys, +had been Billie's friend and playmate ever since they could remember. +Either of them would have felt lost without the friendship of the other. +Teddy was Laura's brother and had starred in almost all the sports in +which the lads of North Bend had taken part--a fact which did not make +Billie like him any the less. + +Just the summer before this story opens, Billie, going back with Violet +and Laura to the grammar school from which they had just graduated, had, +in a moment of thoughtless skylarking, broken a handsome and expensive +statue that belonged to her English teacher--Miss Martha Beggs. + +The accident was nothing short of a tragedy to Billie, for her father, +Martin Bradley, a real estate and insurance agent in North Bend, having +most of his capital tied up in property and being at the time engaged in +fighting a rather losing fight with the high cost of living was in no +position to pay a hundred dollars--which was what the statue was worth. + +Billie's worry was deepened by the fact that she would not be able to go +with Laura and Violet to Three Towers Hall, a boarding school to which +she had wanted to go all her life. The high school in North Bend was +notoriously poor and inefficient, and the girls had set their hearts on +attending Three Towers in the fall. And now, because of the broken +statue, Billie could not go. + +Then had come news of Beatrice Powerson's death. Beatrice Powerson was +an aunt of Billie's mother for whom Billie had been named. Then came the +strange inheritance which the queer old lady, who had spent her life +traveling, had left to Billie--the old homestead at Cherry Corners which +dated back to revolutionary times and had been the scene of more than +one Indian attack. + +Readers of the first book of this series will remember how the girls and +boys had decided to spend their vacation there, the many queer and +spooky experiences they had had, and finally the shabby old trunk which +Billie had found stowed away in a corner of the attic--a shabby old +trunk that contained riches; at least, so it now seemed to the boys and +girls. Five thousand dollars in the shape of old coins and postage +stamps. + +Billie had sent the wonderful news post-haste to her family, and Mr. +Bradley had hurried out to the old house to see if Billie's discovery +was really worth anything. + +And now he had just given the result of his investigation to six pairs +of ears. To be exact it had better be made seven, for Mrs. Maria +Gilligan, Mrs. Jordon's housekeeper and the girls' chaperone on this +expedition, was looking on with interest from the doorway. + +Five thousand dollars, perhaps more. This almost certainly meant that +not only could Billie go to Three Towers Hall, but Chet would be able to +go with the other boys to a military academy which was only a little +over a mile from Three Towers. + +"Oh, Daddy, I'm so glad you came!" + +Billie squeezed her father's arm ecstatically. + +"I'll say we are," said Ferd Stowing, staring down at the queer little +trunk as though he already could see it full to the brim with shining +new gold pieces from the mint instead of the old coins and rare postage +stamps that were its present contents. + +"How soon," he asked, turning to Mr. Bradley, "will you be able to get +real money for these?" + +"Probably almost as soon as we can get the trunk to North Bend," said +Mr. Bradley. "The bank----" But Billie would not let him finish. + +"Oh, Daddy, let's hurry!" she cried; then as her chums stared at her in +surprise she rushed over to the trunk and slammed the lid shut. "What +are you waiting for?" she cried, stamping her foot impatiently as she +turned to face them. "If _you_ want to stand around looking foolish, all +right. But _I'm_ going home." + +"Say! wait a minute," cried Teddy, stopping her as she started from the +room. "Perhaps your father----" + +"I was going to suggest," said Mr. Bradley, looking at his watch, "that +we catch the eight o'clock train for North Bend. Is that at all +possible, Mrs. Gilligan?" he asked, turning apologetically to Mrs. +Gilligan. + +However, before Mrs. Gilligan could reply, his daughter answered for +her. + +"Of course it is," she cried. "We girls were beginning to pack anyway. +Come on, girls, what we need is action," and without giving them a +chance to protest she fell upon the girls and dragged them from the +room. + +The boys looked after them with laughing eyes, and Mr. Bradley remarked +with a smile: "My young daughter seems to be unusually happy about +something." + +"No wonder," said Chet, shaking his head ruefully. "I'd be happy, too, +if anybody thought enough of me to give me five thousand dollars." + +The rest of that afternoon was one wild scramble for the girls and boys, +but at the end they made their train with, as the train was late, a few +minutes to spare. + +The boy who had driven them and their luggage to town was the same who +had taken the girls and their chaperone to the old homestead at Cherry +Corners upon their arrival over a month before. + +As he turned away and went back to his antiquated wagon, he shook his +head soberly. + +"Gosh," he said, "I do be sorry to see 'em go. When they first came it +sure did turn my heart cold to see three girls an' a woman goin' into +that there haunted house. At night it was, too! But it seems they've +come out all right, after all. Guess they must 'a' scared the ghosts +away. Well, you've sure got to hand it to 'em." And he shook his head +sagely as the springs of the old wagon creaked under him. "Giddap, +Napoleon!" And a few minutes later wagon and driver were enveloped in +the gray mist of the evening. + +"If we only get the train!" Such had been Billie's thought throughout +the drive to the station. Her mind was on getting home and turning the +precious old coins and postage stamps into real money. Then she could +arrange about going to Three Towers Hall and about sending her brother +to Boxton Military Academy. + +Fortunately the train was only ten minutes late, and presently they were +safely aboard and on the way to North Bend. + +Half an hour passed. Boys and girls were chatting gaily, the others +congratulating Billie over and over again on her good fortune. + +"Just like a page out of the Arabian Nights----" Teddy was saying when +his words were cut short most unexpectedly. + +There was a jar and a crash, a shock and another crash, and then the +lights in the car went out, leaving the passengers in darkness. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE WRECK + + +What followed was like a terrible nightmare. Shaken and jolted badly, +but not seriously hurt, it took the girls a horrible minute or two to +realize what had happened. There had been an accident--a terrible +accident. Then hands went out in the blackness and the girls called to +each other in strangled whispers that could not be heard above the din +and uproar outside. + +They heard Mr. Bradley shouting above the noise, asking if any one of +them was hurt and reassuring them. Gradually they managed to grope their +way to his side, guided by his voice, and with an agony of relief in his +heart he gathered the three girls to him and heard the voices of Mrs. +Gilligan and the boys at his elbow. + +"Let's get out of this," he cried, and began feeling his way cautiously +toward what had been the front of the car. + +He soon found the aisle blocked by what appeared to be the wreck of the +forward end of the car and was forced to turn back and feel his way +toward the rear platform. + +Fortunately the train had not been crowded. There had been only three or +four passengers in that car besides themselves, and so there was little +danger of being trampled in the dark. + +Fearfully, holding on to one another, the girls followed Mr. Bradley and +the boys, stepping gingerly over broken glass and other débris and +shivering with fear and excitement. + +"I wonder if anybody was hurt," Laura cried into Billie's ear. + +"Oh, I hope not," said Billie, her voice almost lost in the uproar. "I +guess it must have been the forward cars that caught the worst of it. We +just escaped." She shuddered and clasped Laura's hand more tightly. + +It seemed ages before they finally reached the platform of the car. +However, even nightmares come to an end, and they were suddenly startled +by having a red light flashed in their faces. And then a friendly Irish +voice accosted them in unmistakable brogue. + +"So it's here you are!" cried the voice, the speaker swinging the +lantern high so as to get a good look at them. "And it's glad Oi am to +be seein' ye. Be there any more in the car wid yez?" + +"I don't think so," replied Mr. Bradley, surprised to find that his +voice was trembling and that the hand he raised to wipe his forehead +shook like a leaf. If it had been himself alone who had been in +danger--but the young folks! + +As they descended to the platform the girls looked about them with wide, +frightened eyes, while their hearts pounded suffocatingly. + +The faces of the boys were white, but they plunged immediately into the +work of rescue. Men came running from the farms about. All who could get +lanterns had them, and the lights were seen swinging down the roadside +or in the ruined cars, searching for any one who might be pinned under +the wreckage. + +Most of the passengers had already been accounted for, but there were +one or two who must still be found. Mr. Bradley picked his way through +the débris to the front of the train, while Mrs. Gilligan and the girls +followed him slowly. + +"I wonder how it happened," said Violet, and it was the first time she +had spoken since the accident. "Oh, girls, I'm frightened to death!" + +"I wonder if anybody was hurt," said Laura, her eyes dark with +excitement. + +"I don't think so," Billie answered. "The damage seems to be mostly at +the front of the train. We may have run into another train. Oh, look!" +she cried suddenly, pointing with trembling finger to the wreck of the +car in front of them. "Fire, girls! The car's on fire!" + +With horrified eyes the girls followed her pointing finger and saw a +malignant tongue of flame shoot out--then another--and another. + +"It's the baggage car!" screamed Laura, as men, attracted by the blaze, +came running from all directions. "Billie, your trunk!" + +"My trunk! my trunk!" wailed Billie distractedly. "Oh, it will be burnt +up! All my money and everything!" + +"Say, Chet, look! The baggage car's on fire!" + +It was Teddy's voice, and Billie looked up to see him beside her staring +unbelievingly at the burning car. + +"Oh, Teddy," she cried, clutching his arm desperately, "my trunk's +burning up! Can't you do something--can't you?" + +Teddy gave a low whistle and kept on staring while Chet and Ferd came +rushing up and joined him. + +"The trunk----" Chet began, but Teddy clutched his arm excitedly. + +"Look!" he cried. "It's the front end of the car that's on fire. If we +climbed through the side door we'd have a chance to----" + +He never finished the sentence, for the boys had caught the idea and +were racing headlong for the burning car. Mr. Bradley, meeting them half +way, literally had to drag them back. + +"Don't be idiots!" he shouted to them. "Do you want to get burned up?" + +"Let go, Dad!" gasped Chet, struggling to free himself. "Billie's +trunk!" + +"Billie's trunk will have to take its chance," Mr. Bradley yelled back +at him. Then he added in a changed voice that made the boys stop +struggling for a moment and follow the direction of his gaze. "Here come +the fire engines. Maybe we'll save that trunk after all." + +With a yell the boys dashed off down the platform to meet the engines, +whether with a vague idea of helping the horses pull or just on general +principles, no one will ever know. + +The fire department was a country one, and there was not enough force of +water; in fact, there seemed not to be enough of anything. + +They did at last succeed in putting out the fire, however, while the +girls stood by in an agony of suspense, and finally some of the train +hands were allowed to climb into the sodden train and find what luggage, +if any, could be saved. + +Wildly hoping that their own particular little trunk with its precious +contents would be among the saved, the girls and boys would have +followed, but a guard politely but firmly held them back. + +"Claim your baggage at the next town, please," he said, and, his hard +heart softened perhaps by the sight of Billie's anxious face, added by +way of explanation: "All the baggage will be sent to the next town to be +claimed in the morning." + +"In the morning!" gasped Billie in consternation. "Have we got to wait +all night?" + +"There won't be another train through till to-morrow," the guard +explained, still patiently. "And it will save confusion to wait until +morning to identify the baggage." + +"How far is it to the next town?" inquired Mr. Bradley, and the guard +turned to him with an air of relief that said as plainly as words, +"Thank heaven, here's a man to talk to." + +"Three miles, sir," he said. "I reckon you'll have to walk it, as they +haven't taxi service around here." He grinned, but Mr. Bradley's face +was sober. He was wondering how he was going to get his charges to the +next town. + +However, even while he was wondering, the difficulty was being solved +for him by some of the good-natured farmers who generously put their +wagons at the disposal of the survivors of the wreck. + +When they reached the village fate chose at last to smile upon them--a +very little. They found a comfortable little cottage presided over by a +comfortable little farmer's wife who first gave them supper and then led +them to the best rooms in her house and tucked the girls in bed as if +she had been their own mother. + +Mrs. Jenkins, the farmer's wife, was as pretty and comely as a shining +red apple--and just as neat. She said that her husband had gone to a +neighboring town to sell some of their stock and would not be back for a +week or two. She was so lonely that her guests were as welcome to her as +she and her hospitality were welcome to them. + +Yet in spite of comfortable beds and snowy sheets, the girls slept +little. All night long they tossed and turned, and when occasionally, +worn out, they would drop into an uncomfortable doze, they would always +wake up with a start and a frightened cry. + +Visions of crushed cars with flames shooting from the windows tormented +them all night until at last, when it seemed they could stand it no +longer, they opened their eyes upon the dawn. + +"Oh, girls, it's morning!" cried Billie, jumping out of bed and +beginning to drag her clothes on hastily. + +"What are you going to do?" asked Violet, opening one sleepy eye. + +"Do?" cried Billie, turning upon her like a little whirlwind. "What do +you suppose I'm going to do? I'm going to find that trunk!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +RECOVERED TREASURE + + +To her great surprise Billie found that not only her father but the boys +were up and had for the past half hour been busily engaged in eating a +breakfast prepared for them by the rosy and good-natured farmer's wife. + +They greeted the unexpected apparition of Billie with enthusiasm, and +their impromptu hostess turned cheerfully back to the frying pan to fry +another egg for the new arrival. + +"I bet I know why you got up," said Ferd, his mouth full of biscuit and +jam. "Come on over, Billie, and after you've daintily pecked at some +food we're all going to look for your trunk." + +"But I'm not hungry," protested Billie, as Teddy dragged a chair up to +the table for her. "Don't you think we'd better get started right away?" + +"Not before you've had some breakfast," said her father, and so she +hurriedly ate--it might be said "gobbled," if it were not so +unladylike--the breakfast that Mrs. Jenkins placed before her. + +If it had not been for the real cause of her excitement the boys might +have found amusing her effort to gulp down her whole breakfast in the +time one usually takes to drink a cup of coffee. As it was, they +sympathized, and once when she choked and became painfully red in the +face, Ferd gravely handed her a glass of water and Teddy gallantly +offered to pat her on the back. + +When, contrary to everybody's expectations, the meal came to an end +without any further mishap, Billie crumpled her napkin into a ball and +threw it on the table. + +"I won't eat another bite for anybody," she said, adding, as she started +for the hall: "I'll put on my hat and be right with you." + +In the bedroom she found that Laura and Violet had turned over for a nap +and she stood for half a minute looking down at them reflectively and a +little scornfully. + +"Go ahead--sleep," she said under her breath. "It isn't your five +thousand dollars." This was hardly fair, seeing that that five thousand +dollars meant almost as much to Laura and Violet as to Billie herself in +the happiness it would bring. + +With one last disgusted look she fled from the room and joined the boys +and Mr. Bradley in the hall. Mrs. Jenkins had directed them to the +station, and, anxious to waste no further time, they set off at once. + +"Daddy, do you suppose we'll find it?" asked Billie, her breath coming +fast. "There were a good many trunks destroyed in the baggage car, +weren't there?" + +"It was hard to tell the extent of the damage," said Mr. Bradley, +anxious to reassure her, yet afraid to raise her hopes too high. +"However," he said, quickening his step a little, "there's the station +right before us, so we ought to find out before long." + +Early as they were, there was already a line of people on the rickety +station platform and Billie was seized with a fresh spasm of dismay. + +"Goodness! they couldn't possibly have saved trunks enough to go round," +she cried, and Teddy, though he was feeling very anxious himself, +laughed at her. + +"There were two baggage cars, both loaded, you know," he reminded her. +"And one of them wasn't touched by the fire. We'll hope yours was in +that one." + +"Oh, Teddy, you're such a comfort!" she cried, and squeezed his arm +gratefully, at which Teddy flushed happily. + +"Have we got to stand in line?" Billie whispered nervously to her father +a minute later. "I know I can't stand still and behave myself, Daddy. +Couldn't we go up and have a look around?" + +"That wouldn't do any good," said her father, glancing at the piled-up +baggage. "It would only make more confusion. And still----" He thought +for a moment and then suddenly he strode off down the station and toward +the guard who had been friendly the night before. + +Billie could hear nothing, but she saw enough to make her heart beat +faster. Mr. Bradley whispered a few words to the man who was at first +inclined to be impatient and made a quick gesture as if to wave Mr. +Bradley back to his place in the line. + +However, Billie could see that whatever her father was saying was making +an impression, for suddenly the guard straightened up and began to look +interested. + +"I wonder what Dad's handing him," said Chet slangily in her ear. + +"Look!" cried Billie, clutching his arm. "They're going to look for +something--probably our trunk. No, they're not. Look how excited he is! +And Daddy, too! Oh, Chet, what in the world----" the last words were a +wail, and Chet squeezed her hand warningly. + +"Come on, let's find out," he said. "It looks as if something was up." + +The four young people came within earshot just in time to hear the last +part of Mr. Bradley's sentence. + +"If it was only a few minutes ago, he hasn't had time to get far," her +father was saying with a grim light in his eyes. + +Billie could stand the suspense no longer, and she rushed forward, +grasping her father's arm. The earnest conversation between the guard +and Mr. Bradley and their evident excitement had already attracted the +attention of the line of people, and now they watched Billie curiously. + +"Daddy, what do you mean?" Billie cried in a voice tense with +excitement. "Is the trunk safe? Have you found it?" + +"Yes. But only to lose it again," said her father, and then went on +hurriedly to explain. "The guard says he saw a trunk here only a little +while ago that answers our description, but now it's gone. He remembers +seeing a suspicious looking man hanging around, and it's barely possible +that the man may have stolen it. He also remembers seeing this fellow +drive off in a Ford car just a few minutes ago." + +"O-oh!" cried Billie incredulously. "The trunk has been stolen!" Then +she whirled around and faced the guard. "Are you sure it was our trunk? +Could you describe it?" + +"Yes," the guard answered, excited himself by this time. "I took special +notice of it because it was so odd and shabby." + +"That trunk was worth five thousand dollars!" wailed Billie, thereby +causing another ripple of surprise among the onlookers. Then she turned +pleadingly to her father. + +"Daddy, we must find the trunk, we must!" she cried. "Just think what it +means." She was on the verge of tears, and her father came suddenly to a +decision. He turned quickly to the guard. + +"Is it possible to get a machine around here--a fast one?" he asked. + +"I don't know. But here's the man who keeps the livery stable." + +Suddenly a well-dressed man, who had been watching the proceedings with +lively interest, stepped forward and addressed Mr. Bradley courteously. + +"I have my car here," he said, adding with a smile of pride: "And she's +guaranteed to overtake anything that runs on four wheels. She's at your +disposal, if you can run her. My man went on an errand." + +"That's kind of you, sir," cried Mr. Bradley heartily. "If you will show +me----" + +"I'll say so," said the stranger boyishly, and led the way around the +station to a car which, even in this minute of excitement, the boys eyed +delightedly. + +"I'll drive," announced Teddy; and before any one could have interfered +if they had wanted to, he had jumped into the driver's seat and had +thrown in the clutch. Teddy was young, but he knew all about cars. + +Mr. Bradley took the seat beside him and the two boys and Billie +scrambled into the tonneau. Mr. Bradley motioned to the owner of the +car. + +"Will you come?" he asked, but the man shook his head. + +"No, thanks," he answered, "I'd rather stay here and watch for some +other missing baggage. Good luck!" and he waved to them as the big car +glided forward under Teddy's touch and shot around a turn in the road. + +The wind roared in Billie's ears and whipped little strands of hair +across her eyes, but she pushed them back impatiently and fixed her eyes +upon the flying ribbon of road ahead. + +"Faster, Teddy, faster!" she kept urging until even that young +scatterbrain began to wonder at her. + +"Can't be done, Billie!" he yelled back finally. "We're going about +sixty now, and if we meet anything on the road, we'll have a smash-up." + +"Be careful, Teddy," cautioned Mr. Bradley. "We don't want an accident." + +"Oh, but we've got to catch that thief!" wailed Billie, hoping each time +they rounded a bend in the road to see their quarry just ahead. "He may +have got too much of a start----" + +"Don't worry," Teddy shouted back. "No start will help a flivver against +a car like this. Say, but she's a beauty! Just listen to that engine!" +But Billie was in no mood to listen to anything except the jingle of +queer old coins in a shabby old trunk. Then suddenly there came a yell +from Teddy and an exclamation from Mr. Bradley. + +"There he is!" cried Teddy, leaning down over the wheel as though he +would force even more speed out of the flying car. "See him, Billie? +Didn't I tell you a flivver didn't have a chance?" + +Even as Teddy spoke, the man in the machine ahead of them looked back. +Then abruptly, and to the great surprise of Billie and the boys, he +stopped his car and began groping wildly in the bottom of it for +something. + +Then, while every second brought them nearer, the man did an astonishing +thing. He lifted a small object, which Billie excitedly recognized as +the trunk, and with an effort succeeded in getting it over the side of +the car. + +Then he dropped it in the road and turned for a swift moment to look at +his pursuers before he started his car again. It was only a moment, but +those in the car behind were near enough to get a good look at his face. + +It was a repulsive face topped with a mass of vivid red hair. But what +the boys and Billie most noticed was his unusually wide, loose-lipped +mouth. + +So busy was Teddy in looking at the thief that, if it had not been for +Billie, he would surely have run over the precious trunk in the road. + +She stood up waving her arms excitedly. + +"Teddy, look out! If you run over my trunk----" and Teddy swerved so +suddenly that she was nearly thrown from the car. However, Chet caught +her and put her safely back in the seat; and in another minute Teddy had +brought the big car to a sliding standstill. + +They tumbled to the roadside, and Billie, rushing over to the trunk, +sank to her knees regardless of three inches of dust in the road, and +encircled the shabby old thing with her arms. + +And Teddy, watching her, said with a grin: + +"Gosh! who wouldn't be a trunk?" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE "CODFISH" + + +A few minutes later a very exultant crowd of young folks were starting +back over the road they had just traveled so fast. + +In the bottom of the tonneau,--Billie and the two boys were using it as +a foot rest,--was safely stowed the shabby, but, oh! so precious old +trunk, and on Billie's face was the "smile that wouldn't come off;" or +at least that is what Ferd called it. + +Teddy was the only member of the party who was not fully satisfied with +the expedition. + +"We should have followed and caught the thief," he was saying for the +eleventh time--Billie had counted them. "It would have been like taking +candy from a kid to have caught up with his old flivver, and then we +could have landed him in jail, where he belongs." + +"But we wouldn't have time, Teddy," Billie reminded him. "You know the +train guard said there would be a train through about eleven o'clock. +And we can't miss it. Besides," and she shifted her feet happily on her +five thousand dollar footstool, "what do we care about that old man now +that we've got the trunk?" + +"Isn't that just like a girl," cried Teddy, almost running them into a +ditch in his indignation. "I suppose you would be willing to let all the +thieves in the world go free if you could only get back what they +stole." + +"I certainly would if we had a train to catch," agreed Billie, and Ferd +chuckled. + +"Good for you, Billie!" he cried approvingly. "Stick to your guns. I +don't see any use of following up that old chap now that we've got the +goods." + +"He wasn't very handsome, was he?" asked Billie, remembering that one +glimpse she had had of him. + +"Maybe that's why you didn't want to follow him," chuckled Ferd, and +Teddy scowled blackly at the wind shield. + +"But wasn't he ugly?" Billie persisted. "I don't think I ever saw such +red hair. And his mouth--ugh!" She paused reflectively. + +"Yes, it looked just like the mouth of a codfish," said Chet. + +"The poor fish," remarked Ferd jocularly, but be it said to their credit +that no one laughed at this feeble attempt at a joke. They only stared. + +As the car swept into the village again Billie had a sudden and rather +conscience-stricken memory of her chums. For the first time in her life +she had forgotten them completely. But then one doesn't lose five +thousand dollars and recover it every day! + +As the car stopped at the station it was surrounded by an eager crowd of +people, among whom was the owner of the car. But for his generosity they +would never have been able to recover the trunk. + +"Did you get it?" + +"Did you bring back the thief?" + +"Say, you must have done some speeding!" + +These and other like remarks greeted the adventurers as they climbed +from the car, and under cover of the confusion Billie made her escape. + +Teddy, looking around for her a moment later, missed her and started in +pursuit. + +"You're always running away," he protested plaintively, when he overtook +her just a little way from the cottage, the owner of which had shown +them such generous hospitality. + +Billie wrinkled up her nose in surprise. + +"Running away?" she repeated wonderingly. "Why, Teddy, sometimes I +almost think you're foolish." + +"That's what Mother says, only she's sure of it," said Teddy, with a wry +little grimace that made Billie laugh. + +"Well, she ought to know better than I," she said demurely. "She's known +you longer." + +"Not very much," Teddy retorted, opening the gate of the little picket +fence for her. "And, anyway, you haven't answered my question. What did +you run away for?" + +"I didn't run away. I escaped," she explained, making a face at the +memory of the crowd. "I wonder what makes people so curious. I do +believe all a person would have to do to collect a crowd would be to +stand on a soap box and say, 'Isn't this beautiful weather?'" + +"You bet. Especially if that person were you," said Teddy, and Billie +looked at him reproachfully. + +As the two entered the hall they met the girls just coming down stairs. + +They all went to the kitchen, where they found Mrs. Jenkins just +finishing a batch of golden brown crullers. She greeted the girls with a +beaming smile and insisted that Laura and Violet sit down while she got +them some breakfast. + +"Why, you must be nearly starved," she said. + +The girls protested that they were making her too much trouble, but she +gave them a cruller--"to stop their mouths," she said--and then set +cheerily to work to fry some more bacon and eggs, putting in a word now +and then and listening with a smile to the girls' merry chatter. + +"You mustn't scold me when you're hungry," Billie said, and the gladness +in her voice made the girls look at her eagerly. "No, I'm not going to +tell you a word," she said firmly as they started to ply her with +questions. "Not till you've had some breakfast, anyway. Eat, pretty +creatures, eat." + +Billie looked up at pretty Mrs. Jenkins and invitingly patted the empty +chair beside her. + +"Sit down here, please," she coaxed. "I want you to hear this too." + +"Now tell us," Laura commanded impatiently. "Why did you leave us asleep +and go out? And, oh, Billie! have you found your trunk?" + +So Billie told the story while the girls listened open-eyed and +open-mouthed, completely forgetting their breakfast, which lay untouched +before them. + +Mrs. Jenkins seemed almost as excited as they did, and leaned over the +table, one hand clutching the bread knife, while her rosy face fairly +beamed. Here was adventure such as rarely came to the village. + +Billie had just come to the part where the thief dropped the trunk in +the road when Mr. Bradley and the two other boys burst in upon them with +the news that the train was due in about fifteen minutes. + +Laura and Violet left their almost untouched breakfast, mumbled an +excuse to Mrs. Jenkins, and rushed with Billie up to the bedroom they +had occupied the night before to gather up their things and put on their +hats and coats. + +"Laura, you have my comb," said Violet accusingly, as Laura was stuffing +that article hastily into her hand bag. + +"Well, take your old comb," replied Laura, throwing it over to her. "It +isn't as good as mine, anyway. It has a tooth out." + +"Somebody will have more than one tooth out if she doesn't hurry," +threatened Billie. "Girls, we mustn't lose that train. Listen! There's +the whistle." + +Thereupon the girls forgot to quarrel and combined forces for a rush to +the train. + +They rushed down the stairs, falling over their suitcases and each +other, and found Mrs. Jenkins waiting for them at the bottom of the +stairs. + +Mr. Bradley had insisted upon paying her for her hospitality, but she +had stubbornly refused to take a cent. + +"No, sir," she had said, shaking her head decidedly. "Do you think I'm +going to let you pay me for having a good time? I love the girls and +boys, bless 'em, and I hate to see 'em go. Pay me--well, I guess not!" + +So Mr. Bradley had shaken her hand and thanked her heartily, which was +the best that he could do. + +And now the girls even risked missing the train to give her the only +kind of pay she wanted. Billie dropped her bag and impulsively threw her +arms about the comely woman. + +"You've just been sweet to us," she said, "and we'll never, never, +_never_ forget how kind you've been. I--I'd like to kiss you, if you +don't mind." + +Shyly she kissed Mrs. Jenkins' rosy cheek, and Violet and Laura followed +suit. The boys and Mr. Bradley shook hands with her heartily, and then +they picked up their belongings and fairly ran down the steps and out at +the little white gate. + +They turned to wave to Mrs. Jenkins, and she waved back at them until +they disappeared around the corner; and when she started to go into the +house she was surprised to find that there were tears in her eyes. + +"The precious lambs," she said. "The precious little lambs! They kissed +me, too, bless 'em!" and she put her hand up gently to her face. + +Meanwhile the train that was to carry the North Bend party back home had +thundered into the station, and all the passengers who had been stranded +in the place overnight were crowding on board. + +As Billie was being hurried up the steps, she suddenly paused and looked +back at her father. + +"Where's the trunk?" she asked nervously. + +"In the baggage car," Mr. Bradley assured her. "We'll get it safely to +North Bend--unless we have another wreck." + +As soon as he had made the speech he regretted it. Billie's face went +white and Laura and Violet looked back at him with startled eyes, then +went on more slowly into the car. + +The luggage had been stowed away in the racks overhead and the girls +were removing their hats when the train moved slowly from the station. + +"You know, I'm terribly afraid," Violet confided in a whisper to Billie. +"I--I won't feel safe for a minute until we reach North Bend." + +Billie looked a little uncertain herself, but suddenly there floated +across her vision a shabby, odd, little trunk, filled to the brim with +old coins and postage stamps. Then she laughed. + +"After this morning," she said, "I'm not afraid of anything. The luck's +all on our side!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +AMANDA'S SURPRISE + + +Billie was right about their luck, for they reached home without further +mishap. And it was with great relief the boys and girls later saw the +precious trunk safely deposited in Billie's attic. + +The next few days were mostly spent in telling wondering and interested +home folks about the ghostly happenings at the old homestead that was +Billie's inheritance and in recounting in detail the circumstances that +led to the discovery of the treasure trunk. + +And then one night Mr. Bradley came home with the wonderful news that he +had sold most of the contents of the old trunk and had realized four +thousand three hundred and fifty dollars--and every cent for Billie! + +"Did you sell them all, Dad?" Billie inquired, her eyes shining. + +"No, I kept out a few coins and stamps that were especially rare and +I'll take them to another dealer. I think," and he looked at Billie +thoughtfully, "they ought to bring in quite a little pile more." + +"Oh, Daddy, it's like a fairy tale!" Billie cried, and then added, +edging around to where her father stood and looking up at him +appealingly: "You and Mother haven't really said it, Dad, but Chet and I +will be able to go to boarding school, won't we?" + +"I should think so--on four thousand dollars," her father answered +dryly, and so Billie's cup of happiness was filled to the brim. + +But Billie, young as she was, was beginning to learn that no matter how +perfect a thing seems, there is almost sure to be a fly in the ointment +somewhere; and it was not long before she discovered the fly in the +present case. + +It was one beautiful bright day, the kind that only early autumn knows, +and the chums were walking down the main street of North Bend eagerly +discussing plans and talking of the fun they would have at Three Towers +Hall when suddenly Billie espied Miss Beggs, the English teacher whose +statue she had broken, coming out of a drug store. + +With a great wave of happiness that now she could pay for the statue, or +at least replace the one she had broken, she hurried forward and spoke +to the English teacher as she was about to enter another store. + +"Why, how-do-you-do!" cried the latter, evidently surprised and very +much pleased at the meeting. "I didn't know you were back yet." + +"We left Cherry Corners on Monday," Billie replied, then added eagerly +as Laura and Violet came hurrying up: "I'd like to tell you what +happened to us there; that is, if you have time enough." + +"Indeed I have," replied Miss Beggs heartily, and after she had greeted +the other girls they all walked down the street together while Billie +launched into the wonderful tale of her good fortune. + +"Over four thousand dollars!" cried the teacher when Billie stopped for +lack of breath. "Why, Billie, isn't that marvelous? It sounds like a +story. What," she added, smiling down into the eager face, "do you +intend to do with all that wealth?" + +"Buy a statue for you, first of all," said Billie promptly, and Miss +Beggs flushed. + +"I had forgotten all about that statue," she said. "I told you it had +already been broken, anyway." + +"I know you did. But since you had mended it so it looked all right, it +was almost as good as new, wasn't it? You mustn't say 'no,'" she added +quickly, as she saw Miss Beggs was about to interrupt, "for it won't do +the slightest bit of good. I'm not going to buy anything for myself till +I replace that statue." + +Miss Beggs gave a little helpless shrug of her shoulders. + +"I can see that nobody has a chance to change your mind, Billie Bradley, +when it's once made up," she said with a smile, then added as the girls +turned toward home: "I know what I shall name my new statue. Her name +shall be 'Billie.'" + +"She's lovely, isn't she?" asked Violet, referring to Miss Beggs. "I +wish she were going to be one of the instructors at Three Towers." + +"I hope they're nice, for it's awful to live with people who aren't," +sighed Laura. + +"Well, we won't know very much about them till we get there." + +"And then it may be too late," put in Violet dolefully. + +"But Daddy says," Billie went on, "that Miss Walters, the head of the +school, is just splendid." + +"Well, that ought to help some," said Laura, adding with a quick change +of tone that made the girls look up suddenly: "There's Amanda Peabody. +Can't we hide or something?" + +"I don't see where, and, besides, she won't bite you," said Billie. + +Amanda Peabody was probably the most unpopular girl in North Bend. The +girls disliked her as real girls always dislike a sneak and tattle-tale. +Amanda was always spying around, minding everybody's business but her +own, and making a general nuisance of herself. + +And because Billie was so popular, Amanda seemed to have an especial +grudge against her and was always trying to get her into trouble. + +As Amanda came toward them on this beautiful afternoon she seemed more +unpleasant than usual and there was a mean little smile at the corners +of her thin-lipped mouth. + +"Hello!" she accosted the girls, then turned to Billie with a more +pronounced grin. "I've heard all about the money you found in that awful +old house. You must feel like a regular Captain Kidd, don't you?" + +"Since I never was sure how Captain Kidd felt, I don't know," said +Billie coolly, although she could feel the blood slowly mounting into +her face. Oh, if she could only do what she wanted to, Amanda Peabody +wouldn't be smiling very long! + +The girls made as if to go on, but with characteristic ill breeding, +Amanda planted herself directly in front of Billie, still with that +maddening grin on her face. + +"I suppose now you'll be going to Three Towers Hall and your brother to +Boxton Academy." + +Billie did not say anything--she just looked. But that look must have +been enough, for suddenly with a flirt of her dress and a toss of her +head and an insolent look Amanda flung past them. + +"Just the same you needn't think you're the only pebble on the beach," +she called back. "I'm going to Three Towers, too." + +For a minute the chums could not believe their ears. Then they looked at +each other with horror written on their faces. + +"Did you hear what I heard?" gasped Billie, when she could find her +voice. + +"Yes, I heard," said Laura faintly. "Girls, do you think she could have +been telling the truth?" + +"I don't see why she should want to fib about it," said Vi, feeling +rather bewildered. "She'd know we would soon find it out." + +"Oh, but it's too awful!" burst out Billie suddenly. "Why, girls, it's +apt to spoil our whole year! Just think of having that sneak around, +prying into all our affairs and reporting every little thing we do." + +"I guess the only way out of that is not to do anything she can report," +said Violet ruefully, and Laura caught her up quickly. + +"There you go taking all the fun out of it before we start," she said, +and in spite of their consternation the girls had to laugh. + +"Why, you actually sound as if you intended to break the rules," said +Billie, drolly adding, with a prim little pucker of her mouth: "Laura, +I'm surprised at you." + +"Listen to the good little girl talking," gibed Laura. "I never knew you +to get into any mischief, Billie,--oh, no!" + +"Well, I won't quarrel with you about it," said Billie, calmly adding +with a little chuckle: "If we try to have any midnight feast at Three +Towers with sweet Amanda wandering round loose we will have to appoint a +guard to stand outside the door and warn us." + +"I suppose that will be my job," said Violet plaintively. "It will be +lots of fun standing out in a drafty hall looking for Amanda while you +girls are having a feast." + +"No, we'll fix it so it will be perfectly fair," said Billie soothingly. +"We'll draw lots or something." + +"But I don't know what good a guard would do anyway," said Laura +dolefully. "There's something creepy about the way Amanda finds out +things. You think she's miles away and the next day she tells you more +about what you did than you know yourself." + +"Maybe she has an accomplice," said Billie dramatically, and the girls +giggled. + +"Anybody'd think Amanda was a criminal or something," said Laura, but +Billie shook her head decidedly. + +"Uh-uh," she said. "I might like a good honest criminal but I'll be +jiggered--scuse me, ladies--if I can like Amanda Peabody! She's too +sly!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +OFF FOR THREE TOWERS HALL + + +It was just two weeks to the time when the girls were to leave for Three +Towers Hall. + +It seemed to them they would never get done all the things that they had +to do, and they sewed and packed and planned until it seemed they must +stop because of sheer exhaustion. + +However, their parents sent them to bed early--and not without +difficulty was this feat accomplished--on the night before the great +day, and the morning found them refreshed and wildly eager for this new +adventure. + +As, in her own little room, Billie regarded her flushed reflection in +the mirror it seemed impossible to make herself realize that she was +really going to Three Towers Hall at last--Three Towers which had been +the height of her ambition from the time she had entered the grammar +school. + +She was beginning to feel quite grown up--which was perhaps the reason +she regarded her new and very pretty brown hat with a critical eye and +smoothed down her new and very pretty brown dress with hands that +trembled with excitement. + +"Well, I think I'm all ready now," she said at last, and gave a little, +half-frightened glance around the familiar room. She wondered how it +would seem to sleep in a strange place with no mother or father near by. + +Then she shook herself impatiently and picked up her bag--for was she +not grown-up now? + +However, she did not feel very grown-up when a moment later she met her +mother in the hall and saw traces of tears on her face. For Mother had +no new scenes to go to and the departure of her two noisy children would +leave the house strangely quiet and subdued. + +Billie flung herself upon her mother and hugged her tight. + +"Mumsey, you've been crying!" she said to her accusingly. "And you know +you mustn't." + +Then to her great surprise she felt a peculiar lump in her own throat, +and two tears forced themselves to her eyes. + +She had never dreamt of crying, and for the first time she realized that +leaving one's mother--even for Three Towers--was not easy, after all! + +But it was Mrs. Bradley who came to the rescue and prevented a break +down by asking: + +"Isn't that Laura coming down the street? And the boy with her must be +Teddy." + +With a quick movement, Billie brushed her hand across her eyes, kissed +her mother hard, and straightened the new brown hat. + +"You're coming to the station, M--mother?" she asked, and Mrs. Bradley +nodded. + +After that Chet came in, wrestled with the same troublesome lump in his +throat, told his mother, "Not to worry, Mumsey, he'd write every day, +and she mustn't forget to write for he was going to miss her awfully," +and then Mr. Bradley joined them and they all started for the station. + +Mr. and Mrs. Jordon were with Teddy and Laura. Teddy said that Ferd was +on his way, but had told them not to wait for him, he'd catch up to them +later. + +A little farther on they picked up Violet and Mr. and Mrs. Farrington, +and after that there was no more time to think of being homesick. + +There was something in the sunshine, the crisp air, the brilliant, +changing colors of the leaves on the trees that went to Billie's head +and made her feel as though she were walking on air. + +"Do you suppose Ferd will catch up to us?" she asked of Teddy. Teddy was +looking unusually handsome this morning--at least so Billie thought--and +she was surprised to find that he was walking beside her. "It would be +awful if he made us miss the train." + +"You don't think we'd _wait_ for him do you?" asked Teddy scornfully. +"If Ferd's late he'll be the only one to miss the train!" + +Both Teddy and Billie had always agreed that if you talked of an angel +he or she was sure to turn up, and in this case their faith was +justified. + +For just as they reached the station platform a figure that looked very +familiar turned the corner and came rushing down toward them as if bent +on running a Marathon. + +"There's Ferd--and here's the train," announced Teddy, as a shrill +whistle made them jump and look eagerly down the track. "Not much time +to waste at that." + +The young folks were so taken up in the leave taking that they failed to +notice two girls who got on the train just after them. Even if they had +not been able to see the faces of these newcomers, an overheard sentence +or two would have given them the clue to their identity. + +"Isn't it just like them, the stuck up things," one of the girls said to +the other, "to bring all their relations to see them off?" + +"Never mind," said the other with a malicious grin. "I guess I gave them +rather a jolt the other day when I told them I was going to Three Towers +too. I guess they thought they owned the place and ought to have it all +to themselves." + +However, the boys and girls were perfectly unaware of this conversation +concerning themselves; although it probably would not have bothered them +very greatly if they had heard it. + +They were still leaning out of the window, calling to those left on the +platform and answering injunctions "not to get killed" from their +mothers and to "please be careful and not get into any more scrapes than +they could help" from their fathers, when the guard shouted a warning +and the train started off. + +They waved until the station and the people on it were out of sight, +then settled back in their seats "to view the prospect o'er," Chet said. + +For a moment they all felt a little lost and queer, though nothing in +the world could have made them confess to the feeling. But the little +wave of homesickness soon passed off, swallowed up by the vision of the +amazing adventure ahead of them. + +Before the little party had stowed away their baggage and taken off +their wraps, several boys and girls they had known at school came over +to greet them and talk things over, and Billie, leaning over to rescue a +box of chocolates that had fallen at her feet, suddenly looked up and +right into the beaming face of Nellie Bane. + +Nellie was a friend of the chums who had rather expected to go to Three +Towers Hall with them at first. But Mr. and Mrs. Bane had suddenly +decided to go to Europe and take Nellie with them, which had rather +upset Nellie's plans. And now here she was on the train with them. + +"Why, Nellie!" Billie cried, almost dropping the chocolates again in her +surprise and delight. "How did you get here----" + +"Through the window," mocked Nellie, and dropped into a vacant seat +beside Laura. + +"But," stammered the latter, her eyes round and wide with wonder, "the +last we heard of you you were going to England." + +"Yes. But an aunt of Daddy's died and he decided we'd better postpone +the voyage until next summer." + +"Are you glad or sorry?" demanded Billie breathlessly. + +"Glad," said Nellie without a moment's hesitation. "I want to go to +Europe, of course. But I can go there any old time, and I was simply +wild to go to Three Towers with you girls. You'll never know how jealous +I was," she ended with a sigh. + +"Isn't it funny?" marveled Violet. "And here we were envying you!" + +They laughed, and thereupon entered into a spirited conversation that +lasted until Ferd interrupted to inquire what they were keeping the +chocolates to themselves for, anyway. Did they think they had a corner +on the chocolate market? To this Billie answered by holding out the +whole box, showing that they had been too busy talking even to open it. + +This interruption led to others, however, and they found that nearly the +whole car was occupied by girls and boys from North Bend who were going +to Three Towers or the Boxton Military Academy. + +At last, wearied with excitement and visiting, Billie sank into her own +seat. A moment later Teddy came and sat down beside her. + +"I see we have your friend with us," he said, handing over the candy +box. + +"My friend?" repeated Billie, bewildered. + +"Amanda Peabody," he explained. "She is sitting with another girl who +looks as if she might be a second edition of Amanda. There! Away at the +end of the car! You surely missed a lot by not seeing them." + +"Another girl," Billie repeated, looking worried. "Then there are two of +them." + +"Yes. But don't let it hurt your appetite. Have some more candy." + +"Do you know her name--the other one?" asked Billie, ignoring the +offered candy box. + +"No, I didn't stop long enough to inquire. In fact," he chuckled and bit +into a chocolate, "I gave them one look and beat it." + +Billie dimpled, but the next moment her face was grave again. + +"That's all right for you," she said. "But what would you do if you +couldn't 'beat it'?" + +It was Teddy's turn to be puzzled. + +"What do you mean?" he asked. + +"Only," said Billie, speaking very slowly and distinctly, "that Amanda +and most likely that other girl, whoever she is, are both going to Three +Towers Hall with us." + +Teddy emitted a long whistle and looked sympathetic. + +"Say, I'm sorry. That's tough luck." + +"It's worse than that," wailed Billie. "It's--it's ruinous! I just know +that Amanda Peabody will do her best to spoil the term for us girls!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +MISS WALTERS + + +In spite of their eagerness to reach their destination, the ride seemed +all too short to the boys and girls. They started when the guard called +out, "Molata, next stop!" + +Hardly knowing what she was doing, Billie found her hat and coat, put +them on, and then sat on the very edge of her seat with her gladstone +bag grasped tightly in one hand. Then she looked around at Laura who was +sitting in the seat beside her. + +It was then she got her surprise. For Laura was sitting in almost the +same position as herself, perched on the edge of the seat, bag tightly +gripped in one hand, pocketbook in the other and--this was the fact that +made Billie chuckle--Laura's hat was very much over one eye. + +Laura looked up at the sound of the chuckle and giggled as her eyes met +Billie's. + +"I'm so excited," she whispered in Billie's ear, "that my knees are +trembling. I'm afraid I'll never be able to walk out." + +"Well, you needn't expect me to carry you," said Billie, reaching up and +putting Laura's hat on straight. "Because I'm going to have all I can do +to manage myself. Goodness, what's that?" + +It was merely the train stopping, but by the tone of Billie's voice one +might have thought it was the end of the world. + +"Say, are you girls all ready?" asked Ferd, leaning over the back of +their seats. + +The girls nodded nervously. + +"Well, then let's go," Teddy chimed in, grabbing his suitcase and cap. +"Come on, pick up your hats, girls, and don't forget your feet." + +"Oh, isn't he funny?" gibed Laura making a face at him. Then she grabbed +wildly at her bag as one of the excited girls seemed bent upon carrying +it off with her. "Say, come back with that," she cried. "Isn't one +enough for you?" + +However, they did succeed at last in getting themselves safely on the +station platform. It was a pretty station, and this being their first +glimpse of the place where they were going to spend so much time, they +looked about them with interest. + +Molata was the nearest town to Three Towers Hall and Boxton Military +Academy. Both of these schools were situated on Lake Molata, for which +the town had been named. Most of the inhabitants of Molata were wealthy, +and the estates in and about the town were magnificent. There was also +a large hotel, filled during the summer season. + +Even the station was in keeping with the general air of prosperity. In +the minute the girls had to look about them, they saw a stone-built +waiting room with a red-tiled roof. A beautiful green velvety lawn +completely surrounded the station on three sides, while on one side a +beautiful fountain sent its sparkling spray high into the clear air. And +further back through the trees they caught glimpses of beautiful +estates. + +They found themselves being hustled toward the other end of the station +where two conveyances, one from Three Towers Hall and the other from +Boxton Military Academy, were waiting to take the girls and boys to +their destination. + +Two attendants tended to the trunks and deposited the luggage inside the +cabs, while the girls and boys said excited good-byes to each other on +the platform. + +"We'll be only a little over a mile away from you," Chet called out. +"And when we get an afternoon off we'll row down the lake and get you +girls." + +"Oh, won't that be fun!" cried Vi, her eyes dancing. "I'm just crazy to +get out on the lake." + +"Goodness, we haven't even seen it yet," Laura reminded her. + +"Yes, and if we're going to," Billie added, "I guess we'd better get +started. Come on, girls. Everybody's in but us. Good-bye, Chet! +Good-bye, Ferd and Teddy! Please be good and don't get sent home the +first week--we wouldn't have anybody to give us that row, you know. +Good-bye--good-bye----" + +Laura and Vi had already clambered into the long, car-like machine with +_Three Towers Hall_ painted in gold letters on the outside and were +impatiently commanding Billie to follow them. + +As soon as she was inside the boys rushed to the car with _Boxton +Military Academy_ painted in gold letters on the outside, and the +good-byes were over. + +As they left the station and swung into a wide smooth road on their way +to Three Towers Hall the girls relaxed with a sigh of happiness. + +"Isn't this a wonderful road?" said Billie, screwing her head around so +that she could look out the window. The machine had two long seats on +either side, running from the front to the back of it so that, in +turning, Billie accidentally stuck her elbow into the girl next to her. + +She had not noticed the girl, but now, when the latter spoke, Billie +turned around quickly. The girl was Eliza Dilks, Amanda Peabody's chum, +and beside her sat Amanda herself looking on with her usual sneering +grin. + +"Say, if you haven't got room enough," Eliza said in a thin high voice, +"I can move over to the other side of the car." + +For a minute Billie just stared, while several girls about them paused +in their own conversations to listen. Vi was aghast and Laura was +furious. + +"Well," said Billie at last, letting her gaze travel from Eliza's mean +face to her ill-fitting shoes--somewhere Billie had heard that people +hate to have you look at their feet--"maybe you'd better move. There's +lots more room on the other side." + +The girls chuckled. Laura said: "Good for you, Billie," under her +breath, and Eliza flushed angrily. She seemed about to speak, but as +Billie was still gazing steadily at her feet she looked down at them +herself and thereby lost the battle. + +However, the incident had made them miss some of the prettiest scenery +in Molata, and it was almost with a feeling of regret that the girls saw +the majestic three towers of Three Towers Hall rise before them. + +Their regret did not last long, however; and when the car started up the +broad driveway the girls strained their eyes for a better view. + +It was a beautiful place. The hall itself was built of rough, +greenish-gray stone, and over the whole front of it, twining round the +windows, hanging over the doors, grew clinging, bright green ivy. + +A smooth velvety lawn sloped down straight to the water, and the girls +cried out at this, their first glimpse of Lake Molata. Through the +trees, the water of the lake glistened and shimmered and danced while +the soft rippling sound of tiny wavelets lapping at the bank seemed to +call to them invitingly. + +"Oh, g-girls, it's lovelier even than we pictured it!" cried Laura, +stammering in her eagerness. "Aren't you just c-crazy to get out on that +water?" + +"Yes. But look!" cried Billie, grasping her arm and pointing to the +front door of Three Towers Hall. "There's the president, I suppose, +waiting to welcome us." + +For in the doorway was standing a slender figure in white, evidently +waiting, as Billie had said, to welcome the girls to Three Towers Hall. + +Other girls had noticed her, too, and as the attendant came around and +opened the door, they all scrambled down in a flurry of excitement. + +"It's Miss Walters," the whisper went around, and Billie felt a thrill +of excitement. + +"Miss Walters!" Always she had seemed to Billie a person to be looked up +to--a sort of goddess set apart from ordinary mortals. For Miss Sara +Walters had been head of Three Towers Hall for a number of +years--always, it seemed to Billie. And now Billie was actually going to +see her, talk to her, perhaps even make her take notice of her, Billie, +above the others! + +As she rather breathlessly ascended the steps to the entrance of Three +Towers with the other girls she studied this slim, straight woman who +had been the heroine of so many of her day dreams. + +And what she saw satisfied even Billie. + +Miss Walters was only thirty-five, but her hair was snow white and +framed her face in thick wavy masses. Her complexion was pink and white, +and her dark violet eyes looked almost black under their dark lashes. +And her figure was that of a girl of twenty. + +"Isn't she wonderful?" Vi whispered in her ear; but Billie squeezed her +arm warningly. + +"Sh-h," she said. "She might hear us." + +"I wouldn't care if she did," said Violet with unusual spirit, and in +her heart Billie could not blame her. + +A moment more and Miss Walters was speaking to them, saying a few words +to each of them, welcoming them to Three Towers Hall. + +Then she turned and led the way into the building, the girls crowding +after her eagerly. + +"And her voice," said Billie, adoringly in Laura's ear, "is the very +sweetest part of her!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE DILL PICKLES + + +Miss Walters took the girls into her office, looked up the cards she had +made out for them--for of course their names had been sent in some time +before as prospective students at Three Towers Hall--and then called in +another teacher, Miss Ada Dill, who had part charge of the dormitories. + +Miss Dill was tall and thin with sharp black eyes and white hair drawn +severely back from her forehead. She smiled when Miss Walters introduced +her to the girls, but her smile reminded Billie of the smile on the face +of a Chinese idol which she and her chums had come upon among the +antiques of the old homestead at Cherry Corners. It was merely a crack +in her face and the beady black eyes remained unsmiling. + +"Miss Dill," Miss Walters told the girls, "will show you your places in +the dormitories and will give you the hours for meals and such other +information as you will need at first. Lunch will be served in half an +hour, and after that you may have the rest of the day to yourselves to +become acquainted with Three Towers Hall." + +Then she dismissed them, and Billie and the other new arrivals found +themselves following the stiff back of Miss Dill through the corridor +and up a broad flight of steps. + +They met several girls on their way to the dormitory, and the latter +looked at them curiously. The girls learned a little later that these +students had spent the summer at Three Towers, although most of the +girls had gone home to relatives and friends and would not be back until +the next day. + +It was a rule at Three Towers Hall that the new students should report +the day before the year formally opened for the purpose of becoming +acquainted with the rules and regulations of the school. + +"Wasn't that a pretty girl?" Vi whispered to Billie, as Miss Ada Dill +opened the dormitory door and a lovely girl with very pink cheeks and +very black hair stopped for a word with the teacher and then hurried +past the girls on her way downstairs. "I wonder who she is." + +"If she's as nice as she is pretty," Billie whispered back, "she'll be +all right." + +Then they stepped into the long, many-windowed room and looked about +them curiously. There were beds, beds, beds and more beds. Everywhere +the girls looked they seemed to see nothing but beds. As a matter of +fact there were only ten of them, but the girls could have sworn there +were at least twice that number. + +"We can put five of you girls in here," Miss Dill said in a crisp, dry +tone, almost as if she resented having to say it at all. "Are there any +of you who would particularly like to be together?" + +Of course Billie spoke up for herself and Laura and Vi, and after +regarding her severely through her glasses for a moment, Miss Dill +finally assigned three beds at the further end of the room to the chums. + +"Then there is room for two more," Miss Dill said, and to the horror of +the chums Amanda Peabody came forward, holding Eliza Dilks by the hand. + +Laura uttered a little exclamation and seemed about to protest when +Billie pinched her arm and made her say "ouch" instead. + +"There's no use in saying anything," Billie whispered fiercely. "It +wouldn't do any good, and we'd only make more of an enemy of that--those +girls." + +They were relieved a little when they saw that "those girls" were +assigned to beds half way down the room so there would at least be a few +neutral girls in the beds between. + +"So if the rest of you will come with me," said Miss Dill, "I will give +you places in the other dormitories." + +Then she and the other girls went out into the hall, the door was shut, +and the chums were left alone in the big room with Amanda Peabody and +Eliza Dilks. + +The girls sank down upon their beds and looked about them curiously. +There was a little wash basin and a towel rack beside each snowy white +bed and on the towel rack hung several small towels with blue and white +borders. + +The beds were set at regular intervals down the long room, and the +spaces in between them were fitted out in such a manner as almost to +make a separate little room for each girl. + +Beside the wash basins, there was a dresser set at the foot of each +white bed and under each bed was a hamper for soiled clothes. Each girl +had a little table with a chair to match. + +The woodwork had been painted white and the walls were a grayish blue +color with several pretty pictures scattered about them to break the +bareness. + +"Why, the room's all blue and white," Billie suddenly discovered +delightedly. "Isn't that a lovely blue they've painted the wall? And the +snowy white woodwork! Oh, it's delicious!" + +"And just look at the view from this window!" cried Vi, beckoning to +them eagerly. As the girls looked over her shoulder they fairly gasped +with delight. + +Below them stretched the velvety lawn dotted with the darker green of +shrubbery, while away through the trees glimmered and gleamed the water +of Lake Molata. The day was warm for autumn, and a gentle breeze played +among the leaves of the great trees bordering the lake, coming to the +girls in a soft, rustling whisper. The picture was almost too perfect to +be true. + +"And she said," Billie murmured at last with a sigh of content, "that we +could have all the afternoon to become acquainted with Three Towers." + +"Yes," said Laura, turning from the window, "but I guess she meant only +the inside of Three Towers. I don't believe they will allow us off the +grounds so soon." + +At that moment the door opened and the pretty girl that had passed them +in the hall entered and shut the door softly behind her. In the bright +light of the room she seemed even prettier than she had in the hall, but +there was something about her--Billie could hardly have told what, +perhaps it was the expression of her mouth--that made Billie +instinctively dislike her. + +The strange girl's eyes rested on Amanda and Eliza where they sat in +their corner, talking in whispers, and her lips curled disdainfully. +Then she came over to where Billie and her friends were standing. + +"Hello!" she said with a quick smile. "You're the new girls, I suppose, +and we might as well get acquainted right away. My name is Rose Belser, +and I'm from Brighting," mentioning a town several miles the other side +of North Bend. + +"We're awfully glad to know you," Billie answered, with her own +particular friendly smile. "I'm Beatrice Bradley, and these are my two +chums, Violet Farrington and Laura Jordon. We're from North Bend." + +"Glad to know you," said Rose Belser with a quick little nod of her +black head. Then she curled herself on the foot of Billie's bed and +proceeded to make herself at home. + +"I've been staying here for the summer," she told them. "It's an awful +place to spend the summer, you know. First time I ever did it, and I +never was so lonesome in my life." + +"Why, I'd love to spend the summer here," said Vi, thinking of the +beautiful country they had glimpsed and the lovely lake where one might +row or canoe to his heart's content. "The country's so pretty, and you +have the lake----" + +"Oh, the lake!" the girl interrupted impatiently. "And the country! I'm +tired to death of the lake and the country. I want to go to the city +where you can wear pretty clothes and go to parties and things." + +"But I should think you could wear pretty clothes here," said Billie, +wondering. "And as to parties--I thought you always could have parties +at boarding school----" + +"Maybe you can at some boarding schools," the girl interrupted again +with that same impatient toss of her head. "But those schools don't have +Dill Pickles for guardian angels." + +The girls looked at her as though she had gone crazy, and indeed for a +moment they thought she had. But Rose Belser gave a short little laugh +and went on to explain. + +"The Dill Pickles are two old-maid sisters. One of them brought you up +here----" + +"Miss Dill!" cried Billie, beginning to see light. "Oh, has she a +sister?" + +"Yes. And the sister is worse," said the girl, with a little grimace. +"They are Miss Ada and Miss Cora, and Miss Cora is the terror of the +Hall. If it weren't for Miss Walters----But say, you'd better hurry," +she interrupted herself suddenly and jumped to her feet. "It's almost +time for the lunch gong to ring, and if you're late for lunch, Miss Cora +will be furious. She has charge of the dining hall, you know. You'd +better wash and straighten your hair. Miss Cora looks you through with a +gimlet eye." + +She ran over to her wash basin, which happened to be the next one to +Billie's, and began to wash her hands vigorously. + +"Oh, dear, we forgot all about lunch, and we must be a sight!" cried +Vi, pulling off her hat and excitedly patting her hair. "Girls, we +haven't any combs--our trunks haven't come up yet. Give me a comb, +somebody! Oh, here's one in my grip." + +"How strange," mocked Billie, dashing cold water on her face till it +shone rosily. "It almost seems to me I have one in mine also." + +"Well, you'd better get busy and use it," Violet retorted, drawing her +own comb through her heavy hair, "or you'll get in bad the very first +day. Oh, dear! there's the gong." She stopped with her comb in the air +and gazed in horror at the girls. As for Billie and Laura, they stood as +if they had suddenly become paralyzed. + +"If you'd start in time you'd be ready in time," said a nasal voice from +the other end of the room, and the girls glanced around quickly. They +had been so absorbed in their new experience that for a time they had +completely forgotten Amanda and Eliza. But now they turned just in time +to see the two girls leaving the room. As she shut the door behind her +Amanda gave it a defiant little slam. + +"Say, who's your friend?" asked Rose Belser, looking in astonishment at +the closed door. "She's pleasant, isn't she?" + +"They're neither of them friends of ours," said Billie, jerking her hair +angrily as though she wished it had been Amanda's hair instead. "They +just happen to come from the same town, that's all." + +"Never mind about Amanda, Billie," pleaded Violet, looking uneasily at +the door. "We're late----" + +"Oh, don't worry," interrupted Rose, giving a final pat to her black +hair. "That was only the first gong. The second one rings five minutes +later. There it goes now. Are you ready?" + +The girls were ready, and with quickly beating hearts they stepped out +into the corridor. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A NEW ACQUAINTANCE + + +"This way," said their new acquaintance, turning to the right and +starting for the stairs. "Now for the second of the Dill Pickles. Long +may she wave!" she added gaily. + +It was a new experience for Billie Bradley and for Laura and +Violet--that hour in the dining hall. The hall itself was an immense +room and seemed at first glance to be made up almost entirely of +windows. As Rose Belser afterward remarked to the girls, there was one +thing that no one at Three Towers Hall had to complain of, and that was +lack of light. + +Three tables stretched almost the entire length of the hall, and +although they all bore snowy cloths there was only one of them that was +really "set for action," as Laura said. + +Most of the girls had already assembled when the chums reached the +dining hall. They were standing around in little groups of two or three, +talking excitedly, and while the girls were hesitating which group to +join Miss Cora Dill swept into the room. + +"Now you'd better mind your Ps and Qs," Rose whispered to them, and the +girls regarded with interest the second of the Dill twin sisters who had +been called by the disrespectful name of the "Twin Dill Pickles." + +Miss Cora Dill was indeed Miss Ada's counter-part. There was the same +thin figure and straight back, the same black eyes and thin-lipped +mouth, the only difference being that where Miss Ada's hair was white, +Miss Cora's hair still retained some traces of its original brown color. + +"Goodness, I'm glad there's some way we can tell them apart," said +Billie to Laura in an under-tone. "If they were just exactly alike we'd +have to do with them the way they do with twin babies--tie a blue ribbon +on one and a pink ribbon on the other." + +The idea of tying a pink ribbon or any other kind of ribbon on the "Twin +Dill Pickles" was so ridiculous that the girls giggled aloud, thereby +causing Vi to nudge Billie sharply. + +"Sh-h," she whispered. "Her Highness is about to speak." + +Miss Cora carried some cards in her hands, and as the girls gathered +about her she asked them to answer when she called out their names. + +Although there were a hundred students in Three Towers Hall, there were +only half a dozen who, like pretty Rose Belser, had spent the summer at +the school. + +The rest of the girls were almost all from North Bend and the other +surrounding towns, although a few had come from a distance. + +When the girls had all reported present, Miss Cora gave them their seats +at the table and took her own place at the head of it. + +At first the girls were not at all sure whether they were supposed to +talk or not, for the presence of thin-lipped Miss Cora at the head of +the table threw rather a damper on both their enthusiasm and their +appetites. + +However, when Rose Belser leaned across several girls to say something +to Billie the rest of the girls took courage and a little murmur of +conversation traveled around the table. + +The lunch was a satisfying one, and the girls, beginning to recover from +their excitement and being really hungry from the long train trip, ate +heartily. + +But every once in a while, when the talk and laughter about the table +threatened to become too hilarious, the girls were conscious of Miss +Cora's voice reminding them that the table was the "place for +decorum--not for rioting." + +Billie and her chums were half way down the table, a fact for which they +were very thankful. Placed only two or three seats away from Miss Cora, +at the head of the table, was Nellie Bane. Nellie seemed to have struck +up a sudden friendship with one of the half dozen girls who had spent +the summer at the school, and the two were evidently having an +interesting conversation. + +Billie, catching Nellie's eye, telegraphed to her by means of the sign +language the wish to see her some time after lunch, and Nellie, in the +same language, agreed. + +At last lunch was over and the girls reluctantly left the table. But as +they were about to leave the room Miss Cora called them together again, +saying that she had something important to say to them. + +"You will each find a set of rules on your dresser," she said. "And +before you do anything else it will be well for each girl to become +thoroughly acquainted with them and the penalties for breaking them. +After to-day any departure from the rules will meet with the proper +punishment." + +"Anybody would think we were three years old," grumbled Laura, when they +were on their way back to the dormitories. "Goodness, I wonder who ever +let her in, anyway." + +"Oh, you'll soon get used to her," Rose assured them. She seemed to have +attached herself definitely to the girls, who, although they found her +amusing and interesting, would rather have been left to themselves on +this first day. "Everybody dislikes her at first--and Miss Ada, +too--but they only laugh at them after awhile. You see," she finished as +if the girls must understand, "we have Miss Walters." + +"Well, all I have to say," said Laura, whose temper had been +considerably ruffled by this second of the "Twin Dill Pickles," "is that +it's lucky Miss Walters and not Miss Cora is at the head of things." + +When the girls reached the dormitory they looked for the rules, found +them, and sat down eagerly to read them over together. First of all they +found that the dormitories, eleven in all, were lettered. The letter of +their dormitory was "C." + +There were the usual rules about late hours, going outside the grounds +without leave, neglecting to wear rubbers in the rain, all with the +usual penalties attached. But the one that most interested the girls was +the punishment given for keeping lights on after hours. + +"Three days without recreation and isolation in the dormitory for the +duration of that period," read Billie indignantly. "Goodness! I wonder +if all that happens to you if you keep your light on five minutes after +hours." + +"It does if Miss Cora or Miss Ada catches you," drawled Rose, from where +she was curled up again on the foot of the bed watching the girls with +lazy interest. "Some of the teachers are all right. There's Miss Harris, +and Miss Race the math teacher. If they catch you just a few minutes +over time they'll give you a lecture and let you off without reporting +it to Miss Walters. But if it's any of the others--look out, that's +all." + +A few minutes later Nellie Bane came in, bringing her new friend with +her, and for a little while the girls forgot all about rules and "Twin +Dill Pickles" and everything else and just had a good time. + +Nellie's new acquaintance was a small fluffy little blonde whom the +girls liked right away. Her name was Constance Danvers, called "Connie" +for short, and the name seemed to suit her exactly. Of course, she and +Rose Belser, having spent the preceding year together, knew each other +well, but Billie noticed that the two girls did not seem over friendly. + +"I don't know," she thought to herself, "but I'm going to like Connie +better than Rose." + +A little while later Rose suggested that she and Connie show the girls +about the Hall, to which the newcomers eagerly agreed. + +"I wonder," said Vi suddenly, as they were about to leave the room, +"what has become of Amanda and Eliza Dilks. They haven't been up here +since lunch." + +"Well, why should we care?" sang out Billie happily. "I only hope they +stay away." + +"Probably up to some mean tricks," said Laura gloomily. + +Connie and Rose were eager to hear more of Eliza and her friend, but the +chums could not be made to tell tales. The girls would have to find out +what Amanda was for themselves. + +"Only," thought Billie to herself, as they ran down the stairs, "I would +like to know where those two sneaks are and why they didn't come back to +the dormitory. I know they'll _try_ to spoil all our fun, even if they +can't _do_ it." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +LAKE MOLATA + + +How the girls did enjoy the rest of that afternoon! Connie and Rose +showed them the classrooms and lecture rooms, told them little stories +about the different teachers and recounted funny incidents of school +life that made the girls bubble with laughter. + +All the rooms were high-ceilinged, many-windowed and cheerful, but it +was the lecture hall and gymnasium that the girls thought the most +attractive of all. + +The lecture room was on the third floor and was arranged in the shape of +a Roman circus, the seats in tiers all around the room with the lecture +platform in the center. + +"My, I won't even mind being lectured to in a room like this," said Vi, +in an awed little voice. "Do you have many lectures?" + +"Too many," drawled Rose, sinking down in one of the seats and spreading +out her ruffled dress carefully. The girls had been too excited to +notice the dress before, but now they saw it was much more elaborate +than any they had brought with them, except one or two apiece for party +wear. + +"I wonder if all the girls dress like that for every day," thought +Billie in a sort of panic, looking down at the pretty little brown cloth +dress she had thought so wonderful at home. She wondered if Vi and Laura +felt the same way. + +A little later they wandered downstairs to the gymnasium, and then all +thought of clothes was put in the background. + +Around the gymnasium were all sorts of swinging ladders and standing +ladders. There were punching bags and medicine balls; in fact, +everything calculated to make strong healthy women of the girls who came +to Three Towers Hall. + +There was a swimming pool, also, and over this the girls went into +raptures. They had had scarcely any opportunity to learn to swim in +North Bend, and although on their visits to New York they had never +failed--that is, in the summer time--to take a dip, or several of them, +in the Atlantic Ocean, they had never learned to swim more than a few +strokes at a time. + +"A swimming pool!" cried Billie. "I suppose we might have known we would +have one here. Now we can really learn to swim. I wonder," and so +interested had she been with her own affairs that this was the first +time she had even given the boys a thought, "if Chet and Teddy and Ferd +have a swimming pool at Boxton Academy." + +"Boxton Academy?" Rose took her up quickly, suddenly looking interested. +"Do you know any one who goes there?" + +"I should say we do," put in Laura proudly. "Billie's----" + +"Billie?" Connie interrupted, looking puzzled. + +"I'm 'Billie,'" Billie explained, with a laugh. "They call me 'Billie' +for short." + +"Never mind about that," Rose put in impatiently. "What were you saying +about the boys?" + +The girls looked at pretty, black-haired, pink-cheeked Rose, and Billie +realized suddenly why it was she had not altogether liked the girl. + +"She'll be friendly to almost any girl if she happens to like her +brother," she thought, and instinctively she glanced at Laura. The +latter must have had almost the same thought, for she gave Billie a +meaning glance. + +"You said they were at Boxton Academy," Rose insisted. + +"Tell us about them," said Connie. She was interested, but in an +entirely different sort of way. + +"Well, there's Billie's brother and mine and a chum of theirs, Ferd +Stowing. They came with us as far as Molata. Then they left us for the +Academy and we came on here. And we were having such a good time we +never thought about them," she finished penitently. + +The girls were eager to look about the grounds of Three Towers after +that, but Rose would not let them go till she had found out all about +the boys and their "life history," as Billie resentfully said later. +After that the girls noticed that she was even more friendly than she +had been before. + +"Oh, well," said Billie to herself, feeling strangely comforted by the +thought, "she won't have much of a chance to see the boys, anyway, +because we can only leave the grounds on special permission and they +won't be able to get away from the Academy to come here very often. I +suppose I'm an awful cat," she finished ruefully, "but I'm not going to +let her meet any of our boys if I can help it." + +A little later she forgot all about her irritation in the delight of +walking about the beautifully kept grounds of Three Towers and examining +the outside of the picturesque old building itself. + +The latter was even more beautiful than they had thought in their first +glimpse of it, with its rugged, ivy-grown walls and its +three-battlemented towers rising above the trees. + +"It looks almost like an old castle," cried Billie. "The kind you read +about in 'The Days of Chivalry.' All it needs is a----" + +"Moat," finished Laura excitedly. "I was just thinking that, Billie." + +"Yes, a moat would make it just perfect," sighed Violet, adding, with a +laugh: "Anyway, even if we haven't the moat, we have a lake." + +"Yes, let's go down and look at it," proposed Connie. "We've had +wonderful times on it all summer." + +"Doing what?" asked Laura eagerly. "Do they let you row on it--all by +yourselves?" + +"I should say not," answered Rose, with a little toss of her head. "You +have to learn to swim in the pool first so that if you upset your boat +you won't get drowned. It's their great boast that no girl has ever been +drowned at Three Towers." + +"Well, we don't want to start anything," said Billie, with a little +grimace, and the girls laughed. + +"Then," Rose went on, "after you learn to swim you have to take an +instructor out in the rowboat or canoe with you until she thinks you +know how to handle it like an expert." + +"What do you mean by an instructor?" asked Vi. "One of the teachers?" + +"Sometimes it's a teacher," Connie spoke up. "But as a rule it's one of +the older girls in the first grade who teaches the younger ones. Miss +Walters said," and her fair face flushed with pleasure, "that perhaps +next semester I shall be appointed as instructor." + +"Oh, isn't that great?" cried Billie heartily, for she was beginning to +like Connie Danvers with all her heart. Then, too, she had noticed with +a feeling of relief that Connie was not dressed like Rose Belser. She +had on a pretty cloth dress very much like Billie's own. "And she didn't +seem crazy to know all about the boys," she added, with an added warmth +around her heart. + +"I wonder," she said aloud, "how long it will take us girls to learn to +become instructors." + +"Well, I don't know about the rest of us," spoke up Nellie Bane; "but I +know it won't take you very long, Billie. You were always the very first +to pick up anything." + +As with most of the rest of Billie's friends, Nellie shared the +conviction that Billie could do everything she tried to do just a little +bit better than any one else. + +"I should say so," Laura added loyally. "There's nothing that you can't +do, Billie." + +Billie flushed with pleasure and Rose Belser looked at her with new +interest. For if Rose was not the most popular girl at Three Towers she +certainly thought she was and the praise of Billie's friends started her +thinking. Could it be possible that here was a rival? But she shook her +dark head impatiently. If this Billie Bradley thought she could start +anything, why, she, Rose, would show her, that was all! + +And all the time Billie, who had no thought of what was going on in the +other girl's mind, was having the time of her life. + +"Look at all the canoes!" she cried. "And they actually have racks for +them." + +They had come down to a little dock that jutted out into the lake and +had been hidden from their view, or at least partly so, by the trees. +Now, as they came out upon it, they stood astonished and delighted by +the sight that met their eyes. + +There were half a dozen racks on the dock, each one constructed so as to +contain three canoes, one above the other, and every rack was full. + +The canoes were each neatly covered with a tarpaulin, but the tarpaulin, +drawn tight, revealed the long graceful outline of each beautiful little +boat, and the girls fairly ached to launch one of them upon the water. + +"And there are rowboats, too," cried Vi, making another discovery. "Lots +and lots of them! Look! Here they are--tied to the dock." + +Sure enough, there were fully a dozen gaily painted rowboats swaying +gently in the water on either side of the dock, sometimes straining a +little at the ropes that held them. + +"But who would row when they could canoe?" cried Billie, for in Billie +was a passion for canoes which Chet had always declared must have come +from her Indian ancestors. "I think rowboats are horribly clumsy." + +"Hardly anybody really likes to row," Connie answered, "but we have to +do it for the exercise, Miss Walters says there's no better exercise in +the world than rowing." + +"Yes," said Billie, with a little laugh. "And no harder work, either." + +"Do you do much swimming in the lake?" asked Nellie, gazing down at her +reflection in the still water. + +"Oh, we can," Rose answered. "But no one likes it very much. They'd +rather do their swimming in the swimming pool. There's a mud bottom to +the lake, and the water, though it looks mighty nice, isn't good to +drink." + +While they were speaking two girls whom the chums remembered having seen +in the dining hall but did not know came down to the dock, and, after +waving to Rose and Connie, went to a rack and started to take down one +of the canoes. + +The girls watched rather wistfully while they slipped it from the rack, +removed the cover, and slid it into the smooth water. + +One girl with a skill born of experience jumped into the front seat of +the canoe, lifted one of the paddles and waited while her companion +settled herself in the stern seat. Then they glided from the dock +softly, almost silently but for the dip of the paddles in the water, and +drifted out toward the middle of the lake. + +"Oh, if we could only do that," sighed Billie, "I think I'd die happy." + +"Those girls are instructors," Connie explained. "They are in the first +grade and expect to graduate in the spring." + +"It's funny, I suppose," said Billie, dreamily gazing up at the blood +red sun that was slowly sinking in the western sky, "but I'm really +sorry for them." + +"Why?" they asked, surprised. + +"Because," said Billie soberly, "they have to graduate and leave Three +Towers!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +LIGHTS OUT + + +The girls sat up till the very last minute that night, discussing the +absorbing happenings of the day. Rose left them to talk to some of the +other girls--a fact for which they were thankful--and Nellie and Connie +Danvers went to their dormitory, leaving the three chums alone at last. + +They had had supper, a meal not as good as lunch, for the meat had been +too crisp, almost burned in fact, and then they had come up to the +dormitory for a good time together. + +They were rather disgruntled to find that Amanda Peabody and Eliza Dilks +were there before them, but even that fact could not bother them +much--not to-night! + +"I tell you what let's do," said Billie, patting her brown curls into +place before her mirror and noticing with surprise how flushed her face +was and how her eyes sparkled. How could she know, being modest, that +not only her friends, but almost all the girls that had seen them +together, thought her even prettier than Rose Belser. + +"What?" asked Vi, sinking down on the edge of her bed with a sigh of +content. "I don't feel as if I wanted to do any more for years but just +sit here and talk things over." + +"Well, that's just what I was going to say," Billie answered, turning +away from the mirror and flinging herself on the bed beside her. "Only I +thought it would be more comfortable if we got into our nighties. It's +been a pretty warm day----" + +"Billie, you're a wonder," cried Laura, jumping up and fishing in her +bag for her nightgown. "When it comes to thinking you have it all over +us like a tent--as Teddy says," she added apologetically, and the girls +laughed at her. + +"Oh, but there are our trunks!" cried Billie, suddenly remembering. +"Miss Walters said that we were to unpack our clothes and get everything +in shape before to-morrow, don't you remember?" + +"Oh, yes, we remember," groaned Violet. "I don't think much of your idea +this time, Billie. Oh, well, I suppose if we must we've got to." + +So they opened the trunks, which had been brought up while they were out +in the afternoon, and in a very short time had their clothes all hung up +neatly in the wardrobes. + +Then, with a sigh of mingled content and weariness, they brought out +their nightgowns and began to undress, talking all the while. + +"Isn't Miss Walters lovely?" asked Billie, when she was at last curled +up happily on the foot of the bed with Vi at the head of it and Laura +stretched out full length with a pillow tucked beneath her head. + +"Yes, but aren't the 'Dill Pickles' horrid?" cried Laura. "It's lucky +they aren't at the head of things or I guess we'd have a mighty hard +time of it." + +"Well, maybe they aren't as bad as they look," said Violet. + +"Who was that other teacher that Connie said the girls all loved so?" +asked Billie. "I thought I'd remember her name. It was something like +Pace----" + +"Wasn't it Race?" asked Laura, and Billie clapped her hands. + +"Yes, that's it. And Connie said the girls adored her next to Miss +Walters." + +"She's the math teacher, isn't she?" asked Violet, adding as the girls +nodded: "It's lucky for me she's nice, because I'm so awful in math a +mean one wouldn't have me in class more than a week." + +"Oh, but it's all perfectly glorious," said Billie softly. "Just think, +girls, if we hadn't found that darling old trunk we wouldn't have been +here--at least I wouldn't." + +"And if that man--What was it you and the boys called him?" Laura +paused and looked inquiringly at Billie. + +"The 'Codfish?'" asked Billie, guessing at what she meant. + +"Yes. And if the 'Codfish' hadn't got scared and dropped the trunk in +the middle of the road you would have lost it after all." + +"Yes," sighed Vi, "and that would have been worse than not finding it at +all." + +"The only thing that bothers me," said Billie, with a little frown, "is +that we didn't go after that man and get him. He may be a regular thief +for all we know, and if he is he ought to be in prison where he belongs. +Every once in a while," her voice lowered and she looked over her +shoulder nervously, "I dream about him, and when I do he always has a +mask or something over his eyes, but his codfish mouth is always there +sort of grinning at me----" + +"Billie!" cried Laura and Vi in the same voice, and Laura got up +suddenly, sat on her pillow, and regarded Billie with startled eyes. + +"But you never told us!" she said. "Have you--have you dreamed that +often?" + +"No, only once or twice," said Billie. "Just the same, I wish we could +have caught him. I always have a sort of feeling that if he robs anybody +else it will be our fault for not having had him arrested when we had +the chance. Of course, he may not be a regular thief at all. But, oh, +girls, he was an awful looking thing. And I feel sure some day I'll +meet him again." + +"You said he had red hair, didn't you?" asked Laura, a delicious little +thrill running up and down her spine. "And little eyes and that broad +codfishy mouth. Goodness! I wish I'd been with you when you chased him. +It must have been no end of fun." + +"Fun!" exclaimed Billie. "I should say it wasn't fun. Not when I was +afraid I was going to lose the trunk and everything. I was just scared +stiff." + +"But do you really think you'd know the man again if you saw him?" Laura +insisted. + +"Why, of course I would," said Billie. "Didn't I tell you I've dreamed +of him a couple of times--just as he is? I couldn't miss him." + +"Wouldn't it be fun," cried Laura eagerly, "if he should try to rob the +Hall or something and we caught him?" + +"Laura!" they cried, and Billie added with a shiver: "It might be your +idea of a good time, but it wouldn't be mine. I hope I'll never have to +see his old codfish mouth again." + +"Oh, I don't know," said Laura, putting the pillow under her head and +lying down again. "Sometimes when I'm very brave I wish something really +exciting would happen--you know, a burglary or something. I'd just like +to see what I'd do." + +"Well, I know what I'd do----" Vi was beginning, when the "lights-out" +gong sounded through the hall and the girls scurried wildly for their +beds. + +Amanda and Eliza were already in theirs, and Rose, coming in at the last +minute, fairly flew into her nightgown and then scurried over to put out +the one remaining light. + +The room had been in silence and darkness for nearly five minutes when +suddenly Laura leaned over and whispered to Vi. + +"What would you do if a burglar got in?" she asked. + +"I'd just get under the covers," said Vi, "and die off fright!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +TOO MUCH TO EAT + + +If any one had told the three girls that the second day would hold more +of excitement and pleasure than the first, they would not have believed +it. But so it was. + +Billie woke early that morning and found the sun shining gloriously +through the window. It took her a minute or two to realize just where +she was. Then she sat up in bed and looked across at her two sleeping +chums. + +Laura lay on her side, hugging her pillow, and Violet was flat on her +back, blissfully unconscious of the ray of sunshine that fell across her +face. + +Billie's glance traveled from them to Rose Belser, who looked as pretty +asleep as she did awake, and from her to Amanda Peabody and Eliza Dilks. + +She made a little grimace as she looked at them, for their straight, +stringy hair and pinched, freckled faces were a striking contrast to +Rose's prettiness. + +"Oh, I wish everybody'd get up," she thought. "It must be nearly seven +o'clock." + +Even as she spoke the first bell rang, and the sudden sharp noise +through the still Hall made her start up in bed. It roused the other +girls, and they yawned and stretched sleepily. + +"Goodness, is it time to get up already?" asked Laura, glaring at Billie +as if it were all her fault. "Why, I just this very minute got to +sleep." + +"You'd better stop talking and get up," Rose called to them, flinging +back her black hair and jumping to her feet. "We have only half an hour +to get ready for breakfast, and if you're late and haven't any +excuse--well, don't expect any sympathy from Miss Cora, that's all." + +The girls did not need any second hint to make them hurry, and full ten +minutes before the breakfast gong rang they were ready and waiting. + +There was great excitement in the dining hall, for this was the day when +the old students of Three Towers Hall were expected, and the girls who +had remained at the school for the summer vacation were eager to renew +old friendships. + +It was about ten o'clock when the girls began to pour in, and from then +on excitement and confusion reigned. + +"It makes you feel kind of lonesome," said Laura, with a sigh. + +"And the older girls look awfully dressed up and--and--stuck up," said +Vi, snuggling up to Billie as if for comfort. "Do you suppose they +really are, Billie--stuck up, I mean?" + +"I'm sure I don't know," said Billie, feeling a little nervous herself. +"For all we know," she added, with a chuckle, "we may look stuck up +ourselves." + +"Well, maybe we are," Laura giggled. "That's what Amanda is always +calling us, you know." + +"Oh, look," whispered Vi suddenly. "There's Rose Belser with one of the +new girls. I wonder who she is." + +The new girl in question was a nice looking, rather serious girl who +wore glasses and looked to the girls--so they said later--as if she +might really like to study. She was carrying a grip and had evidently +just arrived. + +While the girls watched, she and Rose turned and started in their +direction. For a minute Billie could have sworn Rose did not mean to +stop. However, she did stop, and rather reluctantly introduced the +stranger to them. + +"This is Caroline Brant," she said, adding as she turned to the strange +girl with a queer little smile: "These are some of the new girls who are +in our dorm, Caroline. Billie Bradley, Violet Farrington and Laura +Jordon." + +Caroline Brant shook hands and smiled a grave smile that seemed "just +made to go with her glasses," Laura said afterward. When the girl had +passed on with Rose toward the stairway, the chums had a queer sense of +comfort--as though they had found at least one good friend at Three +Towers Hall. + +Lunch came and went, and so absorbed were the girls in the fun and +excitement of meeting new girls and listening to stories of good times +had during the summer that dinner caught them before they knew it and +they found that the day was gone. + +Everybody went to bed early that night, for Miss Walters had sent around +an order that all lights should be out by nine o'clock sharp. The next +day the real work of the term was to begin, and she wanted all her girls +bright and fresh for the start. + +The next week would have been perfect for the girls, but for one thing. +They liked their classrooms, which occupied all the second and third +floors, they liked their studies, and they loved most of their +teachers--especially Miss Race, the mathematics teacher. + +But they soon found that what Rose Belser and Connie Danvers had said +about Miss Cora and Miss Ada Dill--the "Twin Dill Pickles," when nobody +was around--was terribly and awfully true. + +The Dill twins never seemed to miss an opportunity to make the girls +feel bad. They were sarcastic in class, and seemed to take real delight +in hurting the feelings of their pupils whenever it was possible. + +It was only a few days after the opening of the school year when Billie +had her first little set-to with Miss Cora Dill. The latter had just +finished calling the roll and had pushed the book from her. Then she +looked sharply at Billie. + +"Your name is Beatrice, is it not?" she asked in a tone as acid as her +dill pickle nickname. + +"Yes, Miss Dill," answered Billie, wondering nervously if there were +anything wrong about her name and miserably conscious that the eyes of +all the girls were upon her. + +"But the girls call you 'Billie,' do they not?" asked Miss Cora. + +"Yes," said Billie again. + +"But 'Billie' is a boy's name," said Miss Cora tartly, boring Billie +through with her black eyes. "And it is extremely unladylike for a girl +to bear a boy's name. Extremely unladylike," she repeated, staring at +poor Billie, who was as red as a beet and filled with a wild desire to +run away and cry. + +She might have done it, too, at least the crying part, but a titter from +one of the girls in the back of the room saved her. She was no longer +afraid, only angry--horribly angry. + +So she just looked up in thin-lipped Miss Cora's face and said very +quietly: "I never thought about my name being unladylike, Miss Cora, and +I'm sure it hasn't made any difference with me. Mother says that it is +the way one acts that counts." + +"Well, see that you take care of your actions," retorted Miss Dill +tartly, and turning to one of the other girls called upon her for a +recitation. + +But it was Billie who had won the day. The girls knew it and Miss Cora +knew it, and this helped to make the latter feel in a still more +unkindly mood toward the girl with the "unladylike name." + +"I'll watch her," thought Miss Cora angrily. "She isn't the kind to be +trusted." + +Laura and Violet were furious, and when they returned to the dormitory +to prepare for lunch began to hatch all sorts of wild plans by which +they could "lay this one of the Dill Pickles low." + +"What's the excitement?" asked Rose, and Laura began heatedly to +describe what had happened in the schoolroom, while several of the other +girls gathered around. + +When she came to Billie's answer the girls looked pleased and one of +them clapped her hands. + +"Good for you, Billie Bradley!" cried a dark girl, joyfully. "You must +have given the Dill Pickle the surprise of her life." + +"She bearded the lion in his den, the Pickle in her Hall," quoted +another of the girls. "You know, I'd have given anything to have been +there." + +"And you a new girl, too," said another, looking at Billie with admiring +eyes. + +From that time on Billie became a noted figure among the hundred girls +at Three Towers Hall, and her fame and popularity grew in leaps and +bounds. + +Rose Belser viewed this new state of affairs calmly at first, then with +alarm, and later with dismay. That a new girl should come to Three +Towers and immediately begin to shoulder herself into the limelight was +unthinkable, impossible, it couldn't be done. And yet Billie Bradley was +doing it! + +After a while she began to draw away from Billie, look indifferent when +one of the girls spoke of her praisingly, slighted her in a hundred +little ways that Billie herself could hardy put her finger on. And yet +she felt it. + +Billie had one other constant enemy at Three Towers, and that was Miss +Cora. Miss Cora never missed a chance to humiliate her--or at least try +to humiliate her. But Billie was so happy and having such a wonderful +time that she never gave these attempts any more attention than she +would so many mosquito bites, thereby fanning Miss Cora's dislike of +her. + +Meanwhile the two Miss Dills grew more and more sour and crabbed until +the girls began to wonder "why they didn't die of it." Then one noon +time Laura came running into the dormitory, her eyes big and round with +excitement. + +"What do you think?" she cried, while the girls gathered round her. "I +heard Miss Cora and Miss Ada talking together. I was in the lab and they +were in the hall and they didn't know I was anywhere around." + +"Well?" asked the girls impatiently as she paused for breath. + +"They were talking about our meals," Laura went on. "They said we got +altogether too much to eat." + +"Too much to eat!" echoed the girls, looking at one another wonderingly. + +"Why, we don't get any more than we want," said Billie. + +"What else did they say, Laura?" urged Vi. + +"That was about all." Laura had gone over to the wash basin and was +washing her hands hard as though to get some of her dislike of the "Dill +Pickles" out of her system. "I was so surprised I couldn't help hearing +a couple of sentences. Then I coughed and came out of the lab and they +looked as if they'd like to kill me. 'The girls are getting altogether +too much to eat,' said Miss Ada." Laura mimicked her to perfection. +"'Yes,' said Miss Cora, 'we must give them less--a good deal less.'" + +"Well, I'd just like to see them try it, that's all," said Billie, +adding with a sigh: "Thank goodness, we still have Miss Walters, anyway. +She won't let us quite starve to death!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +FOUR ENEMIES + + +"Are we really going to have one, Billie Bradley? Oh, how wonderful!" + +Several weeks had passed, and this afternoon the five of them, Laura +Jordon, Vi, Nellie Bane, Connie Danvers and Billie, were sitting close +together at the very farthest end of Billie's dormitory talking over +some plans that made them feel delightfully like conspirators. + +"A real feast!" said Violet Farrington eagerly. "With sandwiches and +pickles and cake and--and--everything! Oh, Billie, who all are going to +be in the party?" + +"All the girls from Nellie's dorm, we four and Caroline Brant," Billie +said, in a voice scarcely above a whisper. + +"But I don't think Caroline will come," said Laura doubtfully. "You know +she would lots rather study than go to a party. That's her idea of a +good time." + +For although Caroline Brant had proved a good friend to the chums, +especially to Billie, they had tried in vain to draw her into their +little escapades. She was what the girls usually referred to scornfully +as "a grind," yet, strange to say, they all loved her. + +She willingly helped them with their lessons, had often coached some of +the more backward of them for tests, passing them when otherwise they +would have hopelessly flunked, and cheerfully helped them out of scrapes +when they needed help. + +So now it was not strange that Laura should expect her to refuse an +invitation to this new escapade--the most forbidden of all forbidden +escapades, the midnight feast. + +"Well, I'm going to ask her, anyway," Billie said in answer to Laura's +objection. "The worst she can do is to say she won't come." + +"But you're going to ask Rose, aren't you?" Connie broke in, adding, as +Billie frowned and looked doubtful: "She'd never in the world forgive +you if you didn't." + +"Yes, we'll ask Rose," said Billie, after a minute's hesitation. "Here +she comes now," she added, as the door opened and Rose entered. "Come on +over here," she called, "I want to ask you something." + +She was just about to tell Rose the plans and invite her to the party +when the door opened again and Amanda entered with Eliza Dilks. Amanda +was never seen without Eliza trailing along in the background, and for +this reason the girls had nicknamed the latter, "The Shadow." + +By this time the girls at Three Towers Hall had learned to dislike the +two sneaks as much as the girls of North Bend disliked Amanda. + +Wherever anything was going on, especially of a secret nature, Amanda +and "The Shadow" were sure to be prying about, saying mean little +things, forcing the girls to move over to some other place where they +could be private for a little while. + +And now here they were again! + +"What do you want?" asked Rose, not noticing the two who had come in +after her. Rose's voice was not very pleasant, for she was beginning to +show her growing dislike of Billie openly. + +"Nothing just now," Billie answered, looking behind Rose to where Amanda +and "The Shadow" stood, apparently talking together, yet listening to +every word that was being said. "I'll tell you later." + +Amanda looked up and her mean little eyes twinkled angrily. + +"Don't mind us," she said. "If we're in the way, of course we'll get +out. Come on, Eliza," and with their noses in the air she and "The +Shadow" sailed out of the room. + +"Some day I'm going to kill 'em," said Laura, glaring ferociously at the +closed door. + +"Go on. What were you going to tell me?" drawled Rose, turning to the +mirror and eyeing her pretty reflection with satisfaction. + +"You'd better not say anything, Billie," Nellie Bane warned her. +"They're probably listening at the keyhole or something." + +"It must be horrid to hate everybody and have everybody hate you," mused +Connie, smoothing back her pretty hair. + +"But they seem to hate Billie most of all," said Vi. "I'm sure I don't +know why. It's because she's so popular, I suppose." + +Then to Rose, still fussing with her hair before the mirror, came the +dawn of an idea. It would be hard to do anything to hurt Billie herself, +for, whatever her faults, Rose was not a sneak. But she might make use +of Amanda---- + +It was several days later--the day that had been set for the greatest of +all adventures, a midnight feast in the dormitory. + +It was Billie who had arranged it all, and although the feast itself was +by no means a new idea, she had thought up something to make it a little +more interesting and daring. + +Each girl had been instructed to learn some little piece or poem which +she was to recite on the great occasion. Some of the girls protested on +the ground that they were poor at memorizing, but Billie had been firm. + +"No recite, no eat," she had said; and so the girls, some joyfully, +some reluctantly, had set to work to learn their pieces. + +And Billie, full of energy and enthusiasm, had gone to work and got up a +regular program with the names of the girls and the recitations they +would give. Laura and Vi had helped her make duplicates of the program +so that there was one for each girl. + +And the strangest thing about the whole affair was that Caroline Brant, +junior student and grind, had agreed to make one of the party. + +Billie's chums called her a witch, for since Caroline Brant had come to +Three Towers Hall she had never been known to take a hand in one +adventure, no matter how harmless it may have been. And Rose, growing +more and more resentful as she saw even her most faithful followers +deserting her for Billie, became more sure that she would have to make +use of Amanda and "The Shadow." + +Neither Billie nor any of the other girls knew Caroline Brant's real +reason for accepting Billie's invitation. The fact was that Caroline had +fallen in love with Billie at first sight, perhaps because she was just +the opposite of Caroline herself, and had since become as fond of her as +if she had been her younger sister. + +But all the time, while she had seemed to be engrossed in her studies, +she had been keeping one eye on Billie, and with that one eye had seen +pretty nearly everything that had happened. + +She was as proud of Billie's growing popularity as if it had been +herself, but she knew Rose would never stand for the taking of her place +by any one. And that was what Billie was very surely doing. + +She knew that Amanda and Eliza disliked Billie and would do almost +anything to get her into trouble. + +And then there was that fourth enemy of Billie's, Miss Cora Dill. +Caroline knew that if Miss Cora were to catch Billie in any sort of +scrape she would never in the world give her the benefit of the doubt. + +And most of all, Caroline knew that Billie, with her imp of mischief, +would be the very last to try to keep out of a scrape, and that sooner +or later one of her four enemies would get just the proof she wanted to +take to Miss Walters. + +In that case, so great was her affection for Billie, Caroline had +desperately decided that she would go to Miss Walters herself and plead +for Billie. + +And all this, nobody seeing Caroline, quiet, reserved, studying +furiously for the mid-term examinations that were coming dangerously +near, would have guessed at. Nor would they have guessed that Caroline +was breaking her rule and going to Billie's party simply to keep Billie +from harm. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +BILLIE SNORES SUCCESSFULLY + + +It was a wonder any of the girls could keep their minds on their lessons +that morning. As a matter of fact, they recited so poorly for Miss Ada +and Miss Cora that the two "Dill Pickles" turned sourer than ever and +threatened to report them to Miss Walters. + +But what did they care? The night was before them! + +Seven o'clock came, then eight o'clock, and then nine. The gong rang for +"lights out," and every girl was in bed and, apparently, sound asleep. + +But underneath the bed of each and every girl who was to be in the party +was a box or a basket filled to the brim with smuggled dainties. + +These containers held cold meat and pickles from the delicatessen shop +near by. There was jelly. Olives and biscuits and fancy cakes with +foolish icing on top were there--everything in fact that goes to the +making of a first class midnight feast. + +Miss Ada Dill, making her evening round of the dormitories to see that +all was well and every girl in her place, found nothing to arouse her +suspicions until she came to Billie's dormitory. Then she paused, +started to close the door, opened it again and stood still, intently +listening. + +And it was Billie who, in her eagerness not to be discovered, almost +gave the thing away. For Billie was snoring, gently but decidedly +snoring, and to Miss Ada's trained ear, the snore did not sound natural. + +So in she came, and Billie, watching out of the corner of one eye, felt +a panicky desire to pull the covers over her head and hide. + +Suppose Miss Ada should discover that five of the girls in dormitory "C" +were not undressed at all, but wore their nightgowns over their clothes? + +Suppose--but this was too awful even to imagine--Miss Ada should +discover those baskets under the beds. Billie shivered and almost gave +the thing away a second time. + +Miss Ada slowly made the rounds of the beds, scrutinizing each girl +sharply and passing them by one by one reluctantly until she came to +Billie's bed. + +Billie was still snoring gallantly--she did not know what else to do. If +she stopped now it would be a dead give away. And yet to keep on was +almost impossible. + +Poor little Billie! Afterward she could laugh at it, but at the time it +seemed nothing short of a nightmare. She knew that Laura and Vi and +Rose and Caroline were awake and waiting for the terrible moment when +Miss Ada should discover the conspiracy. + +If she could only keep on snoring for a minute longer! thought Billie +desperately. And then the unbelievable thing happened. Instead of +commanding her in no uncertain tones to get out of bed, Miss Ada +turned--slowly but surely turned--and marched out of the room. + +Not until the door was shut could Billie believe that she was really +safe. And not until she heard Miss Ada's footsteps die off down the hall +did she dare to stop snoring. + +Then she drew a long breath and stretched out arms cramped by lying so +long in the same position. And in the dark stillness of the dormitory +she heard four more sighs--distinct and very plaintive. + +For a full five minutes the girls lay still, hardly daring to breathe, +afraid that Miss Ada would change her mind and come back again. + +But as the minutes passed and nothing happened, their courage returned +and Billie began to feel jubilant. She must be a good actress indeed to +fool Miss Ada! + +And then---- + +Five ghostly figures sat up in bed, pushed back the bed clothes, and +slid silently to the floor. Once on their feet they shed their +nightgowns and their dark dresses only made a blurr in the blackness of +the room. + +Still noiseless as mice, they drew out the precious baskets from under +the beds and crept over to where Billie was waiting for them. + +"Where do we go from here, girls?" said Laura in a hysterical whisper. +"Goodness, but I'm scared to death." + +"Keep quiet or you'll have something to be scared about," Billie +directed in a fierce little whisper. "Come on--I think the road's +clear." + +They tiptoed to the door, and Billie opened it cautiously and peeped +out. There was no one in sight, and she stepped out into the hall +quickly, motioning to the girls to follow her. + +Caroline, the last to leave the dormitory, stopped for a moment and +looked about at the sleeping girls. Then, satisfied that they were +really asleep and that none of them suspected the prank, she followed +the other girls out into the hall and closed the door carefully behind +her. + +They found their fellow conspirators in dormitory "F" already up and +stirring. The lights were lit, hampers were out on the table ready to be +opened, and the real fun of the party was commencing when the five +arrived. + +They were greeted with subdued enthusiasm, for no one dared to speak +above a whisper, and Connie demanded to know why Billie was late. + +"We couldn't do a thing without you," she said. "You had the program and +everything----" + +"And besides," finished Nellie, "we'd promised not to start anything +until you came." + +"We thought you'd been caught," Connie added reproachfully. + +"We were just about to put out the lights and get into bed ourselves," +chimed in another girl, "because we thought if you were caught, Miss Ada +would come over here and catch us too." + +"But what made you late?" asked Connie again. + +"If you'll stop talking and listen a minute," said Billie, her eyes +shining with excitement, "I'll tell you what a narrow escape we had." + +The girls gathered around eagerly while she told her story, and when she +had finished they gazed at her with horrified eyes. + +"Billie, what ever made you do such a thing?" cried Nellie. "Why, if you +had just kept still she probably would never have suspected a thing." + +"I know that now," said Billie ruefully. "It was a crazy thing to do, +but when I'd once started it I didn't dare stop." + +"Well, I think you deserve a gold medal," said Laura loyally. "If it had +been me----" this wasn't correct English, but Laura was too excited to +notice it--"I'd have giggled or something and given the whole thing +away." + +"Goodness! wouldn't Miss Ada be happy if she could really catch us at +something," said Nellie, but the girls would not listen to her. + +There wasn't a bit of danger. Weren't they going to have somebody at the +door to mount guard and to warn them of the slightest noise downstairs? + +They had decided to draw lots to see who should be chosen for this very +disagreeable position of guard and now they set to work at once to "get +the agony over with" as Rose Belser said. + +Rose had been very quiet, for her, and there was a queer expression in +her eyes when she looked at Billie that would have made the latter +wonder if she had had time to notice it. However, there was one girl who +did notice it, and that was Caroline Brant. + +Strangely enough, it was Rose who drew the blank that made her "guardian +of the portal" for the first twenty minutes. At the end of that time the +girls would draw again and let another poor unfortunate take her place. + +Rose was inclined to grumble at her hard luck at first, for she wanted +to be in the fun as much as any of the girls. But suddenly there came to +her an idea--a way that she might punish Billie for daring to become so +popular at Three Towers Hall. + +Of course, she could not hurt Billie without hurting all the rest of the +girls but--her lips shut tight and her eyes narrowed to slits--goodness +knew they deserved it. It was they who had helped to make Billie so +popular. + +The plan she had thought of was very easy. All she had to do was to slip +from dormitory "F" into her own, leaving both doors open a little so +that the light from one could shine into the other. + +Then, as she passed Amanda Peabody's cot, just a little jostling to +awaken her and the thing would be as good as done. Amanda, seeing the +light, would be sure to investigate, and, while she was gone, she, Rose, +could undress quickly, put on her gown, and slip into bed. Then when the +discovery came--and Rose knew Amanda well enough to be sure there would +be a discovery--she would be safe in bed and unsuspected. That is, +unless the girls should tell. + +She looked over her shoulder at the happy scene in dormitory "F," and +for a minute she felt guilty. Then one of the girls came over and put an +arm about Billie and her lips tightened again. + +Of course if the girls knew that she had been the one to give them away, +no one would have anything to do with her. She would probably have to +leave Three Towers Hall. + +But how would they know? She could tell them that she had slipped into +dormitory "C" to get a handkerchief--or something else, she could think +that up later--and while she was gone, Amanda had slipped out and given +the alarm. It was all very simple. + +She looked back into the room where the fun was in full swing and once +more her heart forsook her. It would be a dreadful thing for the girls. +They would probably be expelled from Three Towers. + +But here was her chance, if she was going to do it--and it might be her +only one. One of the girls was giving a whispered and funny recitation, +and the girls were doubled up with laughter, fairly holding on to +themselves to keep from making a noise. + +The look in Rose's eyes hardened. She forsook her post + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A PLOT FAILS + + +Caroline Brant had been watching from behind a pair of horn-rimmed +spectacles, although nobody, not even Rose, could have told it. + +She had seen Rose glance into the room, had noticed how queerly she had +looked at Billie, and now, as Rose started across the corridor, Caroline +was at her heels, quick as a cat. + +It was not till Rose's hand was on the knob of the door across the hall +that Caroline spoke. + +All she said was, "Where are you going?" in a quiet little whisper, but +Rose whirled upon her fiercely. + +"You're following me," she cried, almost forgetting to whisper in her +fury. "What do you mean?" + +"You'd better not make so much noise," said Caroline calmly. "We'll have +Miss Ada or Miss Cora down upon us if you're not careful." + +"Miss Ada or Miss Cora," mimicked Rose, actually trembling with fear and +rage at being caught. "What do I care for Miss Ada or Miss Cora!" + +"Well, I care a lot, if you don't," retorted Caroline, urging the +excited girl back toward the lighted dormitory. "I don't know what +you're so mad about anyway," she added, as Rose glared at her. "Your +time for playing guard was up, and when I came over to tell you about it +I found you were gone." + +Caroline was fibbing--or, at least, partly so--but Rose had no way of +knowing that. What she did know was that she had made a goose of herself +for nothing, and all at once she hated Caroline more than she hated +Billie or any one else on earth. + +But she did not dare show it. The only thing for her to do was to try to +pass the thing off the best she could. So when they reached the door she +looked up at Caroline with the best smile she could manage and tried +hard to keep her voice steady. + +"I'm sorry I spoke as I did," she said. "I was just going to slip into +the dorm and get a bottle of olives that fell under the bed. And when +you spoke to me so suddenly it frightened me--that's all." + +"It seems a pretty big chance to take--for a bottle of olives," said +Caroline gravely, and in spite of herself Rose flushed. Oh, how she +hated "grinds" that wore horn-rimmed spectacles! + +The two were greeted joyfully by the rest of the girls, who would never +know just how near they had been to discovery. + +"I guess the time's up for your watch, Rose," said Billie. "Come on, +let's draw lots and see who's the next." + +Laura made a dash for the glass bowl that served as a lottery but +Caroline interrupted her. + +"I'll stand watch for a while," she said, adding as the girls started to +protest: "It's hot in here and it's cool in the hall, and I need cooling +off. Will somebody hand me a sandwich once in a while?" + +"I'll say we will," they cried, and immediately began plying her with so +many sandwiches and pickles and biscuits that she laughingly protested. + +"And don't make too much noise," she said, as she started for the door. +"You know Miss Ada may be a little suspicious that there's something up +and come snooping around again." + +"Well, you know the signal," Billie whispered after her. "Scratch twice +on the door." + +Caroline nodded, glanced at Rose, and went out to her post, sandwiches, +pickles, biscuits and all. + +The rest of that evening was not very pleasant for either Caroline or +Rose. Caroline was wondering whether she ought to tell Billie and the +other girls that she had found Rose sneaking, yes, actually sneaking, +into the room across the hall when she should have been at her post. + +"Of course, I don't know that she was going to do anything wrong," she +kept telling herself, yet in her heart she knew that Rose had been up to +some mischief. "But it isn't fair to Billie not to say anything," she +worried. "I know Rose, and she's sure to try to get even some time, and +Billie ought to be told to look out." And all the time she was thinking, +her ears were strained for the slightest noise below stairs. + +As for Rose, she would have pleaded a headache, for by that time she +really had one, and gone to bed, if she had not been afraid of being +laughed at by the girls. + +And so she stayed on and on, trying to act as if nothing were the +matter, laughing and joking with the other girls, eating sandwiches and +cake till she was sick of the very sight of them, while all the time she +was wondering, wondering, what Caroline was going to do. + +"She can't really tell anything," she worried, while her head ached +harder and harder. "I didn't really _do_ anything." + +But all the time she knew that just leaving her post at the door when so +much depended upon the girls not being discovered was a terrible thing +and one that the girls would find it hard to forgive should they find +her out. + +"If only Caroline doesn't say anything," she thought, adding spitefully: +"And now I suppose I've got to be nice to the old thing, whether I want +to or not." + +Meanwhile, the rest of the girls were having a gay time. Never had a +forbidden feast gone off so beautifully before, and they were in +hilarious spirits. + +As the hour hand of the little clock on Nellie's dresser crept near to +midnight the girls packed up the fragments of the feast, and, after they +had pushed the baskets out of sight under the beds, drew their chairs +together to form a semi-circle and began joyfully to tell the most +blood-curdling ghost stories they knew. + +Each girl had to tell some story she had read or heard, or if she was so +unfortunate as never to have read or heard any, was forced to make one +up "out of her own head." + +The fun waxed fast and furious, each story being more hair-raising than +the last until it came to Billie's turn. + +"But I don't know any ghost stories, and I'm no good at making them up," +she protested when the girls looked at her expectantly. "I like +adventure stories about treasure hunting and robbers and murderers and +things----" + +"Well, that'll do," said Laura joyfully, while the other girls shivered +delightedly and drew close together. "Tell us a murder story, Billie." + +Billie was about to open her mouth in protest when Vi suddenly made a +suggestion. + +"I've got the very thing," she cried. "Tell the girls about the +'Codfish,' Billie." + +"'The codfish'?" they repeated, looking puzzled, while Rose added with a +little yawn: "Yes, do tell us about the codfish, Billie--it sounds so +interesting." + +The tone more than the words made Billie angry, but before she had time +to retort the girls broke in, eagerly demanding the story of the +"Codfish." + +"We caught one one time on a family fishing trip," said one of the +girls, taking it for granted that this particular codfish was of the +swimming variety, "and we had fried codfish steaks for a week +afterward." + +Billie chuckled while Vi and Laura openly giggled. + +"But this wasn't that kind of a fish," said Billie. "It was a man." + +This was almost too much for the girls, who were beginning to think that +Billie and Laura and Vi had suddenly gone crazy, but Billie hurried on +to explain about the "Codfish," growing more and more interested in her +story as she went on. + +As for the girls, well, they simply hung on her words, and when she came +to the part where the thief had dropped her precious trunk in the +roadway they exclaimed so loudly that Caroline had to warn them to be +quiet. By this time the guard at the door had been removed, as there was +little danger of discovery at so late an hour. + +"Well," sighed Connie Danvers, when Billie had finished her story, "I +wish something like that would happen to me sometime. It sounds just +like a story book." + +"But you should have caught him," Nellie objected. Though Nellie had +heard of Billie's wonderful good fortune in finding the old trunk, she +had never heard the details of the part the "Codfish" had played in it +until to-night. "It gives me the shivers to think that an awful thing +like that, with red hair and a fishy mouth, should be wandering around +loose." + +"I'm sure I'll dream of him to-night," said one of the other girls +plaintively. + +"Speaking of dreams," said Billie, getting to her feet so quickly that +she almost upset the girl beside her, "don't you all think we'd better +get back to our dorm? It's after midnight, and--I'm awfully afraid of +Miss Ada." + +"Well, I'm not--not after to-night," said Laura. "You surely did fool +the Pickle with your snoring, Billie." + +"Yes. But next time somebody else will have to do the snoring," said +Billie, with a rueful little smile. + +There followed whispered good-nights interspersed with giggles, and +finally the five girls from dormitory "C" tiptoed across the hall, and, +silent as mice, crept into their own room. + +Quickly they undressed and slipped into their white nightgowns, +listening breathlessly every once in a while for some sound that might +tell of discovery. + +None came, however; the big house was as silent as a tomb and Billie was +just about to slip into bed when she happened to look out of the window. + +The moon was bright, bathing the smooth lawn of Three Towers in a light +almost as bright as day, so that Billie could not have been mistaken in +what she saw. + +A man ran quickly, furtively, across the lawn and disappeared in the +shadow of the trees bordering the lake. Billie's heart amazingly skipped +a beat and then stood still. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +MYSTERY + + +For several minutes Billie Bradley stood at the window straining her +eyes in the direction in which the man had disappeared, scarcely daring +to breathe. + +Then, when she was sure that whoever the fellow was he did not intend to +come back, she turned from the window with a little sigh of mingled +excitement and relief. + +It was only a sigh, but it sounded so loud in the stillness of the room +that it suddenly brought Billie to her senses. + +Shivering a little, she crept into bed and drew the covers up under her +chin. It would never do to be discovered by Miss Ada at this last +minute, and she certainly could not do any good by standing there +staring out of the window. + +Whoever the man was, he had gone now and would not return. But could she +be sure of that? Suppose he had been a thief--she shivered and drew the +covers over her head. In that case she should have roused Miss Ada and +told her the story. + +But then, Miss Ada's first question was sure to be, "How did you happen +to be standing by the window at twelve o'clock at night?" + +Then would come suspicion, a search, perhaps, and discovery. No, she +couldn't, she couldn't! But what had that man been doing? + +For more than an hour she lay, too excited to sleep, shivering at any +sudden sound, wondering--wondering. Toward morning she fell asleep, only +to dream of picnics where one did nothing but catch codfish and eat +them, of a strange man with a stooping figure, running across a lawn +bathed in moonlight. + +Luckily for the girls who had been at the party, there were other girls +in dormitory "C" who had gone to bed at the usual respectable +hour--Amanda Peabody and Eliza Dilks, for instance--and who, as usual, +heard the rising bell. If it had not been for them and the noise they +made Billie and the others of the five might have slept on till noon. + +As it was, they rose resentfully, finding it hard to get their eyes +open, looking for their clothes half-heartedly, grumbling at everything +and everybody. + +It was Billie, who had slept less than any of them, who whispered a +warning to them. She had seen Eliza and Amanda eyeing them suspiciously. +It would never do, after having managed the party so successfully, to +let the cat out of the bag after the affair was over. + +The argument appealed to the girls, and they woke up with a suddenness +almost more suspicious than their former sleepiness had been. + +It was not till noon that Billie found a chance to tell the girls what +she had seen from the dormitory window after the rest of them were in +bed. + +By that time the last evidence of last night's party had been cleared +away, and the girls were beginning to feel secure again. + +One by one they had run back to the dormitories between classes, made +the remnants of the feast into small paper bundles, and had smuggled +them down to the cellar and deposited them in the big box where all the +papers and other rubbish was kept until the man of all work about Three +Towers carted it off into the woods to be burnt up. + +So now, in hilarious spirits, they answered Billie's call and flung +themselves in various characteristic and joyful attitudes upon her bed. + +"Speak, woman, speak," Laura commanded her, stealing a chocolate from +Vi's sweater pocket. "What have you got to say for yourself?" + +"Yes, what do you mean by getting up such a disgraceful affair as +happened here last night?" added Nellie Bane in such an exact imitation +of Miss Ada's manner that the girls giggled delightedly. + +"Look out," cried Connie Danvers, in a whisper, for Amanda and the +"Shadow" had just come into the room. "If you are not careful our +wicked plot will yet be discovered." + +"What is it you wanted to say, Billie?" asked Caroline in her +matter-of-fact tone. "If it's anything very private, I guess we'd better +move." + +Caroline had been thinking about Rose and the happening of the night +before--thinking till her head ached--but she had not yet decided what +to do about it. As for Rose--her head ached, too--she knew what she was +going to do about it. Some way or other she was going to get even with +Billie! And Caroline, too, big snooping, spectacled thing! + +"It isn't a bit private," said Billie, looking so serious that the girls +suddenly became serious too. "It was about something I saw last night +after----" she was about to say "after the party," but as Amanda and her +"Shadow" had come dangerously near and were listening with all their +ears, she decided not to. + +"Well, what was it you saw?" the girls demanded impatiently, as she +hesitated. + +Billie lowered her voice and spoke hurriedly. + +"I saw him going across the lawn. He was running, and while I watched he +disappeared among the trees near the lake." + +"A man?" asked Vi while the others stared. + +"Of course," Billie nodded impatiently. "What did you think it was--a +grizzly bear?" + +"It might have bees from your description," Vi retorted, but right here +the girls broke in with a running fire of questions and Billie was kept +busy trying to answer them all at once. + +"But, Billie, why didn't you tell somebody?" Vi asked, but Laura crushed +her with a look. + +"Tell somebody?" she repeated scornfully. "How could she and give the +whole----" + +But this time it was Laura who suddenly came to a standstill, the reason +being a vicious little pinch from Billie in the fleshy part of her arm. + +"Hush!" she whispered fiercely while all the girls looked alarmed. +"Haven't you any sense at all?" + +And Laura, feeling very sheepish, did not even answer back. For Amanda +and the "Shadow" were still making excuses to hang around. + +"But, Billie, what are we going to do about it?" asked Connie nervously. + +"Yes, we don't want funny looking men wandering around our campus at +night," said Rose, lazily straightening a ruffle on her dress. + +"No, nor in the day time either," said Nellie, looking fierce. + +"Well, you all needn't look at me as if it were my fault," said Billie +plaintively. "I certainly didn't ask him to come and keep me awake all +the rest of the night." + +"But nobody's answered my question," Connie objected. "I want to know +what we're going to do about it." + +"Why, there's nothing to do about it," said Billie. "I suppose all we +can do is to wait till we see him again--if we do--and then tell Miss +Walters about it." + +At that moment the gong rang and hands flew to straightening hair and +belts and ruffles preparatory to starting the afternoon classes. + +"Well, all I have to say is," said Nellie as they turned toward the +door, "that I hope your strange man stays where he belongs, Billie, and +doesn't come back here." + +"So say we all of us," said Connie, adding with a shudder: "Ugh! Your +story about the 'Codfish' last night, Billie--and now this! It's enough +to scare a person to death." + +"There you go blaming me again," said Billie plaintively. + +In the weeks that followed the girls very nearly forgot about the +unknown man, who certainly had no business roaming around Three Towers +Hall after midnight. + +The only thing the chums did not like about the boarding school was the +Twin Dill Pickles. The latter were getting more and more +miserly--insisting that the girls were getting too much to eat and that +they should be allowed a great deal less liberty. In short, if the twin +teachers had had their way Three Towers might have been a prison instead +of a boarding school. + +"However," said Billie one day, after Miss Cora Dill had been unusually +unpleasant, "perhaps we need the Dill Pickles. If we didn't have them we +might be too happy." + +The girls from North Bend had now become fully settled at the school. +They had made a number of other friends, but so far their enemies seemed +to be confined to Amanda Peabody and her constant companion, Eliza +Dilks. Except Billie, that is, who added Miss Cora Dill and Rose Belser +to her enemy list. Amanda was becoming known as the sneak of the school, +but for this she did not seem to care. + +"I wouldn't want such a reputation as that," said Laura one day. + +"Nor I, either," answered Billie. + +The boys from Boxton Military Academy had been over to see the girls +several times. Rules were very strict at Three Towers Hall, and if the +lads had not been related the boys could probably never have been +admitted at all. But Chet and Teddy could come in, and once or twice +they managed to smuggle poor Ferd along. + +"I wish we could go out for a row on the lake," remarked Billie one +evening, as she gazed at the moonlight on the water. + +Her wish was gratified the very next day. The boys invited them out, +having first obtained Miss Walters' consent to let them go. + +Rose Belser had looked and smiled her prettiest--and that was a good +deal--the first time she happened to meet the boys and girls together. +But as the boys were too much interested in the fun they were going to +have to take much notice of her, she had merely tossed her pretty black +head and sauntered off in the opposite direction. + +"Somehow or other I can't get next to that girl Rose," remarked Chet to +his sister, when the whole crowd was out on the lake. + +"Well, Rose is rather peculiar in some respects," answered Billie, not +caring to say too much. + +"What do you say to a race?" cried Teddy, after they had been rowing +around for a while. + +"Don't upset!" exclaimed Vi warningly. + +"No upsetting to-day, thank you," put in Ferd, who was in the crowd. + +The girls were quite willing that the boys should race, and away they +went up the lake for half a mile or more. Teddy was carrying Billie, +and, of course, he exerted himself to the utmost to win the race. + +"Here is where we put it all over you!" cried Chet, who was carrying +Laura. + +"This race belongs to me," panted Ferd, who had Vi as a passenger. + +A number of the boys and girls on the lake shore were watching the +contest, and wondering who would win. In the crowd, more out of +curiosity than anything else, were Amanda and Eliza. + +"Huh! I wouldn't care to be on the lake with those boys," snapped +Amanda. "First thing they know they'll upset." + +"They must be splashing water all over each other," was Eliza's comment. + +At first it was almost an even race, but gradually Chet and Teddy drew +ahead. + +"Oh, I guess it's going to be a tie," murmured Billie. + +"Not much!" gasped Teddy, and put on an extra spurt which soon sent him +quite a distance ahead. + +"Hurrah! We win!" shouted Billie triumphantly. + +"All right, I guess you do!" flung out her brother. "I guess I ate too +much for dinner. That's the reason I couldn't row so well," he explained +lamely. + +"Oh, dear! I wish we got as much as that to eat," sighed Laura. + +The boat race had just come to a finish when those out on the lake heard +a cry from the shore. There seemed to be a great commotion among the +girls from Three Towers Hall. + +"We'll go back and see what's up," shouted Ferd, and those in the +rowboats lost no time in following the suggestion. + +They were still a hundred feet or more from the lake shore when they +saw what had happened. In their eagerness to see the finish of the race +Amanda Peabody and Eliza Dilks had ventured out on a soft bank, holding +to some low bushes for that purpose. Bushes and bank had given way +suddenly, and both girls had gone floundering into the water and mud up +to their waists. Now they had been pulled to safety, and their chums, +seeing that they were not hurt, set up a shout of laughter. + +"You are mean things, that's what you are!" cried Amanda, in vexation. + +"The meanest ever was!" echoed Eliza. + +And then the two dripping figures hurried for the friendly shelter of +the boarding school. + +"Gracious, what a happening!" was Vi's comment. And then she added +quickly: "But they deserved it." + +"They certainly did," responded Laura. "What a fine thing it would be if +they would leave this school." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE QUARREL + + +There was a secret club among the girls at Three Towers Hall, and only +the students who stood first in their classes could be admitted to the +chosen circle. + +Also the girls who were lucky enough to be elected to the "Ghost Club," +for that was what the society was called, must be popular among their +fellow students. There was an unwritten law that membership in the club +should not exceed fifteen. + +Rose Belser was president of the club, while Connie Danvers and several +of the other girls with whom Billie and her chums were on the best of +terms, were fellow members. Caroline Brant had been asked to join but +had refused on the ground that the club took too much time from her +studies. It was a compliment to Caroline that, in spite of her refusal, +the girls--all except Rose Belser--liked her just the same. + +Billie and her chums had not been in Three Towers a week before they had +heard of the secret club--no one but the members themselves even knew +the name of it--and had realized how much all the girls longed to be +members of it. + +So when one day Connie came to Billie and whispered something in her +ear, it was no wonder that Billie's heart beat a little faster. + +But all Connie had really said was: "We want to see you and Laura and Vi +outside near the old maple tree at ten to-night. It's very important. +Don't keep us waiting!" + +And Billie, in a voice she tried hard to keep natural, said that they +would not keep her waiting. And when she imparted the mysterious message +to Laura and Vi they gaped at her, then pulled her down on a bench--it +was noon and they had come out for a bit of sunshine and fresh air +before the afternoon lessons--and showered her with questions. + +"But, Billie, didn't she say why she wanted to see us?" cried Laura. + +"And who wanted to see us?" added Vi. + +"I've told you just exactly what she said," Billie answered a little +impatiently, while her eyes shone with excitement. "She said it was very +important and not to keep them waiting." + +"I bet I know what it is," said Laura, almost afraid to put her hope +into words. "It's the secret society, Billie." + +"The secret society!" Vi repeated in an awed voice, while two girls who +were passing paused and looked at them curiously. "Oh, Laura, it +couldn't be! Billie, do you think it is?" She looked eagerly at Billie. +Then her gaze traveled on to the two curious girls who were still +lingering within earshot, and she sat up so straight that Billie and +Laura looked at her in surprise. As usual the loiterers were Amanda and +her "Shadow" and as they saw Vi's eyes upon them they smiled +unpleasantly. + +"Hello," said Amanda coming over to the girls while the "Shadow" +lingered behind. The latter was not quite as bold as Amanda--nor quite +as mean. "I heard you say something about the secret society. Are you +invited?" The last words were said with such a sneer and the grin on her +face was so aggravating that the girls felt their blood begin to boil. + +Billie jumped to her feet and faced Amanda, both hands clenched at her +sides. + +"We've stood just about as much as we're going to from you, Amanda," she +said, her eyes blazing. "You've done nothing, you and Eliza, but spy +upon us ever since we came to Three Towers, and I'll tell you right now +we're tired of it." + +"Oh, you are!" said Amanda, her grin a little wider, while Laura and Vi, +alarmed at what they saw was going to be a real quarrel at last, got up +and stood beside Billie. Other girls who had come out on the campus +gathered around them curiously. "Well, what do you think you're going +to do about it?" + +"I don't know yet," said Billie, trembling with fury--for usually +good-natured, fun-loving Billie had a whirlwind of a temper when it was +roused. "But we'll make you stop your spying and mean tricks if we have +to try your stunt and go to Miss Walters about it." + +"What's this?" asked a cool pleasant voice behind them, and the girls +turned quickly to find Miss Walters looking on gravely. "What is it you +want to come to me about, Beatrice?" + +But Billie turned all colors of the rainbow and stood as if stricken +suddenly dumb. A minute before she had been furious. Now she was only +ashamed. + +How could she explain to Miss Walters without telling about Amanda? That +would be telling tales, and, in spite of her threat, that was the very +last thing Billie wanted or intended to do. Beneath Miss Walters' steady +gaze she hung her head. + +"Come, speak up, Beatrice," Miss Walters commanded, not unkindly, for, +like almost every one in Three Towers Hall, she had come to love +reckless, sweet-natured Billie, and even laughed at her pranks in +secret. "I've asked you a question, and my girls are in the habit of +answering me." + +"Please," said poor Billie without looking up, "I want to answer you, +Miss Walters, but I don't know how I can without t-telling tales." + +"Was there a quarrel?" questioned Miss Walters, her face still grave, +for she disliked that kind of thing. "If you can't tell me about it +without telling tales," here the faintest of smiles flitted across her +face, "I want you at least to tell me that you are no longer angry and +that a scene of this kind will never happen again. Here, Beatrice, shake +hands with Amanda and be friends again." + +Billie looked more startled at this than at anything that had happened +so far. Shake hands with Amanda? Pretend they were friends again? Why, +they never had been friends! Instinctively she put her hands behind her +back. Then she looked up at Miss Walters appealingly. + +"Please, Miss Walters," she said, "won't it be enough, if I tell you I'm +sorry I made a scene and that I'll never do it again? I won't, truly I +won't." + +"Yes, that will do," answered Miss Walters, her eyes really smiling now. +She was thinking that if she had had a daughter she would have liked her +to be like Billie. "Only remember, I have your word that it will never +happen again. Come now, it is almost time for afternoon class," and she +led the way back across the lawn. + +The girls followed in groups of two and three while Amanda and the +"Shadow" brought up the rear. There was a smile on Amanda's face, and +for the first time since she had come to Three Towers she was exultant. +She had succeeded in making Billie furious, had seen her called to +account--gently of course, altogether too gently, for "Billie was Miss +Walters' pet"--but called to account nevertheless and before a crowd of +her classmates. That ought to hold her for a while! + +As for Billie herself, and Laura and Vi, they were desperate. + +"You ought to have told Miss Walters about Amanda, Billie," Laura said +over and over again. "You shouldn't have let that little old sneak get +away with it. Did you see her smile when Miss Walters turned away? Oh, +if I could only give her what I want to give her!" Laura's hands clasped +and unclasped nervously as she talked and her eyes snapped. + +"Yes, that's just what she was waiting for," said Vi, hardly less +furious than Laura. "If you only hadn't answered her, Billie. Had just +looked at her with your nose in the air and turned away. That makes her +mad enough to murder you." + +"Oh, I know it, I know it," said Billie, still ashamed to look any one +in the face. She had broken one of the rules and had been reprimanded +for it by Miss Walters in public. There was no getting over that. If it +had been one of the "Dill Pickles" she would not have minded so much. +But Miss Walters! + +"Never mind," Vi whispered in her ear. "Miss Walters doesn't like Amanda +any more than we do, and she just scolded you because she had to. And I +know she liked the way you refused to tell tales. I saw it in the way +she looked at you." + +At this Billie brightened and glanced up hopefully. + +"Well, I'm glad if there's something she can like about me," she +answered, and just then the gong echoing through the hall, sent them +scurrying to their classes. + +In the excitement of the scene with Amanda the girls had almost +forgotten their mysterious engagement for ten o'clock that evening. But +when they did think of it again it had the effect of making them forget +everything else. + +The afternoon dragged on, evening came with supper, and then at last +they were in the dormitory, pretending to undress with the other girls, +while they really left most of their clothing on. + +When everything was dark and the whole place seemingly asleep, they got +out of bed quietly, stole softly down the stairs, and finally came out +into the moonlit night. + +The old maple tree where they were to meet Connie was a magnificent old +giant which the girls had always admired, set back a little way in the +woods. + +The place had probably been picked out because nobody, happening to +look from the windows of Three Towers, would be able to see anything but +shadows and waving branches. + +When the girls, moving softly over twigs and branches, so as to make no +noise, finally came to the meeting place they were surprised and a +little alarmed to find no one there. + +The woods were dark and silent, save for the soft murmuring of the wind +among the trees. + +"Nobody's here," said Vi, glancing nervously over her shoulder. + +"Suppose nobody comes," whispered Laura. "Maybe it's all a joke." + +"Well, if it is," said Billie with a rueful little smile, "the joke is +on us." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE "CODFISH" AGAIN + + +It seemed an age while Billie and Laura and Vi stood under the maple +tree before anything happened. It really was only about five minutes. +Then a sound was heard through the darkness. It was the cracking of a +twig. + +The girls started, and Billie, drawing some bushes aside, peered out in +the direction of the sound. What she saw made her draw in her breath +sharply and Laura and Vi drew closer, looking over her shoulder. + +Ten ghost-like figures were coming quickly toward them across the +moonlight-flooded lawn that surrounded Three Towers Hall. + +It looked as though each figure had draped itself from head to foot in a +flowing sheet with places for the eyes and nose and mouth rudely cut +out. The girls, watching in half-frightened silence, were reminded of +the "Ku-Klux Klan" of post Civil War days, which they had seen once or +twice in moving pictures. + +"Do you suppose it's the girls dressed up like that?" Laura whispered, +beginning to wish herself back in the security of her dormitory. + +"Of course. Who else could it be?" said Billie, trying to make her voice +sound natural when the skin on the back of her neck was beginning to +crawl. "For goodness sake, don't let them think you're scared, whatever +you do," she whispered fiercely, as the first of the white-draped +figures reached the woods. "That's probably just what they're trying to +do." + +The leader of the "ghosts," as they had already dubbed them in their +minds, came to a halt just a few feet in front of the chums, and her +followers drew up behind her. + +Then they stood there, motionless as the trees around them, looking at +Billie and Laura and Vi through those ghastly white masks until the +girls thought they must scream. + +They afterward found out that this was the "silence test," that unless +the girls passed this first test they were unworthy to belong to the +"Ghost Club." And passing the test consisted of doing what the girls +were doing now--although they did not know it--just standing still and +waiting for the head "ghost" to speak. + +And finally, when the girls felt that they could no longer stand it but +must dash out of the dark woods and away from the ghostly, motionless +figures, the "head ghost" spoke. + +"We have come," it said, "to ask you a question." + +There followed another silence, and Billie, not knowing just what was +expected of her, but wishing to be polite, said, rather weakly: "Yes, +ma'am." + +For a minute it looked as if the meeting would be broken up, for who +could be dignified and ghostly when addressed as "ma'am"? There was a +giggle from among the ghosts, and one or two of them began to double up +as if with silent laughter. But once again the head ghost lifted its +hand, or what looked more like a wing, under the sheet and her followers +straightened up. + +"And that question is," said the head ghost in a voice not quite so +solemn as before: "Do you believe in ghosts?" + +This was a poser. The girls never had believed in ghosts, but how could +they say so to this white-clad group. They had either to tell a fib or +offend their visitors. Billie, acting as spokesman, chose the fib. + +"We never used to," she said, and for the life of her she could not keep +the laughter out of her voice, "but I think we shall after to-night." + +"Ah," said the head ghost softly, and it seemed as if there were a +little stir in the group behind her. "Then come closer for I would ask +you yet one other question." + +Obediently the chums came closer,--although they would much rather have +stayed where they were--and the head ghost put her second question. + +"Listen," she said solemnly, lowering her voice at least two degrees +more. "Listen well, for it is a matter of great import. Would you be one +of us?" + +In the silence that followed the girls could almost hear their hearts +beat. This was the secret society to which every girl in Three Towers +longed to belong, and they, Billie, Laura, Vi, were being asked to join. +The last question of the head ghost could mean nothing else. + +They hesitated a moment, too dazed to answer, and the head ghost +repeated its request. + +"Would you be one of us?" it asked. "Answer quickly--yes or no?" + +Billie took a chance on her chums and took the plunge. + +"Yes!" she answered breathlessly. + +"Ah, 'tis well," came in solemn tones from the white mask of the leader. +Then she waved her arm toward the white-clad figures behind her and the +latter moved up till they were close to her. + +"You understand," said the leader then, "that one cannot change from a +human to a ghost in a minute. There are different stages to be gone +through. Spider!" She lifted her hand again and one of the girls +separated herself from the group and came forward. As she faced the +leader she shivered as if with a chill, raised her hands in the air, +and, still shivering horribly, lowered them to her sides again. + +The girls learned afterward that this was only a sort of salute which +every member of the "Ghost Club" was supposed to give its leader. + +But here at night, with the wind sighing through the trees, and weird +shadows all about, the thing looked so uncanny that once more the girls +had a wild desire to run away and hide. + +"What is it, your Ghostship?" asked the one addressed as Spider, and +although the voice was disguised the girls were sure it belonged to +Connie Danvers. They began to feel more at home. + +"Tell these humans," the head ghost ordered, "what they will have to go +through to be initiated into the Ghost Club. Come forward, one at a +time." + +"But would it not be better to show them?" asked Spider, and this time +the girls were sure it was Connie. + +"Show them, by all means," said the head ghost, and then the girls knew +they were in for it. + +They had heard of initiations before and what ridiculous things the +girls and boys who were lucky or unlucky enough to be initiated had to +go through with. But in every case they had heard of the clubs and +fraternities had been human ones. The initiation into a ghost club was +sure to be much worse. + +The leader of the ghost club raised her hand again, and three girls +sprang forward from the group behind her. Before the girls knew what was +happening to them they found their hands pinned behind them while huge +sheets were flung over their heads. + +The girls that were doing all this to them tied something that felt like +ropes around their waists, pulled the sheets into shape and the girls +found to their great relief that there were eye and nose and mouth holes +similar to those in the strange robes worn by the ghosts themselves. + +After that they went through strange and weird experiences that they +remembered in their dreams for a long time afterward. + +They were taught the "shiver salute," bandages were tied over their +eyes, or rather eye holes, and queer, slimy crawly things were pressed +into their hands. + +They were forced to swallow things that felt like particularly fat and +squirmy worms. It was no wonder that the stomachs of the girls +threatened to turn inside out. Several times they were on the point of +revolt, but always they choked back protests and did as they were told. +For to have come so near being members of the secret society of Three +Towers and then to lose out at the last minute because they had not +nerve enough to go through with the initiation, would have been real +tragedy. So they gritted their teeth and went ahead. + +At last it was over, the bandages were taken off their eyes, and they +were led before the head ghost to take the final oath of allegiance when +a strange thing happened. + +Billie, happening to glance through the trees to the bright patch of +lawn beyond, uttered a startled cry. For across that bright patch of +lawn a man was running, crouched and furtive. + +"Girls!" she cried, forgetting the club, forgetting everything but this +new and startling fact. "Look! Quick! Here, through the trees!" + +They crowded behind her, stirred by the note of excitement in her voice, +straining their eyes in the direction she had pointed out. + +The man was just about to enter the shelter of the woods when the +snapping of a twig under Laura's foot caused him to stop and look about +him, startled. + +In that brief second the moon shone full upon his face, and with a start +of sheer amazement Billie recognized him. + +"It's the 'Codfish'!" she cried. "Girls, it's the 'Codfish'!" + +"The Codfish?" they repeated in excitement, and Laura shook her arm +wildly. + +"Billie, are you sure?" she asked, then gave a gasp of amazement and +dismay. + +For Billie, forgetting how ridiculous she must look in her ghostly garb, +had started in pursuit. + +"She's crazy!" cried the "head ghost," speaking this time in the voice +of Rose Belser. "Some one go after her quick and get her back. Suppose +one of the Pickles should see her from the house!" + +But before she could finish Laura was racing like mad after her chum. + +Billie had stopped at the edge of the woods and was listening for some +sound that might tell her in what direction the man had disappeared. + +Laura grasped the sheet that enfolded Billie and tugged at it wildly. + +"Billie, come back, come back!" she cried. "We may be seen from the +house any minute." + +"But it was the 'Codfish,'" cried Billie wildly. "If I only had a--a +gun, or something!" + +"Yes, but you haven't, and he probably has." Laura was dancing with +impatience, glancing now over her shoulder at the dark woods, now toward +the house, standing out boldly in the moonlight. "Billie, for goodness +sake, don't be so crazy. We can't do anything!" + +So Billie at last allowed herself to be dragged away. They found the +"ghosts" talking excitedly about what had happened. And every once in a +while a girl would glance nervously over her shoulder into the dark +shadows of the woods. + +"Goodness, he must be a regular robber," Connie said in an excited +whisper. + +"And to think it's Billie's 'Codfish', the man who stole her trunk!" +said another. "I'm scared to death!" + +"D-don't you t-think we'd better go back?" asked Vi, her teeth +chattering. + +"I guess so," agreed Connie, looking fearfully about her. "He may be in +the woods now. He may even be listening to what we say!" + +This was enough for the girls. Without even a backward glance they +scurried across the lawn like so many little white phantoms and in at +the side door of Three Towers Hall. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +ROBBED! + + +For days the girls could think of little else than the initiation into +the "Ghost Club" and their startling meeting with the "Codfish." +Whenever they could get together between classes or at noon or before +they went to bed, these were the topics of conversation. And of these, +the "Codfish" held first place. + +"He must be a real burglar," Connie said during one of these gatherings. + +"Of course he was," said Rose, looking a little bored. "Respectable men +don't sneak around places at all hours of the night." + +"But what in the world did he want?" Laura asked wonderingly. "You +wouldn't think he'd come out from the woods at all--especially when +there's such a bright moon. He might be sure some one would see him." + +"Oh, I don't know," said Billie thoughtfully. "He probably knows the +rules of Three Towers and that the girls are all supposed to be in bed +before ten o'clock, and I suppose he felt safe enough. We _should_ have +been in bed, you know," she added, dimpling mischievously. + +"But I wonder what he was sneaking around Three Towers for," Laura went +on, unwilling to change the subject. For to Laura, mysteries were the +very breath of life. + +"Maybe he's waiting for a chance to rob us," said Vi in an awed little +voice, and the girls shuddered. + +"Well, I hope he changes his mind," said Nellie Bane anxiously. "I never +did like burglars very much." + +But as the days went by and nothing further happened, the mystery of the +"Codfish" was pushed a little into the background. + +In the first place, the chums were having the time of their lives in the +"Ghost Club," and proud as could be of having been chosen for +membership. + +The only one who was not particularly happy was Rose Belser. Of course +she had not wanted the girls in the club at first. But the rest of the +club did want them, and she was afraid that if she was the only one who +voted against them it would make her unpopular with the rest. + +Then, too, she reasoned with herself, if she hoped to get even with +Billie, the only thing was to have her around until she saw her chance. + +And all the time the "Twin Dill Pickles" were getting so obnoxious that +more than once the girls were upon the point of revolt. From day to day +it was only Miss Race, the mathematics teacher, who stood between them +and open rebellion. + +For Miss Race was a staunch friend of the girls, and in her heart +disliked Miss Ada and Miss Cora as much as they did. Whenever things got +a little bit too bad, Miss Race would have a secret conversation with +Miss Walters, who in her turn would have a little talk with the two Miss +Dills. Then for the space of a day or two the girls would have +comparative comfort. + +However, in spite of all efforts on the part of Miss Race, conditions +were steadily growing worse for the girls. + +Things went on very much the same, without much change one way or +another, while autumn merged into winter and the snow began to fly. + +There was a good deal of snow the early part of that winter, and +sledding parties became more and more frequent. There was a splendid +hill for coasting near Three Towers, and here the girls gathered almost +every afternoon after classes. + +Sometimes, very often in fact, there were boys, too, brothers and +friends of the girls, boys who attended Boxton Military Academy. It was +great sport, even more thrilling than rowing or canoeing had been, so +that when Lake Molata froze over the girls were joyful at the prospect +of more fun. There would be skating, and Billie Bradley and her two +especial friends were splendid skaters. + +Before long the lake was full of joyful, shouting boys and girls +whenever the weather was fine. And as for Chet and Teddy and Ferd, they +walked the mile from Boxton Academy almost every afternoon. + +"Let's have a race," Billie suggested one day, skating up to a group of +her chums. Her cheeks were rosy with wind and exercise, and her brown +hair had escaped in little curling strands about her ears. + +Teddy, looking up at her, thought that she looked like the picture of a +girl on a magazine cover that he had seen not so very long before. + +"All right," he said, doing a fancy step on the ice that almost landed +him on his nose. "Shall we take partners? Yes we shall. Billie, will you +be mine?" + +The rest of the girls giggled--all but Rose, who had taken a great +liking to handsome Teddy and did not at all fancy the way he always +singled out Billie, "the little cat"--and Billie made a face at Teddy. + +"I'll think about it," she teased, then drew the boys and girls around +her while she outlined the course of the race. "Now," she said, "we'll +skate straight ahead till we come to where the lake takes that sudden +bend. Then we'll double, and whoever passes the big maple tree first +will win. Who's going in this race?" + +It seemed that nearly everybody wanted to--everybody who could get a +partner, that is--and in a minute or two a score of merry young figures +were flying over the ice in a gallant effort to make the turn and get +back to the old maple first. + +It was a pretty scene, at least Caroline Brant thought so. But Rose +Belser, sitting close beside her, scraping her skates along the ice +until she made two ugly little ridges in it, did not agree with her. + +There was Billie, taking the center of the stage again as usual, and +there was Caroline looking after her with a smile. Well, Caroline could +smile. She had never been the most popular girl at Three Towers, +although most of the girls did like her, at that. Billie wasn't taking +_her_ place. And she dug still more viciously at the ice. + +"Better not do that," said Caroline, bringing her eyes back from the +flying figures and looking at the ugly ridges Rose had made. "Somebody's +apt to tumble over them and get hurt." + +"I wish they would," said Rose savagely, then added with a mean little +smile that suddenly reminded Caroline of Amanda Peabody: "I suppose +Billie would like to fall so that Teddy Jordon would have a chance to +pick her up." + +"Rose, stop saying such things!" Caroline said. But further speech was +prevented when a girl's voice hailed them excitedly. They turned to see +Nellie Bane running toward them at full speed. + +"Girls, the most awful thing has happened!" she panted when she came +within speaking distance. "Miss Race was coming home from town a few +minutes ago, and suddenly a man stepped out from the bushes near the +road and held her up." + +"Held her up!" they gasped, and Caroline added sharply: + +"Do you mean she was robbed?" + +"Yes," answered Nellie, still panting and with eyes wide with excitement +"And from what she said, I'm sure it was the 'Codfish.'" + +At that minute the skaters sped down upon them, Teddy and Billie winning +triumphantly by about a yard. Caroline skated over to them, calling her +story as she went. It was a minute or two before she could make them +understand. + +"You say one of the teachers was robbed?" asked Ferd. + +Then Caroline told the story all over again, while Nellie shouted to +them from the shore--for Nellie had on no skates and did not dare +venture out on the ice without them. Before she had finished the boys +were tearing wildly for the bank with the girls close behind them. + +There they sat down and tore their skates off, asking questions all the +while. + +"Did you say it was just the other side of the gate?" Chet asked. "Say, +if we hurry, fellows, we may have a chance to find him. Who would ever +have thought of that old Codfish turning up again?" + +"Don't talk--work," cried Teddy, getting rid of his skates and stamping +his numbed feet to get the blood back into them. "We missed that fellow +once before, and we're not going to miss him again if we can help it. +Ready, fellows?" + +"You bet!" Ferd and Chet cried, and the three were off on a run, the +first of the boys to start. Behind them the girls were still fumbling +with numbed fingers at their skates. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +CHET PLAYS THE HERO + + +The boys stopped at the gate of Three Towers Hall, not knowing just what +to do next. All they knew was that Miss Race had been held up and robbed +only a few hundred feet from the gate and that the robber had +disappeared in the bushes at the left-hand side of the road. + +"We'll have to spread out," Teddy said in an excited voice. "Probably +the fellow doesn't expect to be followed, because he thinks there are +only women and girls around Three Towers and he's probably around near +here somewhere counting over his loot. + +"There are five of us," he went on quickly, noticing that two more boys +had come up from the lake on a run. "And if we go in the woods one at a +time and circle about we ought to find the thief." + +"Don't you think we'd better get Miss Race?" asked Chet eagerly. "She'd +be able to show us just where the fellow disappeared, and everything." + +"But it will take too long," Ferd was objecting, when Miss Race +herself, with two or three of the other teachers and Miss Walters, came +hurrying toward them. + +"What are you going to do, boys?" asked Miss Walters, looking worried. + +The boys explained quickly, and Teddy, turning eagerly to Miss Race, +asked her to go with them as far as the woods and point out the place +where the thief had disappeared. + +Miss Race was still white from her fright. But she was angry, too, for +the pocketbook she had lost contained a good deal of money. + +"Yes, I'll go," she said, then added, turning quickly to her principal: +"That is, if you don't mind, Miss Walters." + +Miss Walters still looked troubled, but she shook her head slowly. + +"I think it will be all right," she said, adding as the boys started +eagerly off: "Only be careful, boys, and don't get hurt. The man may be +desperate if he finds himself cornered." + +The girls started to follow the boys, but Miss Walters checked them. + +"You can't help," she said when they looked at her reproachfully. "And +since I'm responsible for you, you will stay right here." + +Meanwhile, the boys and Miss Race were running down the road. Yes, even +Miss Race, who was never _very_ dignified, was running. + +Suddenly they came to a trampled place in the road, showing that some +struggle had taken place there. + +"It was right here," said Miss Race, her eyes black with excitement. +"And he ran across the road and disappeared in that thick mass of +bushes. Then he covered me with his gun and told me to 'beat it while +the beating was good.'" + +"The rat!" cried Chet indignantly. "Come on, fellows! I want to get my +hands on that rascal." + +Eagerly the boys started for the woods, but Teddy turned back suddenly +and called to Miss Race. + +"You'd better go back now," he said, and Miss Race's eyes twinkled at +his grown-up tone. "There isn't anything more you can do, and if there +are any bullets flying around we don't want you to get them. Please," he +added impatiently, as she did not move. + +"No, I'm going to stay right here," she answered him firmly, and when +Miss Race spoke in that tone everybody knew that she meant what she +said. "Go along, but don't take too many risks. Remember the man is +armed." + +So Teddy disappeared after his comrades and Miss Race waited nervously +in the road, expecting she hardly knew what. + +It seemed a long time that she stood there, dreading any moment to hear +a shot, blaming herself for sending the boys on such a hunt. + +"I'd rather lose a hundred pocketbooks," she scolded herself, "than have +a finger of one of those boys hurt. I wish I hadn't said anything about +it." + +As for the boys, they were beginning to despair of ever finding the +thief and were calling themselves all sorts of names for ever thinking +they would, when suddenly Chet walked out of the woods and almost upon +him. + +It was so sudden that the boy almost yelled in his surprise, but all he +really did was clap his hand over his mouth and stare. For he had come +so softly that the man had not even heard him. + +He was crouched over something that Chet could not see--probably the +stolen pocketbook. His revolver lay beside him on the ground, close to +his right hand. + +With his heart in his mouth--for after all, with all his courage, he was +only a boy and the robber was a man, and armed at that--Chet crept +forward, fearful each second of stepping on a twig and giving his +presence away. + +Nearer and nearer he crept, hardly daring to breathe, until he was right +behind the thief and the revolver was almost under his feet. + +Then with a motion as quick as a cat's, he stooped and caught tip the +revolver. The next moment he stepped quickly back and covered the thief +with it. + +"Hands up!" he cried. "Quick there, before I shoot!" + +So sudden, so noiseless, had been his action that the thief was taken +completely by surprise. With an exclamation he reached his hand out for +his revolver, then, not finding it, stumbled to his feet. + +"Hands up!" cried Chet sharply. "Quick, now. This blamed thing might go +off." + +The man's hands went up, but he still kept his back to Chet, his little +furtive eyes glancing about for a means of escape. + +"Turn around," Chet commanded, then as the man did not move he clicked +the trigger meaningly. "Say, I think you want to taste the lead in this +thing," he added, and there was something in his tone, boyish though it +was, that made the man turn quickly. + +Chet uttered a gasp of recognition. + +"So it _is_ you," he said. "I thought it was all the time, but I +couldn't be sure till I'd seen the color of your eyes. So you're really +the 'Codfish.' Please to meet you, old man." + +"Say, cut that out," snarled the "Codfish," making as though to spring +upon Chet, but the latter waved his pistol and the man evidently changed +his mind, for he stood where he was, hands above his head, eyes glaring. + +"And so there's the pocketbook and the nice fat roll of money you just +stole from the Three Towers teacher," Chet went on, his glance shifting +from the man to the pocketbook with the money stuffed hastily in it +where the man had left it on the ground. "You thought it was easy, +didn't you? Well, you didn't know you had me to reckon with." Chet was +boy enough to want to strut a little. Never before had he had a chance +to play the real hero. He probably never would have again, so he wanted +to make the most of this. + +"You little puppy!" the man spat out at him. "You think you can get the +best of me, don't you? Let me tell you, no kid can do that." + +He made a sudden lunge forward, and Chet, taken by surprise, stepped +backward, caught his foot in a root and stumbled a little. + +He recovered himself in a minute, but in that little space of time the +"Codfish" had gone, disappeared as if the earth had swallowed him up. + +Then Chet went mad. To have had the thief and then to lose him! He +started off wildly into the woods, but his foot struck against +something, and, looking down, he saw the pocketbook with the money still +in it. + +He picked it up, feeling that he had partly played the hero anyway, for +if he had not caught the thief, he had at least recovered the money. + +Then he started off on his hunt again, and this time almost stepped +into the arms of Ferd and Teddy. + +"Say, what's the row?" the former yelled at him. "We heard the talking, +and thought we'd have a look--say, stop pointing that thing at me, will +you?" + +"Then get out of my way," yelled Chet, his mind on only one thing. He +must catch the "Codfish." "I'm after the thief, I tell you! Get out of +my way!" + +"Say, has he gone crazy?" asked Teddy. Then his eyes fell on the +pocketbook that Chet was still holding tight in his hands. + +"He got the money! Say, Ferd, he got the money! Chet you're some hero. +Where's the thief?" + +By this time Chet knew he had no chance of catching the "Codfish," who, +now that he was discovered, was probably running into hiding as fast as +he could, so he turned back with the boys and began excitedly to tell +them what had happened. + +"And you really had him and you let him go again!" cried Ferd in +disgust. "Well, you poor old fish!" + +"I got the money, anyway, didn't I?" Chet defended himself, adding in a +superior tone: "It's more than any of you did, I guess." + +"You're some boy, Chet," Teddy repeated heartily. "Come on and let's +tell the good news to Miss Race. Make believe she won't be glad to see +her wealth again." + +"Where are the other fellows?" Chet asked, as they started back. + +"Oh, they'll be along soon," said Ferd indifferently. "When they can't +find old 'Codfish' they'll come wandering back again." + +"I wonder if Miss Race has waited," said Teddy, adding as he came near +the roadway: "Yes, there she is, looking pretty white and scared, too." + +As they clumped through the heavy bushes Ferd looked at Chet gloomily. + +"Say, make believe I don't envy you, you lucky dog," he said slangily. +"Gosh, all the girls will be wanting to skate with you and everything +now." + +"Sure! Well be left out in the cold," added Teddy mournfully. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +RAIDING THE PANTRY + + +As a matter of fact, Teddy and Ferd and all the other boys, too, were +left out in the cold more than even they had expected. + +Miss Race greeted rapturously the return of her money. And as for the +girls--well, they hung around Chet, showering him with questions and +praise until it was really a wonder they did not spoil him entirely. + +But when the first excitement was over, the boys had gone home, and +everything was quiet again, they could not help feeling sorry that Chet +had not kept the Codfish when he had him. And Miss Walters, though she +said nothing to the girls, was more worried than any of them. + +"Why, we'll be afraid to go out at all after dark," Billie said, +wide-eyed and excited. + +"And I'm sure I'll dream of him every night," Laura added with a +shudder. + +But as the days went by the girls found other things to worry about than +the Codfish. They were having more and more trouble with Miss Ada and +Miss Cora. Then one day there came news that brought the whole matter to +a head. + +Miss Walters had received a telegram calling her away suddenly and had +no way of knowing just when she would be back. + +And in the meantime--this part of the news the girls received in +horror-stricken silence--Miss Ada Dill and Miss Cora Dill were to be +left in entire charge of Three Towers Hall. + +It was nothing less than tragedy to the girls, for they knew that now at +last the "Dill Pickles" had their chance. And they knew, too, that Miss +Ada and Miss Cora would make the most of it. + +The day came when Miss Walters left, and the girls watched her go with +puckered brows and stormy eyes. + +"The meals have been bad enough, goodness knows," Laura grumbled, as +they gathered up their books for the first class. "But now I suppose we +won't get anything to eat." + +"We'll just be prisoners, that's all," said Billie, her eyes rebellious. +"I know Miss Cora's hated me from the very first, and now she'll be able +to do just about what she pleases to me. But if she gets too funny, +I'll--well, I don't know what I'll do," she ended rather helplessly. + +And during the next week the girls' worst fears were realized. All the +liberty that they had enjoyed under Miss Walters was taken away from +them, and, as Billie had predicted, they were practically prisoners. + +That they could have stood perhaps; at least until Miss Walters +returned. But that was by no means the worst of it. + +The two Miss Dills had always said that the girls could get along just +as well on far less to eat. In fact, Miss Ada was positive they could +study better if "they didn't cram themselves so full of food." And now +they set to work to prove their theory. + +The meals became skimpier and skimpier, until one day after the noon +meal the girls left the table feeling positively hungry. + +The afternoon seemed unbearably long, and for the life of them they +could not keep their minds on their books. All they could think of was +delicious juicy steaks, French-fried potatoes, chicken pie and +strawberry short cake. + +And when girl after girl failed in her recitations, Miss Cora and Miss +Ada scolded them so harshly and said such sarcastic things that it +brought the angry red to their faces. But, as the girls said later, they +were "almost too hungry to fight back." + +Two more days passed with conditions getting worse and worse until the +girls were becoming weak from lack of food. Two of the younger girls +became faint and sick. + +"We can't stand this much longer," said Billie. + +The girls were gathered in Billie's dormitory after supper, and one by +one girls from the other dormitories joined them. It was fast becoming a +mass meeting. + +"We simply can't stand it," Billie went on, her little fists clenched +angrily at her side. "It's all right if they want to take our liberty +away. We can stand that for a little while, until Miss Walters comes +back. But when they begin to starve us----" + +"But what are we going to do?" asked one girl, helplessly. + +"We could run 'em out, I suppose," said one of the older girls gloomily. +"But I suppose we'd be run out ourselves as soon as Miss Walters got +back." + +"I don't see why Miss Walters left 'The Pickles' in charge, anyway," +spoke up another of the girls fretfully. "She knew how horrid they were +and how they've all the time been picking on us girls." + +"Well, I don't see that it makes any difference why Miss Walters did +it," Billie broke in, and there was something in her tone that made the +girls stop talking and look at her expectantly. "The fact is, she has +left the 'Dill Pickles' in charge and they're trying to starve us to +death. Now what I want to know is this: Are we just going to stand +around and let them do it? Or are we going to fight?" + +"Fight!" they cried, their pale faces beginning to flush with hope. + +"What do you want us to do, Billie?" asked Laura eagerly. + +"Listen and I'll tell you." She leaned forward and one could almost have +heard a pin drop in the room. "There's only one way I know of that we +can get food that 'The Pickles' don't give to us." + +"And that?" + +"Is to raid the pantry and storeroom," said Billie, her eyes gleaming. +"We'll probably find plenty of cooked things in the pantry, and if we +don't, we'll go on into the storeroom and get canned sardines and +vegetables and soup. I know I don't care what I eat, as long as I get +enough of it." + +The girls were silent a minute, staring at Billie half hopefully, half +fearfully. To raid the pantry and storeroom? It had never been done in +all the history of Three Towers. It would be open rebellion! And yet +they were hungry--terribly hungry--two of them had been faint and sick +from lack of food. + +"Will you do it?" asked Billie, her eyes blazing at them. + +"We will!" they almost shouted, and then rose such a pandemonium that +Billie, trying to scream above the noise, found her voice drowned +completely. + +After a minute they quieted down a little--enough to listen to her, +anyway. + +"Please don't make so much noise," she begged. "We'll be likely to make +our raid a great deal easier if we wait until the cooks are gone and the +teachers are in bed. We don't care if we are caught, but we don't want +to be caught until after we've had something to eat." + +The girls realized the common sense in this, but it was all they could +do to be patient and wait. The thought of something to eat--all they +wanted to eat--after a week of starvation made them ravenous, furiously +impatient of delay. + +The time passed at last, however, and when the "lights out" gong sounded +through the hall the girls were apparently in bed and fast asleep. + +Hardly five minutes had passed before the doors of the different +dormitories opened, and the girls crept singly or in twos and threes +toward the farther end of the hall until all the hundred-odd girls of +Three Towers were gathered there except two. Two of them had stayed +behind, and so absorbed were the other girls that they never noticed the +absence of Amanda Peabody and Eliza Dilks. + +It may be that Rose noticed, for as she left the dormitory she looked +over at them and smiled a little. She had guessed at the truth. + +For Amanda and Eliza disliked Billie so bitterly that they would even go +hungry for the chance of getting even with her. Miss Ada and Miss Cora +would be very glad to know who had been the ring-leader in the +rebellion! + +In the meantime the girls, satisfied that every one was present, had +started softly down the back stairs which led them by the shortest way +to the kitchen. + +As Billie had said, they did not care if they were discovered, except +that if they were caught they would probably have a harder time getting +what they wanted. + +Billie was in the lead with Vi and Laura close behind her. They hardly +made any noise at all, and before they knew it they were facing the +closed door that led to the kitchen. + +Billie swung it open cautiously and looked inside. The kitchen was dark, +but she knew where the electric switch was, and the next minute the room +was flooded with light. + +The sudden glare rather frightened the girls, and they hesitated for a +moment--but only a moment. They were terribly hungry, and just across +the kitchen was the pantry, and back of that, the storeroom. + +"Come on, girls," Billie whispered. "Here's where we get the best of +'The Pickles.'" + +They found cold ham in the refrigerator, they found bread and butter and +crackers and jam. In the twinkling of an eye all these dainties had +disappeared, and they were looking around for more. + +Next they raided the storeroom. They found tiers upon tiers of canned +goods, and Billie, because she was the first to find a can-opener, was +pronounced "official can-opener," and opened cans till her arm ached. + +But how good that stolen food tasted! They ate ravenously. They ate with +knives and forks and spoons, and when these ran short, they even ate +with their hands. And by and by the brightness came back to their eyes, +the color to their cheeks, and they chattered like joyful magpies. + +When they could eat no more, they filled their pockets with biscuits and +crackers and started back the way they had come. + +But they only started, for as Billie opened the door that led to the +stairs she found herself face to face with Miss Cora, Miss Ada, Miss +Race and several of the junior teachers. + +In the background--triumphant smiles upon their faces--lurked Amanda +Peabody and Eliza Dilks. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +A CHALLENGE + + +The girls stood still, awaiting they did not know what, while Miss Ada +and Miss Cora swept into the room followed by the other teachers, Amanda +and the Shadow. The Misses Dill carried their noses high in the air, and +there was a grim expression around their mouths. But as the girls +glanced from them to Miss Race they saw that the latter looked troubled. + +"Amanda and Eliza did it," Laura whispered fiercely in Billie's ear. +"They waited behind and told on us--the sneaks! Oh, how I wish----" + +"Silence!" cried Miss Cora Dill, glaring at Laura. "If there is any +talking done in this place to-night, I expect to do it." + +She paused a minute, sweeping the girls with an icy glance, then her +eyes rested accusingly upon Billie. + +"Three Towers," she said then, "has never before been the scene of such +a disgraceful happening. It is preposterous, unthinkable! I shudder to +think of what will happen when Miss Walters hears the truth. + +"And of course," she added, her eyes still fixed upon Billie, "you girls +would never have thought of such a thing if you hadn't been put up to +it. Fortunately, I have been able to learn the name of the--person," the +word held so much of contempt that Billie's face burned, "who started +this disgraceful affair." + +By one accord the girls turned accusing eyes upon Amanda and Eliza, but +the latter only tossed their heads and looked defiant. + +"Beatrice Bradley"--Miss Cora almost spit out the name--"step forward, +if you please." + +Poor Billie wanted desperately to run away somewhere and hide. But she +held her head high, and her eyes met Miss Cora's squarely. + +"I want you to tell the truth," said Miss Cora, angered by what she took +to be the insolence of the girl. "Did you or did you not propose this +outrageous affair?" + +But this was more than the girls would stand for. Before Billie had a +chance to answer there arose from different parts of the room a score of +voices raised in protest. + +"We all did it." + +"Billie isn't any more to blame than the rest of us." + +"It isn't fair." + +"We were all in it together." + +Billie had so many defenders that the noise they made completely +drowned Miss Cora's voice and prevented her from speaking for several +moments. This, of course, only served to make her angrier than before. + +"I didn't ask you all to talk," she said, when at last she could make +herself heard. "It seemed to me I was speaking to Beatrice Bradley. I +will ask it once more," turning to Billie, who was rather white now. +"Were you or were you not the ring-leader of this affair?" + +There was absolute quiet in the room while the girls waited miserably +for Billie's answer. They knew her well enough to know what it would be, +even before she spoke. + +Then Billie lifted her head and said quietly: + +"Yes, Miss Dill, I was the one who started the trouble. I don't think +any of the girls would have thought of it if it hadn't been for me." + +A ripple of protest rose behind her, but Miss Dill waved it down +angrily. + +"Then by your own confession," she said, something of triumph gleaming +in her eyes, "you have not only broken all the rules of Three Towers but +you have incited the rest of the girls to do likewise. Have you anything +to say for yourself?" + +"No, Miss Dill." Billie's voice was so low it could hardly be heard. + +"You are not even sorry?" Miss Cora went on relentlessly. + +"No," said Billie, lifting her head and looking Miss Cora straight in +the eyes. "We have been nearly starved since Miss Walters left, and some +of the girls have been sick from hunger." Her voice rose a little and +the color came back to her face as she flung out a challenge like a flag +of war. "I'm sorry, Miss Dill, but if I had to, I would do it all over +again." + +Miss Cora looked as if she doubted the evidence of her ears, while a +murmur of applause went up from the girls. Oh, but they were proud of +Billie! + +"You have heard what she said," Miss Cora Dill turned to the teachers +behind her. "Such insolence can only result in expulsion. Beatrice +Bradley, come with me. The rest of you," she turned fiercely upon the +other girls, "will go up to your dormitories. To-morrow I will deal with +you." + +As Billie, dread in her heart at that awful word "expulsion," started +toward Miss Cora Dill, Caroline Brant caught her hand and whispered +reassuringly in her ear. + +"Don't worry," she said. "They won't dare expel you. When Miss Walters +hears all about it she will be more than likely to expel them!" + +Billie gave her a wan little smile, squeezed her hand gratefully, and +was promptly taken into custody by Miss Cora. Then the teachers stood +aside while the rest of the girls filed past them upstairs. + +In the dormitories all was confusion. Sleep was out of the question, +and the girls gathered in excited groups discussing the terrible thing +that had happened to them, half wishing for Miss Walters, yet half +afraid to have her come back. Suppose she should side with the "Dill +Pickles"? Then all would indeed be lost. + +But Billie was their chief worry. + +"Why didn't she fib about it?" cried one girl, pacing up and down +excitedly. "We would all have backed her up. She knew that." + +"But Billie doesn't fib," said Vi proudly. "And besides, it wouldn't +have done her any good. Amanda and the Shadow had already told, and they +were right here in the dorm when we were planning the raid." + +Fiercely the girls looked around for the sneaks; but they were nowhere +to be seen. + +"Probably 'The Pickles' are taking good care of the little darlings," +sneered Laura. "Oh, how I'd like to get my hands on them!" + +"What's the matter, Rose?" asked Caroline Brant suddenly. "Don't you +feel good?" + +For Rose was sitting on the edge of her bed, her head bowed on her +clasped hands. At Caroline's question she raised her head and looked +around her miserably. + +"No, I don't feel good. I--I have a headache," she said. + +The girls regarded her curiously for a minute, and then forgot all +about her. They had worse things than headaches to worry about. + +Rose did indeed have a headache, but the headache was mostly caused by a +heartache. She herself did not quite understand it. + +Billie had at last been singled out from all the other girls for +punishment, would perhaps be expelled from Three Towers Hall, and where +she, Rose, should have been happy about it, she was only miserable. + +Of course she had really had no hand in Billie's disgrace--this time. +But she had planned and schemed for it before, and that made her almost +as bad in her own eyes as those two wretched sneaks whom all the girls +hated and despised. If they could only know what had been in her mind +they would hate and despise her, too! + +Her head felt hot and her lips were feverish. It was a terrible thing to +despise oneself. The only way she could ever put things straight again +was to find some way of getting Billie out of her scrape. She must think +of a plan! + +Suddenly she jumped to her feet, and the girls turned startled eyes upon +her. + +"I have it!" she cried. "We must get word to Miss Walters. If she could +know what an awful fix we're in, she'd come right back. I'm sure she +would." + +The girls stared for a minute--then seized eagerly on the plan. + +"But how can we get word to her if we haven't her address?" Connie +Danvers asked. But Rose answered her impatiently. + +"I've thought of that," she said, then went on to explain while the +girls listened eagerly how she had taken some letters to the mail box +for Miss Race, and, happening to glance down, had seen that the top one +was addressed to Miss Walters. + +Luckily she remembered the address, and now when one of the girls handed +her a slip of paper she wrote it down feverishly. + +"But how are we going to get word to her?" asked one of the girls, and +they looked at each other helplessly. "'The Pickles' won't let anybody +outside the Hall, and they'll look over all the mail." + +They were still trying to think of a plan when a step in the hall--a +step that sounded very much like Miss Ada Dill's firm tread--sent them +scattering. + +A little later silence settled like a cloud over the dormitories, but +few of the girls slept. They were thinking--thinking---- + +By and by Laura leaned across and whispered to Vi. + +"Asleep?" she asked. + +"No, I can't sleep," said Vi miserably. "I keep thinking of Billie and +where they've put her and--and--everything." + +"Well, I've thought of a real plan," whispered Laura mysteriously. + +"You have?" cried Vi, sitting up in her turn. "What is it?" + +But in the darkness Laura shook her head. + +"Not now," she said. "I'll tell you in the morning." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +A PRISONER OF WAR + + +It was a bad night for all the girls, but for Billie Bradley it was a +nightmare. Miss Cora Dill had thrust her into a little room just big +enough to contain a couch, a table, and one or two chairs. + +When Billie had asked for a light the door had been slammed in her face +and she had heard the key turn in the lock. + +So she was a prisoner--and in disgrace. All her dreams had come to that. +Miss Cora had said she would be expelled from Three Towers Hall when +Miss Walters heard what she had done. + +But in her heart Billie did not believe that. The hope that when Miss +Walters was told everything she would side with the girls was the only +thing that kept her from being absolutely miserable. For Miss Walters +was always fair. + +Billie had never been afraid of the dark. She was not really afraid of +it now. But as the hours crept by and the place became still with the +stillness of midnight, she began to feel uneasy and very, very +lonesome. + +The silence was so deep that she was afraid to move for fear of breaking +it, but at last, because her limbs were cramping and she was beginning +to feel chilled, she rose from the couch where she had been sitting and +began moving cautiously about the room. + +She stubbed her toe against one chair and almost fell over the other, +making so much noise that her heart stood still and she looked fearfully +over her shoulder. Finally she came over to the couch again and sank +down upon it, feeling that she must cry or die. + +But she did not do either, just sat there thinking and thinking what she +could do next. She would have to sleep, she supposed, although Miss Cora +had not given her any nightgown and there were no bedclothes. + +Then a happy thought struck her, and she turned down the cover of the +couch and found, as she had hoped, that the couch was made up as a bed. +There were several rooms like this in Three Towers--rooms used only when +there was an overflow of students. Billie remembered having heard the +girls speak of them as "cubby holes." + +But Billie was tired and unhappy, and all of a sudden her only wish was +to get within the protection of those covers. Perhaps it would not then +seem so lonesome and she was cold. + +After that she knew no more till morning. + +It was a dark, dreary morning with a bite in the air that felt like +snow. There was no sign of sunshine anywhere, either outside or inside +of Three Towers Hall. + +The girls rose reluctantly, and there was rebellion in their eyes. They +were on the verge of revolt, and it needed only one more unfair act on +the part of Miss Cora or Miss Ada Dill to start the ball rolling. + +"Are we going down to breakfast?" asked Laura, as the breakfast gong +rang. + +"I suppose we'd better," answered Caroline Brant, her eyes looking tired +and red-rimmed under the spectacles. "We have to eat, anyway. After we +get through we can come up here and decide what we're going to do." + +"Well, I know one thing we're going to do," said Laura fiercely. "If the +Dill Pickles don't let Billie come back to us, or at least tell us where +she is, I'm going to set the place on fire, that's all." + +"That wouldn't help Billie any," said Rose, as they turned from the +room. + +Breakfast was gloomier than ever that morning. The girls were heavy-eyed +and sullen, and Miss Cora, presiding grimly at the head of the table, +looked, as one of the older girls said, "like a death's head at the +feast." + +"But where was the feast?" another girl retorted. + +In fact this meal was scantier than any that had gone before, and if it +had not been for the night's raid the girls would have been in a pretty +bad way. + +Amanda and the "Shadow" were there, and if looks could kill, they would +have both died on the spot. But there was no sign of Billie. The girls +had hardly thought there would be, but they had hoped. + +A little while later there was another mass meeting held in dormitory +"C," and it was Rose Belser this time who took the floor. + +"We simply can't stand it any longer, girls," she told them, her black +eyes snapping. "Wasn't that a wonderful breakfast we had this morning? +It makes you sick to think of it. And we don't even know whether Billie +got as much as we did. We've got to do something right away. We can try +to get word to Miss Walters. I have her address, but I don't know how +we're ever going to----" + +She was interrupted by a familiar whistle from somewhere outside, and +the girls ran over to the window. Sure enough, there were Chet and +Teddy, looking, to the girls, like a couple of heaven-sent messengers, +standing underneath the window, skates flung over their shoulders, +looking up toward them expectantly. + +"Wait a minute," Laura called down, "Don't dare go away from there. +You're angels, and have come just when we wanted you most." + +She turned a radiant face to the girls and began to speak hurriedly. + +"I had it all figured out last night, girls," she said, while they +listened eagerly. "When you told me you knew Miss Walters' address, +Rose, I thought of the boys right away. There was just a chance that +they might come over this morning or this afternoon. And now they're +here." + +"Well?" they asked, puzzled. + +"Oh, don't you see?" Laura clapped her hands impatiently. "The 'Dill +Pickles' won't let any of us send word to Miss Walters, but the boys can +do it for us." + +Before she had finished a dozen girls were scrambling for pencil and +paper, Laura was pushed into a chair by the table and was commanded to +write and write quickly. + +And Laura obeyed while the girls fairly hung over her, offering +suggestions, and all talking at once until it was a wonder she could +write anything at all. + +She told the boys briefly what had happened and begged them to send word +to Miss Walters at once. Then they tied the precious piece of paper +around an inkwell--who cared for the wreck of a mere inkwell at a time +like this?--and threw it out of the window. + +Teddy picked it up wonderingly and unwound the paper, while Chet peered +over his shoulder and the girls watched breathlessly from above. When +Teddy came to the part about Billie's capture he was all for storming +the castle, meeting the "Lions in their den, the Pickles in their hall," +and rescuing the heroine without delay. But Chet held him back. + +After that they had what seemed to be a rather heated argument, but Chet +finally got the best of it, and after a wave to the girls, who were +fairly hanging out of the dormitory windows, the two boys started off +and disappeared around the corner of the building. + +The girls watched them out of sight, then turned to each other with +shining eyes. + +"That ought to bring Miss Walters back in a hurry," said Vi. "Then +everything will be all right." + +"Yes, but we may starve before she gets here," said one of the girls +gloomily. + +"And Billie! Oh, girls, we've just got to get her out!" added Laura. +"Nobody knows where she is or what they're doing to her." + +Without warning, the door opened and Billie herself flew in upon them. + +"Girls," she cried breathlessly, "can't you hide me somewhere? +I've--I've--escaped!" + +"Escaped!" they cried, crowding around her, all asking questions at +once, feeling her, to be sure that it was really she, until Billie made +frantic signs for them to be quiet. + +"Girls," she cried, "please stop talking and listen to me. Miss Cora +will find that I'm gone in a minute, and she's sure to come right here +for me." + +"Well, she won't get you, that's one sure thing," cried Laura staunchly. + +"But tell us about it," urged another girl. "Did they have you locked +up?" + +"Yes," said Billie, adding with a shiver: "And I had a terrible night. +But this morning Miss Cora herself brought me some breakfast--I wish you +could have seen it--and she was just saying some nice mean things to me +when Miss Race called her away for something, said it was important. +Miss Cora went out without locking the door. So I didn't stop for +anything, I just ran. I had something I wanted to tell you." + +"Good old Miss Race," Connie interrupted, her eyes shining. "I bet she +just did it on purpose." + +"But listen," Billie broke in hurriedly. "I thought of something while I +was locked up, and I want to tell you about it before they catch me +again. It's about getting news to Miss Walters. The boys will probably +be around this morning, and if you could let them know----" + +"But we've already done that," interrupted a score of eager voices, and +Billie clapped her hands delightedly. + +"Good!" she cried. Then her face sobered again and she looked nervously +toward the door. "I suppose Miss Cora will be along in a minute, and +she'll want to lock me up again. And I suppose she'll be so mad at my +getting away that she won't give me anything to eat now." + +But suddenly Rose jumped to her feet, face flushed, eyes shining. This +was her chance to square herself with Billie and all the rest. + +"Tell me something, girls," she cried. "Are we going to let Miss Cora +have Billie? Are we?" + +"We are not!" they cried lustily; and Billie suddenly saw them through a +mist of tears. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE CAPTURE + + +The girls expected trouble and they had not long to wait for it. They +had left Billie inside the dormitory, had gone into the hall, closed the +door after them firmly and had defiantly placed themselves before it. + +They rather welcomed the sight of Miss Cora, stiff-backed and +stern-lipped, bearing down upon them like a tug of war. They had learned +in their history, that in "union there is strength," and now they were +about to test the truth of it. If one of them felt her courage slipping, +all she had to do was to think of the breakfast they had had that +morning and, presto, it was all back again. + +Miss Cora stopped as she came to the foremost girls, and her eyes swept +them coldly. + +"What is the meaning of this?" she asked, adding as the girls did not +show any intention of moving: "Let me pass, at once." + +Then Rose stepped forward a little and drawled, in the insolent tone +that only Rose knew how to use. + +"Where are you going, Miss Dill?" + +Miss Cora looked as stunned as if she had been hit on the head with a +hammer. That one of the girls should have the insolence--the absolute +impertinence--to ask her, Miss Cora Dill, where she was going! + +Then a hot wave of anger flowed over her, and she found her voice. + +"Where I am going has nothing to do with it, whatever," she said, her +voice icy. "I command you to stand away from that door." + +Then it was Caroline Brant who spoke in her quiet, calm voice. + +"We will be glad to do as you say, Miss Dill," she said, "if you will +promise not to lock Billie Bradley up again." + +"Promise--not to lock----?" gasped Miss Cora. Then she turned upon the +girls with blazing eyes. "You are mad--all of you!" she said, her voice +shaking with fury. "I will wire Miss Walters at once!" and she turned +away down the hall, her hands so tightly clenched that her nails left +little angry red marks where they had bit into the flesh. + +The girls watched her go--then turned back into the dormitory with a +sigh. They had won a victory, and yet they were not happy about it. +Except that Billie was free, things were even worse than before. + +"Now I don't know what we're going to do," said Vi, gazing drearily out +of the window. The leaden sky had turned still darker and a flurry of +snow had begun to fall. + +The gong for classes rang out through the hall and the girls started and +looked at each other questioningly. Several of them began to gather up +their books, but Billie, who had been thinking deeply, suddenly sprang +to her feet. + +"Listen, girls," she said, and they looked at her questioningly. "It +seems to me there's only one thing left for us to do. We can't go to +classes, not after what we've just done, and we can't stay around here +till Miss Walters comes. The Pickles will surely starve us to death." + +She paused for a moment and they looked at her expectantly. Then she +lowered her voice and spoke quickly. + +"Let's go home," she said. "Or at least we can go to the hotel in town +till Miss Walters gets back. What do you say?" + +And not one of the girls but what hailed the idea joyfully. It would be +rebellion, of course; and a few days before they would have hesitated. +But not now. + +They set about packing in feverish haste, fairly throwing their things +into their suitcases. They were afraid of having their plans spoiled at +the last minute. And in Molata they could get all they wanted to eat; +that is, as long as their money held out. + +At last they were ready. Hats and coats on, valises in hand, they +gathered in the hall waiting for Billie to give the word to march. + +Eyes were bright, color was high, for they had started on real adventure +and they were beginning to enjoy it. + +"Come on," said Billie, raising her hand smartly to the little brown hat +in salute. "For-ward march!" + +As they reached the lower hall they were met by Miss Ada Dill and Miss +Cora, Miss Race and several of the other teachers. The latter had feared +trouble when the girls failed to report at classes, and had started out +to see what the matter was. + +And now they saw! Before they could even gasp their amazement the girls +swept past them, opened the front door, and ran down the steps to the +drive. There were only about a hundred of them, but it seemed to the +teachers who watched them go that there were easily twice that number. + +"They've struck," said Miss Race, turning to the other teachers with +consternation in her eyes, while they looked back at her soberly. "I +wonder what Miss Walters will say." + +"We'll very soon find out what she'll say," Miss Cora Dill spoke up +grimly. "I sent a wire to Miss Walters this morning. She will surely be +back in a day or two." + +Meanwhile, out on the road, the girls were trudging gamely on toward +town. The first thrill had gone from the adventure, and they were +beginning to wonder what made their grips so heavy. + +And the snow, which had begun in a light flurry, was coming down heavily +now, covering the woods and the road before them with a white fleecy +blanket. + +The wind had risen, too, and they were forced to stop time and time +again to straighten hats and shake the clinging snow from their skirts. + +And because of the wind they did not hear the sound of voices. So that +Chet and Teddy, coming back from their errand to town, were almost upon +them before they knew it. + +And then something happened that made the girls drop their bags and +stare in stupid amazement. + +Out from the bushes straight in front of them sprang the figure of a +man. And at the same moment Chet and Teddy rounded the curve of the +road. + +The man straightened and looked wildly from one group to the other, and +then made as though to double on his tracks and dive into the woods +again. + +"Stop that man!" shouted Teddy. "He robbed our Academy! That's right, +girls--head him off!" + +For Billie, with a gasp of astonishment, had recognized the Codfish, and +seeing what he was about to do had darted forward straight in his path. +A score of the other girls followed her example, and so quickly was the +move made that the man found his escape cut off entirely. + +Wildly he looked about him, started in the other direction, but found +his path blocked there also. + +With a snarl of rage he flung himself forward, resolved to break his way +through by force, but Teddy and Chet were too quick for him. + +Not for nothing had they won medals on the track team, and now, as the +thief made his last attempt, his arms were caught in a strong grip and +were twisted behind him so suddenly that he cried out with the pain of +it. + +It was Teddy who had caught him, and now as the man struggled to free +himself he called out a sharp order to Chet. + +"Give me your skate strap, quick," he cried. "This chap's as slippery as +an eel. What are you doing?" + +For Chet, seeing that the Codfish was struggling to get his imprisoned +hands down to a suspicious bulge over his right hip, sprang forward and +drew the hidden revolver from its holster. + +"The game's up, old man," he crowed exultantly. Then, turning, he handed +the pistol to Billie. "Keep him covered, old girl," he said, "till I get +this strap loose and handcuff the gentleman. That's the girl! Steady, +Mr. Codfish--we've got you now." + +The Codfish made as though to spring upon Billie, revolver and all, but +Billie kept her head. Several of the girls screamed, but she was not one +of them. + +She stepped back a few steps and waved the revolver threateningly. She +was "horribly afraid of the old thing," but not for the world would she +have let any one suspect it. + +"If you don't stand still I'll shoot," she said, a quaver in her voice +despite all her efforts to speak calmly. "I've got this thing aimed at +just about where your heart is, I guess." + +The Codfish glared at her wildly, hesitated just a minute, but that +hesitation cost him his chance. Chet had at last got his skate strap +loose, and had bound it tightly about the man's wrists, while Teddy +still held his arms tight to prevent a sudden dash into the woods. + +"Now I guess we've got you," cried Teddy jubilantly. "You will rob our +Academy, will you, and expect to get away with it? Now I guess the next +thing is to hand you over to the first policeman we meet. Come on now, +forward march." + +"But did he really rob your Academy?" asked Laura eagerly, as the girls +picked up their grips where they had dropped them in the road and they +all started on together. + +"I'll say he did!" said Chet indignantly. "And he got away with a pretty +haul, too. That's what we were going to tell you girls about this +morning. But say----" he broke off and looked at them with a funny +expression on his face, "we've been so busy catching the crook that we +never thought! Say, where are you going with your suitcases and +everything? And--and how did Billie get loose? The last we heard of her, +she was locked up." + +"Yes, what is it--a walkout?" asked Teddy, looking in bewilderment from +Billie to the other girls. But suddenly Rose gave a sharp cry of +warning. + +"The Codfish," she cried. "Look out!" + +For Teddy, in his bewilderment, had loosened his grip of the thief's +arm, and the latter had taken this chance to make a dash for liberty. + +With a kangaroo leap Teddy was upon him, and Chet, snatching the pistol +from Billie's hand, pointed it threateningly. + +"None of that, old chap!" he cried. "You'd better be a good little boy +or you'll get a taste of something worse than prison. Now, then, forward +march, and mind your Ps and Qs." + +The Codfish shot a glance at Chet that made the girls shiver, but he +went ahead, nevertheless. + +"We ought to meet the sheriff and his hick policemen pretty soon," said +Chet, keeping his eyes and his pistol fixed unwaveringly on the +captive's back, while Teddy gripped his arm with both hands and the +girls crowded close behind. "He pulled off this stunt last night, and +Captain Shelling, the owner of our school, sent us to town to notify the +police." + +"Oh," said Billie thoughtfully. "So that was where you were going this +morning when you stopped at the Hall. What's that?" she added as the +sound of voices, somewhat muffled by the storm, reached them. + +"I hope it's the sheriff," said Teddy, hurrying his captive forward +through the snow. "Say, I'm glad we caught this fellow now before he had +a chance to make off with what he stole. We may have a chance of getting +it back." + +They turned a curve in the road and saw a party of half a dozen men +coming toward them on a run. + +"The sheriff!" yelled Teddy. "Here's some more luck." + +But the sheriff's party seemed almost more surprised at sight of the +hundred-odd girls from Three Towers Hall than they were delighted to see +the boys and their captive. + +They were more interested in the Codfish, however, and promptly took him +into custody, exchanging real handcuffs for the strap the boys had used. + +The boys eagerly told the story of his capture, giving the girls more +credit for their part of it than they deserved, or so the latter +protested, and the sheriff and his party listened with delighted grins. + +"Pretty good work," said one of them approvingly. "You couldn't have +done any better if you'd planned it. Well, good day to you, and thanks. +We'll soon put this rascal where he won't do more stealing of other +people's goods. Get up there, will you?" and he gave the sullen Codfish +a push that sent him staggering up the road in front of them. + +Before the party disappeared the sheriff turned once more to look back +curiously at the girls and boys who were still standing in the road, +staring after them. + +"Well, I'll be jiggered, but that is curious," he said, shaking his head +doubtfully. "Looks as if all of Three Towers Hall had turned out for an +outing." + +"Humph, funny kind of weather for an outing," replied another one. "They +didn't have a teacher with 'em, either. Pretty queer, I call it." + +"Well," said another, philosophically chewing a huge cud of tobacco, "I +call it lucky. If those girls hadn't happened along just when they did +we wouldn't have got hold of this bird so slick. And who am I, to be +quarreling with fate?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +HAPPY AGAIN + + +"Gee, that was some slick work!" crowed Teddy Jordon exultantly. "Who'd +ever think we would catch the old Codfish. But say----" he broke off, +his face growing sober as he looked at the girls. "You haven't told us +yet just why you're taking this tramp in the snow. What's the idea--a +health cure or something?" + +"No, it isn't a health cure," explained Billie, a trifle wearily, for +now that the excitement of catching the Codfish was over the girls were +beginning to feel cold and hungry and rather forlorn. "We're just +leaving Three Towers, that's all." + +"Leaving Three Towers!" the boys repeated incredulously. And Teddy +added, seeing in a flash the real state of affairs: "Now I get the idea. +You're striking, aren't you?" + +Billie nodded. + +"Say, that reminds me," said Chet. "We sent a telegram to Miss Walters +asking her to come back at once. We sent it for you even before we told +the police about the Codfish." + +The girls brightened, and Billie darted forward eagerly and caught Chet +by the sleeve. + +"Oh, Chet, what did you tell her?" she cried. "Did you ask her to come +back right away?" + +Chet nodded importantly. "I told her enough to bring her back on the +run, I guess," he said, adding with a grin: "I made up the telegram and +Teddy paid for it." + +"Oh, you darling!" cried Billie, hugging both the boys to the great +delight of Teddy, who made the girls giggle by asking if there was not +another telegram he could send. + +"Come on, girls," cried Billie, forgetting, in the hope of seeing Miss +Walters again before long, that she was tired and hungry. "If we hurry +we can get to town before the snow gets too deep." + +"But, say," cried Teddy, as the girls started on their way, "aren't you +even going to say good-bye to us? That's gratitude for you!" + +The girls stopped short and looked surprised. + +"Aren't you going to the town with us?" asked Vi. + +"You needn't think that because you're on strike that we are, too," said +Chet reproachfully. "Captain Shelling didn't give us the whole day off, +you know." + +"You deserve it just the same," said Connie Danvers. "He'll probably +give you a week off and a medal when he learns how you caught the +thief." + +"But we couldn't have caught him if you girls hadn't come along," +protested Teddy modestly. "If we get a holiday we'll see that you get +one, too." + +"We're taking ours now," laughed Billie. "Good-bye, boys; and thanks +awfully for sending the telegram." + +Teddy and Chet stood watching the girls as they trudged through the +clinging snow, and when they turned away their faces were unusually +sober. + +"That's a plucky thing to do," said Teddy admiringly. "But I bet they +would never have had the nerve to do it if Billie hadn't set them up to +it." + +"Billie's some class, isn't she?" Chet took him up eagerly. "Just look +how she jumped in front of the Codfish. She might have been shot, but +she never even thought of it. Say," he added, his chest swelling visibly +with pride, "I've always thought I'd like a brother; but Billie's as +good as a brother, any day." + +"She's a sight better," Teddy contradicted fervently. + +Tired but hopeful, the girls trudged the remaining distance to town and +started up the main street toward the one big hotel in Molata. They +strung down the street in what seemed an endless line, and people +passing stared wonderingly and turned around for another look when the +girls had passed them. + +People gathered at the windows and in the door-ways to look at the +strange procession, but the girls were too tired and hungry to notice +them. + +When they filed into the big summer hotel lobby, how the clerk at the +desk and the few men gathered about did stare! A hundred girls, all +pretty and daintily dressed, but seeming, by their suitcases and their +clothes which were powdered thick with clinging wet snow, to have walked +a good distance, were sure to create a sensation. + +The girls hung back, realizing for the first time how they must appear +to strangers and not quite certain just what to do next. But, as usual, +Billie took the lead. + +She went toward the clerk with an uncertain, apologetic little smile +that would have softened a much harder heart than his and said that she +would like to engage rooms for herself and her friends. + +Be it said to the credit of the clerk, who was rather a nice looking boy +with sand colored hair and eyes to match, that he did not even smile. + +Soberly he asked Billie how many rooms she would need, and Billie turned +to the girls rather helplessly. Then it was Caroline Brant who came to +her aid. + +"We can sleep three in a room," she said, regarding the clerk gravely +through her horn-rimmed spectacles. "So you can figure out just how many +we'll need." + +"If we could have cots put in the rooms," Billie ventured, "we could +get more than three in one room." + +"All right," the clerk answered, still unsmiling, while several people +had gathered around and were looking on with interest. "If you don't +mind cots I guess I can fix you up all right. It's lucky that it's +winter," he added, a little twinkle creeping into his nice eyes, "and +that the hotel isn't crowded, or we might have to turn somebody out." + +He watched the girls go up the stairway to the rooms above--for they had +decided they would rather walk than wait for the elevator--then turned +to one of the men lounging near with a chuckle. + +"Nice kids," he said, regarding the signatures in the big book before +him written in unmistakably girlish hands. "If they weren't dressed so +well, I'd say it was an orphan asylum out for an airing." + +Meanwhile the girls had decided that they were more hungry than they +were tired, and so merely stopped to drop their bags in their rooms and +brush a little of the clinging snow from their clothing before setting +forth in search of food. + +They had decided to separate into groups and to eat in different places +so as not to attract too much attention, and they were gathered on the +sidewalk in front of the hotel wondering just what to do next when +suddenly one of the girls gave a startled cry. + +"Girls--no, it isn't--yes, it is!" she cried, clutching the girl beside +her hysterically. "Look! There's Miss Walters!" + +"Where?" + +"Oh, it can't be!" + +"Are you sure?" + +"Yes, there she is! There she is!" + +And Miss Walters--for it was indeed she--attracted by the hubbub as were +some other passersby, looked at the girls first curiously, then in +astounded amazement. To her startled vision it seemed as if all the +girls in the world were gathered there on the sidewalk in front of the +hotel. And they were her girls--the girls of Three Towers Hall! + +She hurried forward, feeling that the next moment she must wake up and +find it all a dream, and the girls surged around her in an eager flood. + +They were so wildly surprised and joyful at the unexpected meeting that +they were almost ready to get down on their knees and thank the fates +who had sent her to them just when they needed her most. + +They all started to talk at once, but Miss Walters, having recovered a +little from her first surprise and seeing that a curious crowd was +beginning to gather, spoke to them authoritatively. + +"Come inside," she said. "I can't imagine what has brought you here like +this, but we certainly can't talk about it in the street." + +She led the way through the doorway and into the hotel lobby, which was +fortunately deserted. Then she sank down upon a couch and the girls +gathered eagerly around her. + +"Now suppose one of you tell me the meaning of all this," said Miss +Walters, her blue eyes a little hard and accusing. She had no idea what +had happened, but she knew that if the girls were responsible for this +unheard of proceeding it would go hard with them. Miss Walters was fair +and just, and because she was just she could be sternness itself where +any disobedience on the part of the girls was concerned. + +As for the girls themselves, all their old fears of expulsion came back +at this attitude of their president, and they looked rather helplessly +at each other. + +Then Connie Danvers nudged Billie and whispered something in her ear. +And Billie bravely did as she was asked, although, as she afterward +said, her knees were trembling under her. + +"Miss Walters," she began hesitatingly, as Miss Walters turned a steady +gaze upon her, "I can explain why we are here and everything that has +happened since you left--if you will let me," she finished rather +timidly. + +"That is just what I want you to do," said Miss Walters gravely. + +As Billie told her story Miss Walters' expression changed, became less +stern, and she leaned forward in amazement. + +"You say that some of the girls were faint and sick from lack of food?" +she asked once incredulously. "Why, it's--it's incredible. But go on," +she interrupted herself impatiently. "What happened then?" + +When Billie told of the raid, her imprisonment in the little room, her +escape, and finally the decision of the girls to leave Three Towers and +come to the hotel until Miss Walters' return, the latter jumped to her +feet, her face flushing angrily. + +"I'm glad I came just when I did," she said. "I was tempted to stay +longer, but something told me that I might be needed, and that something +was right. Come, girls, we'll hire all the taxis in town if we have to, +and private automobiles, too, and get back to Three Towers immediately." + +"We'll have to get our baggage," Billie suggested timidly. + +"Your baggage?" queried Miss Walters absently, her mind on what she +would do when she reached Three Towers. + +"Yes, we left our bags in our rooms upstairs." + +"Your rooms?" Miss Walters asked, then added with a compassionate smile +that made her seem more beautiful than ever to the adoring girls: "Why, +of course, you poor children! I forgot that you expected to stay over +night. All right, run up and get your bags while I see the room clerk +and about getting us back to Three Towers." + +The girls never forgot that triumphant ride back to Three Towers through +the snow. Nor did they forget what happened afterward. + +Miss Ada and Miss Cora Dill and the other teachers saw them coming, and +Miss Cora's lips tightened grimly. She was the first to greet Miss +Walters at the door. + +"Go up to your dormitories, girls," said Miss Walters, hardly glancing +at the teachers. "We will have lunch in half an hour--a real lunch. Just +a minute," she called, as the girls started jubilantly off. "I'd like to +speak to Beatrice Bradley in my private office immediately." + +Billie came back, wondering just what was going to happen next, while +Laura picked up the suitcase she had dropped and hurriedly followed the +other girls. + +Then Miss Walters turned to the teachers. + +"Will you all come with me into my office?" she asked. "There is a very +important matter which I must attend to before I do anything else." + +She walked down the corridor to her office and opened the door. Then she +motioned them inside, stepped in after them and closed the door +decidedly. + +"Sit down, please," she said, and when they were all seated she sat down +at her desk and regarded them gravely. "As you know," she said, "an +unheard-of thing happened this morning, and I must have the testimony +of every one before I can decide one way or the other." + +Then very quietly she told of her meeting with the girls that morning +and repeated almost word for word the story of what had happened during +her absence as told by Billie and supported by the other girls. + +The faces of Miss Ada and Miss Cora had been growing redder and redder, +and now as Miss Walters finished and looked about her Miss Cora burst +out angrily. + +"I hardly expected that you would listen to the girls' account of it, +Miss Walters," she said. "What they have said is not true." + +"Pardon me, Miss Walters," Miss Race broke in, and they all turned to +her, "but I can testify that everything that Beatrice Bradley has told +you is absolute fact. I don't think that Miss Cora will deny," she +turned to Miss Cora, who was white with fury, "that I have time and time +again remonstrated with her and Miss Ada for their treatment of the +girls." + +"Is that so, Miss Cora--and Miss Ada?" asked Miss Walters, turning to +the sisters, whose anger was slowly beginning to change to fear. + +"Yes, Miss Walters," said Miss Cora at last, "it is true that Miss Race +was continually interfering in our government of the girls during your +absence. But," she added, while her mouth set in a grim line, "I still +maintain that we did nothing during your absence that you yourself would +not have done." + +There was deep silence in the room for a minute while Miss Walters' eyes +wandered from one intent face to another and then dropped to the blotter +on her desk. + +Billie's heart was beating so hard she was afraid it could be heard in +the room. + +Then Miss Walters' voice came to them, cool, incisive. + +"I'm sorry," she was saying, looking from Miss Ada to Miss Cora and back +again, "but I can't agree with you. Surely while I have had charge of +Three Towers the girls have not gone hungry or become faint and sick +from lack of nourishment. Neither have they raided pantries and +storerooms and deserted Three Towers _en masse_, Miss Cora." She paused, +and one could have heard a pin drop in the room. "I am very sorry, but I +think that after Monday Three Towers will have no further need of your +services, nor of those of Miss Ada. That is all, I think." + +She rose by way of dismissal, and the other teachers rose also. Billie, +who was nearest the door, slipped out quietly and ran swiftly up the +stairs toward her dormitory. Her head was in a whirl, and all she wanted +to do was to get with the girls again and tell them the marvelous thing +that had happened. + +The other girls were waiting for her, and as she burst in upon them they +carried her off, seated her royally on top of a dresser, and gathered +around eagerly, all talking at once and demanding to know what had +happened. + +Somehow, she made them see the scene in Miss Walters' office as if they +had been there themselves, the scene in which the girls had won the +great victory and the "Dill Pickles" had been dismissed. + +They were just at the height of their rejoicing when the bell rang for +lunch, and with one accord they stampeded for the dining room. + +And it was a real lunch, as Miss Walters had promised--a lunch that +disappeared as if by magic, and when it was over the students of Three +Towers were really comfortable for the first time in over a week. + +And everybody was happy, except Miss Ada Dill and Miss Cora; and Amanda +Peabody and Eliza Dilks, perhaps. However, even though her attempt had +failed this time, Amanda was by no means discouraged. There would be +other chances--and then she would get even with Billie Bradley! + +Rose Belser was happier than she had been since she had first become +jealous of Billie. She was happy because she had done her best to set +Billie right again, and could look at her pretty reflection in the glass +once more without feeling ashamed. + +It was some time later, and Billie, Vi and Laura were stretched out in +comfortable attitudes on Billie's bed in dormitory "C"--for Miss Walters +had declared it a half holiday. And, indeed, after lunch was over there +was scarcely any of the day left, anyway. + +"I feel almost sorry for Miss Ada and Miss Cora," Billie was saying, +when suddenly the door opened and Connie Danvers flew in upon them. + +"Girls," she cried, plumping herself down between Laura and Vi on the +bed, narrowly missing the latter's feet, "I've just got a letter--there +are some for you girls down in the box, too--and what do you think the +folks are going to do this summer?" + +The girls said they could not possibly guess, and before any of them +would have had a chance to, anyway, she rattled on again: + +"Mother and Dad are going to open our cottage at Lighthouse Island +again--we haven't been there for several summers. My old Uncle Tom runs +the lighthouse there, and he's a perfect darling. But this is the real +thing," she paused and regarded them with sparkling eyes. "Mother says +there will be plenty of room in the cottage for two or three of my +school chums if I'd like to have them. Think of that--if I'd like to +have them!" + +The girls sat up and regarded Connie doubtfully. "What do you mean?" +stammered Billie. + +"What do I mean, you little goose?" said Connie impatiently. "Don't you +know I'm asking you and Laura and Vi to go with me?" + +"A summer on an island with a lighthouse!" Billie murmured, while Laura +and Vi looked as if they could not believe their ears. "Now I know I'm +going to just die of it." + +"What?" asked Connie curiously. + +"Joy," said Billie. + +And whether she did actually die of joy or not--somehow one is rather +certain that she did not--will be told in the next book of Billie's +adventures, entitled, "Billie Bradley on Lighthouse Island; or, The +Mystery of the Wreck." + +Lighthouse Island was certainly a queer spot, and the girls had any +number of unusual adventures there. + +"We mustn't forget our own letters!" cried Billie suddenly, and then +there was a rush to get the epistles. And here let us say good-bye to +the girls of Three Towers Hall. + +THE END + + + + +Other Books Published by GEORGE SULLY & COMPANY + + + + +BILLIE BRADLEY SERIES + +BY JANET D. WHEELER + + + BILLIE BRADLEY AND HER INHERITANCE + OR THE QUEER HOMESTEAD AT CHERRY CORNERS + + BILLIE BRADLEY AT THREE TOWERS HALL + OR LEADING A NEEDED REBELLION + + BILLIE BRADLEY ON LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND + OR THE MYSTERY OF THE WRECK + + + + +Four Little Blossoms Series + +_For children 5 to 9 years of age_ + +By MABEL C. HAWLEY + + +Four Little Blossoms at Brookside Farm + +Mother called them her Four Little Blossoms but Daddy Blossom called +them Bobby, Meg and the twins. The twins, Twaddles and Dot, were a +comical pair and always getting into mischief. The children had heaps of +fun around the big farm, and had several real adventures in the bargain. + + +Four Little Blossoms at Oak Hill School + +In the Fall, Bobby and Meg had to go to school. It was good fun for Miss +Mason was a kind teacher. Then the twins insisted on going to school +too, and their appearance quite upset the class. And in school something +very odd happened and all the boys and girls wondered what it meant. + + +Four Little Blossoms and Their Winter Fun + +Winter came and with it lots of ice and snow, and oh! what fun the +Blossoms had skating and sledding. And once Bobby and Meg went on an +errand and got lost in a sudden snowstorm. And once Twaddles slipped +through a hole in the ice, but the others went quickly to the rescue. + + + + +The "Do Something" Series + +By HELEN BEECHER LONG + + +A series of books for girls which have been uniformly successful. Janice +Day, the "Do Something" girl, is a character that will live long in +juvenile fiction. Every volume is full of inspiration. There are an +abundance of humor, quaint situations, and worth-while effort, and +likewise plenty of plot and mystery. + +An ideal series for girls from nine to sixteen. + + + Janice Day, the Young Homemaker. + Janice Day at Poketown. + The Testing of Janice Day. + How Janice Day Won. + The Mission of Janice Day. + + + + +The Lucile Series + +By ELIZABETH M. DUFFIELD + +"These books should interest every girl who loves the open."--_Chicago +Evening Post._ + + + Lucile, The Torch Bearer. + Lucile Triumphant. + Lucile, Bringer of Joy. + Lucile on the Heights. + + +"Out of door" stories for girls, of vital interest and compelling charm. +The wholesome spirit and beautiful aims of the "Campfire Girls" have +never been more attractively described, and the fun and merriment of the +outings will prove fascinating to every live girl. The heroine, Lucile, +is a most spirited and striking character and one will not wonder at the +almost adoring affection in which she is held by her companions. + + + + +The Nan Sherwood Series + +By ANNIE ROE CARR + + +In Annie Roe Carr we have found a young woman of wide experience among +girls--in schoolroom, in camp and while traveling. She knows girls of +to-day thoroughly--their likes and dislikes--and knows that they demand +almost as much action as do the boys. And she knows humor--good, clean +fun and plenty of it. + + + Nan Sherwood at Pine Camp, + or The Old Lumberman's Secret. + + Nan Sherwood at Lake View Hall, + or The Mystery of the Haunted Boathouse. + + Nan Sherwood's Winter Holidays, + or Rescuing the Runaways. + + Nan Sherwood at Rose Ranch, + or The Old Mexican's Treasure. + + Nan Sherwood at Palm Beach, + or Strange Adventures Among the + Orange Groves. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BILLIE BRADLEY AT THREE TOWERS +HALL*** + + +******* This file should be named 23894-8.txt or 23894-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/8/9/23894 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Wheeler</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + hr.full { width: 100%; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + height: 4px; + border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; } + pre {font-size: 85%;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Billie Bradley at Three Towers Hall, by Janet +D. Wheeler</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Billie Bradley at Three Towers Hall</p> +<p> or, Leading a Needed Rebellion</p> +<p>Author: Janet D. Wheeler</p> +<p>Release Date: December 18, 2007 [eBook #23894]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BILLIE BRADLEY AT THREE TOWERS HALL***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a href="images/cover.jpg"><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt=""/></a> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<h1>BILLIE BRADLEY AT THREE TOWERS HALL</h1> + +<h3>OR, LEADING A NEEDED REBELLION</h3> + +<h2>BY JANET D. WHEELER</h2> + +<h4>AUTHOR OF "BILLIE BRADLEY AND HER INHERITANCE,"<br /> + "BILLIE BRADLEY ON +LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND," ETC.</h4> + +<h4>ILLUSTRATED</h4> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h4>NEW YORK<br /> +GEORGE SULLY & COMPANY<br /> +PUBLISHERS</h4> + +<h4><span class="smcap">Copyright</span>, 1920, by<br /> +GEORGE SULLY & COMPANY</h4> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="frontis" id="frontis"></a> +<img src="images/frontis.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> +<h3>The girls swept past them, and ran down the steps of the school.</h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I <span class="smcap">Almost a Fortune</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II <span class="smcap">The Wreck</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III <span class="smcap">Recovered Treasure</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV <span class="smcap">The "Codfish"</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V <span class="smcap">Amanda's Surprise</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI <span class="smcap">Off for Three Towers Hall</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII <span class="smcap">Miss Walters</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII <span class="smcap">The Dill Pickles</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX <span class="smcap">A New Acquaintance</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X <span class="smcap">Lake Molata</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI <span class="smcap">Lights Out</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII <span class="smcap">Too Much to Eat</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII <span class="smcap">Four Enemies</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV <span class="smcap">Billie Snores Successfully</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV <span class="smcap">A Plot Fails</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI <span class="smcap">Mystery</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII <span class="smcap">The Quarrel</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII <span class="smcap">The "Codfish" Again</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX <span class="smcap">Robbed!</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX <span class="smcap">Chet Plays the Hero</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI <span class="smcap">Raiding the Pantry</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII <span class="smcap">A Challenge</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII <span class="smcap">A Prisoner of War</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV <span class="smcap">The Capture</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">CHAPTER XXV <span class="smcap">Happy Again</span></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#Other_Books_Published_by_GEORGE_SULLY_COMPANY">Other Books Published by GEORGE SULLY & COMPANY</a><br /> + +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>BILLIE BRADLEY AT THREE TOWERS HALL</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>ALMOST A FORTUNE</h3> + + +<p>"Oh, Dad, I can't believe it's true!"</p> + +<p>In the rather dim light of the gloomy old room the boys and girls looked +queer—almost ghostly. They were gathered about a shabby old trunk, and +beside this trunk a man was kneeling. As Billie Bradley spoke, the man, +who was her father, rose to his feet and thoughtfully brushed the dust +from his clothes. Then he stood looking down at the hundreds and +hundreds of postage stamps and old coins that filled the queer old +trunk.</p> + +<p>"Is it really true, Dad?" Billie continued, shaking her father's arm +impatiently while the other young folks looked eagerly up at him.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bradley nodded slowly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you really have made a find this time, Billie," he said. "Of +course I'm not an expert, but I'm sure the coins in that old trunk are +worth three thousand dollars, and the postage stamps ought to bring at +least two thousand more——"</p> + +<p>"At least two thousand more!" broke in Chet Bradley, excitedly. "Does +that mean that Billie may get more for the postage stamps?"</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't wonder," replied Mr. Bradley, nodding his head. "However," +he added, smiling round at the girls and boys, "you'd better not count +on anything over five thousand."</p> + +<p>"But five thousand dollars!" interrupted Laura Jordon, in an awed voice. +"Just think of it, Billie! And because your Aunt Beatrice left you this +house and everything in it, every last cent of that five thousand +belongs to you."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Teddy Jordon, turning to Billie with a chuckle. "I suppose +you won't look at any of us now you've got this money. How does it feel, +Billie?"</p> + +<p>"I—I don't know, yet," stammered Billie, still staring at the wonderful +trunk. "You'll just have to give me time to get used to it, that's all."</p> + +<p>As those readers who have read the first book of this series, entitled +"Billie Bradley and Her Inheritance," will probably have gathered, the +girls, Billie Bradley, Laura Jordon and Violet Farrington, and their boy +relatives and chums, Chet Bradley, Ferd Stowing and Teddy Jordon, were +still at the old homestead at Cherry Corners where so many weird and +mysterious experiences had befallen them.</p> + +<p>For the benefit of those who are meeting the girls and boys for the +first time, what had happened up to the time of this story will be +sketched over briefly.</p> + +<p>The young folks had grown up in North Bend, a town of perhaps twenty +thousand people, and about forty miles by rail from New York City. The +girls had seen the great metropolis several times, though their visits +had been all too short to satisfy their eager curiosity.</p> + +<p>Billie Bradley was called the most popular girl in North Bend, and, +indeed, after one had been with Billie five minutes, one would never +again wonder where she got the title.</p> + +<p>Whether it was her sparkling brown eyes with the imp of mischief always +lurking in them, or her merry laugh that made every one want to laugh +with her, or the adventurous spirit that made her eager to embark on any +kind of lark, it would be hard to tell—perhaps her popularity arose +from a combination of all of these. But the fact remains that everybody +loved her and she had not an enemy, except, perhaps, Amanda Peabody—but +more of <i>her</i> later!</p> + +<p>Then there was Laura Jordon, Billie's best chum, blue-eyed and +golden-haired, who, despite the fact that her father was very wealthy +and owned the thriving jewelry factory in North Bend, was not the +slightest bit spoiled or conceited. She adored Billie, and although the +two would sometimes enter into rather heated discussions, it was usually +Laura who gave in to Billie in the end.</p> + +<p>The last of the trio, but decidedly not the least, was Violet +Farrington, who, tall and dark and less hasty and impetuous than the +other two, often found the doubtfully blessed office of peacemaker +thrust upon her. And though her slowness and tendency to hang back +sometimes exasperated her chums, they nevertheless were very fond of +her—and showed it.</p> + +<p>Chetwood Bradley, known as Chet to his friends, was Billie's +brother—and very proud of it. He was a splendid, fine looking, rather +thoughtful boy whom everybody liked.</p> + +<p>Ferd Stowing was a comical, jolly, all-around good fellow, who, though +he was not related to any of the girls, had been drawn into the group +through his friendship for the boys, Chet and Teddy.</p> + +<p>And—Teddy! Teddy, who was the handsomest and gayest of all the boys, +had been Billie's friend and playmate ever since they could remember. +Either of them would have felt lost without the friendship of the other. +Teddy was Laura's brother and had starred in almost all the sports in +which the lads of North Bend had taken part—a fact which did not make +Billie like him any the less.</p> + +<p>Just the summer before this story opens, Billie, going back with Violet +and Laura to the grammar school from which they had just graduated, had, +in a moment of thoughtless skylarking, broken a handsome and expensive +statue that belonged to her English teacher—Miss Martha Beggs.</p> + +<p>The accident was nothing short of a tragedy to Billie, for her father, +Martin Bradley, a real estate and insurance agent in North Bend, having +most of his capital tied up in property and being at the time engaged in +fighting a rather losing fight with the high cost of living was in no +position to pay a hundred dollars—which was what the statue was worth.</p> + +<p>Billie's worry was deepened by the fact that she would not be able to go +with Laura and Violet to Three Towers Hall, a boarding school to which +she had wanted to go all her life. The high school in North Bend was +notoriously poor and inefficient, and the girls had set their hearts on +attending Three Towers in the fall. And now, because of the broken +statue, Billie could not go.</p> + +<p>Then had come news of Beatrice Powerson's death. Beatrice Powerson was +an aunt of Billie's mother for whom Billie had been named. Then came the +strange inheritance which the queer old lady, who had spent her life +traveling, had left to Billie—the old homestead at Cherry Corners which +dated back to revolutionary times and had been the scene of more than +one Indian attack.</p> + +<p>Readers of the first book of this series will remember how the girls and +boys had decided to spend their vacation there, the many queer and +spooky experiences they had had, and finally the shabby old trunk which +Billie had found stowed away in a corner of the attic—a shabby old +trunk that contained riches; at least, so it now seemed to the boys and +girls. Five thousand dollars in the shape of old coins and postage +stamps.</p> + +<p>Billie had sent the wonderful news post-haste to her family, and Mr. +Bradley had hurried out to the old house to see if Billie's discovery +was really worth anything.</p> + +<p>And now he had just given the result of his investigation to six pairs +of ears. To be exact it had better be made seven, for Mrs. Maria +Gilligan, Mrs. Jordon's housekeeper and the girls' chaperone on this +expedition, was looking on with interest from the doorway.</p> + +<p>Five thousand dollars, perhaps more. This almost certainly meant that +not only could Billie go to Three Towers Hall, but Chet would be able to +go with the other boys to a military academy which was only a little +over a mile from Three Towers.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Daddy, I'm so glad you came!"</p> + +<p>Billie squeezed her father's arm ecstatically.</p> + +<p>"I'll say we are," said Ferd Stowing, staring down at the queer little +trunk as though he already could see it full to the brim with shining +new gold pieces from the mint instead of the old coins and rare postage +stamps that were its present contents.</p> + +<p>"How soon," he asked, turning to Mr. Bradley, "will you be able to get +real money for these?"</p> + +<p>"Probably almost as soon as we can get the trunk to North Bend," said +Mr. Bradley. "The bank——" But Billie would not let him finish.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Daddy, let's hurry!" she cried; then as her chums stared at her in +surprise she rushed over to the trunk and slammed the lid shut. "What +are you waiting for?" she cried, stamping her foot impatiently as she +turned to face them. "If <i>you</i> want to stand around looking foolish, all +right. But <i>I'm</i> going home."</p> + +<p>"Say! wait a minute," cried Teddy, stopping her as she started from the +room. "Perhaps your father——"</p> + +<p>"I was going to suggest," said Mr. Bradley, looking at his watch, "that +we catch the eight o'clock train for North Bend. Is that at all +possible, Mrs. Gilligan?" he asked, turning apologetically to Mrs. +Gilligan.</p> + +<p>However, before Mrs. Gilligan could reply, his daughter answered for +her.</p> + +<p>"Of course it is," she cried. "We girls were beginning to pack anyway. +Come on, girls, what we need is action," and without giving them a +chance to protest she fell upon the girls and dragged them from the +room.</p> + +<p>The boys looked after them with laughing eyes, and Mr. Bradley remarked +with a smile: "My young daughter seems to be unusually happy about +something."</p> + +<p>"No wonder," said Chet, shaking his head ruefully. "I'd be happy, too, +if anybody thought enough of me to give me five thousand dollars."</p> + +<p>The rest of that afternoon was one wild scramble for the girls and boys, +but at the end they made their train with, as the train was late, a few +minutes to spare.</p> + +<p>The boy who had driven them and their luggage to town was the same who +had taken the girls and their chaperone to the old homestead at Cherry +Corners upon their arrival over a month before.</p> + +<p>As he turned away and went back to his antiquated wagon, he shook his +head soberly.</p> + +<p>"Gosh," he said, "I do be sorry to see 'em go. When they first came it +sure did turn my heart cold to see three girls an' a woman goin' into +that there haunted house. At night it was, too! But it seems they've +come out all right, after all. Guess they must 'a' scared the ghosts +away. Well, you've sure got to hand it to 'em." And he shook his head +sagely as the springs of the old wagon creaked under him. "Giddap, +Napoleon!" And a few minutes later wagon and driver were enveloped in +the gray mist of the evening.</p> + +<p>"If we only get the train!" Such had been Billie's thought throughout +the drive to the station. Her mind was on getting home and turning the +precious old coins and postage stamps into real money. Then she could +arrange about going to Three Towers Hall and about sending her brother +to Boxton Military Academy.</p> + +<p>Fortunately the train was only ten minutes late, and presently they were +safely aboard and on the way to North Bend.</p> + +<p>Half an hour passed. Boys and girls were chatting gaily, the others +congratulating Billie over and over again on her good fortune.</p> + +<p>"Just like a page out of the Arabian Nights——" Teddy was saying when +his words were cut short most unexpectedly.</p> + +<p>There was a jar and a crash, a shock and another crash, and then the +lights in the car went out, leaving the passengers in darkness.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>THE WRECK</h3> + + +<p>What followed was like a terrible nightmare. Shaken and jolted badly, +but not seriously hurt, it took the girls a horrible minute or two to +realize what had happened. There had been an accident—a terrible +accident. Then hands went out in the blackness and the girls called to +each other in strangled whispers that could not be heard above the din +and uproar outside.</p> + +<p>They heard Mr. Bradley shouting above the noise, asking if any one of +them was hurt and reassuring them. Gradually they managed to grope their +way to his side, guided by his voice, and with an agony of relief in his +heart he gathered the three girls to him and heard the voices of Mrs. +Gilligan and the boys at his elbow.</p> + +<p>"Let's get out of this," he cried, and began feeling his way cautiously +toward what had been the front of the car.</p> + +<p>He soon found the aisle blocked by what appeared to be the wreck of the +forward end of the car and was forced to turn back and feel his way +toward the rear platform.</p> + +<p>Fortunately the train had not been crowded. There had been only three or +four passengers in that car besides themselves, and so there was little +danger of being trampled in the dark.</p> + +<p>Fearfully, holding on to one another, the girls followed Mr. Bradley and +the boys, stepping gingerly over broken glass and other débris and +shivering with fear and excitement.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if anybody was hurt," Laura cried into Billie's ear.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I hope not," said Billie, her voice almost lost in the uproar. "I +guess it must have been the forward cars that caught the worst of it. We +just escaped." She shuddered and clasped Laura's hand more tightly.</p> + +<p>It seemed ages before they finally reached the platform of the car. +However, even nightmares come to an end, and they were suddenly startled +by having a red light flashed in their faces. And then a friendly Irish +voice accosted them in unmistakable brogue.</p> + +<p>"So it's here you are!" cried the voice, the speaker swinging the +lantern high so as to get a good look at them. "And it's glad Oi am to +be seein' ye. Be there any more in the car wid yez?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think so," replied Mr. Bradley, surprised to find that his +voice was trembling and that the hand he raised to wipe his forehead +shook like a leaf. If it had been himself alone who had been in +danger—but the young folks!</p> + +<p>As they descended to the platform the girls looked about them with wide, +frightened eyes, while their hearts pounded suffocatingly.</p> + +<p>The faces of the boys were white, but they plunged immediately into the +work of rescue. Men came running from the farms about. All who could get +lanterns had them, and the lights were seen swinging down the roadside +or in the ruined cars, searching for any one who might be pinned under +the wreckage.</p> + +<p>Most of the passengers had already been accounted for, but there were +one or two who must still be found. Mr. Bradley picked his way through +the débris to the front of the train, while Mrs. Gilligan and the girls +followed him slowly.</p> + +<p>"I wonder how it happened," said Violet, and it was the first time she +had spoken since the accident. "Oh, girls, I'm frightened to death!"</p> + +<p>"I wonder if anybody was hurt," said Laura, her eyes dark with +excitement.</p> + +<p>"I don't think so," Billie answered. "The damage seems to be mostly at +the front of the train. We may have run into another train. Oh, look!" +she cried suddenly, pointing with trembling finger to the wreck of the +car in front of them. "Fire, girls! The car's on fire!"</p> + +<p>With horrified eyes the girls followed her pointing finger and saw a +malignant tongue of flame shoot out—then another—and another.</p> + +<p>"It's the baggage car!" screamed Laura, as men, attracted by the blaze, +came running from all directions. "Billie, your trunk!"</p> + +<p>"My trunk! my trunk!" wailed Billie distractedly. "Oh, it will be burnt +up! All my money and everything!"</p> + +<p>"Say, Chet, look! The baggage car's on fire!"</p> + +<p>It was Teddy's voice, and Billie looked up to see him beside her staring +unbelievingly at the burning car.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Teddy," she cried, clutching his arm desperately, "my trunk's +burning up! Can't you do something—can't you?"</p> + +<p>Teddy gave a low whistle and kept on staring while Chet and Ferd came +rushing up and joined him.</p> + +<p>"The trunk——" Chet began, but Teddy clutched his arm excitedly.</p> + +<p>"Look!" he cried. "It's the front end of the car that's on fire. If we +climbed through the side door we'd have a chance to——"</p> + +<p>He never finished the sentence, for the boys had caught the idea and +were racing headlong for the burning car. Mr. Bradley, meeting them half +way, literally had to drag them back.</p> + +<p>"Don't be idiots!" he shouted to them. "Do you want to get burned up?"</p> + +<p>"Let go, Dad!" gasped Chet, struggling to free himself. "Billie's +trunk!"</p> + +<p>"Billie's trunk will have to take its chance," Mr. Bradley yelled back +at him. Then he added in a changed voice that made the boys stop +struggling for a moment and follow the direction of his gaze. "Here come +the fire engines. Maybe we'll save that trunk after all."</p> + +<p>With a yell the boys dashed off down the platform to meet the engines, +whether with a vague idea of helping the horses pull or just on general +principles, no one will ever know.</p> + +<p>The fire department was a country one, and there was not enough force of +water; in fact, there seemed not to be enough of anything.</p> + +<p>They did at last succeed in putting out the fire, however, while the +girls stood by in an agony of suspense, and finally some of the train +hands were allowed to climb into the sodden train and find what luggage, +if any, could be saved.</p> + +<p>Wildly hoping that their own particular little trunk with its precious +contents would be among the saved, the girls and boys would have +followed, but a guard politely but firmly held them back.</p> + +<p>"Claim your baggage at the next town, please," he said, and, his hard +heart softened perhaps by the sight of Billie's anxious face, added by +way of explanation: "All the baggage will be sent to the next town to be +claimed in the morning."</p> + +<p>"In the morning!" gasped Billie in consternation. "Have we got to wait +all night?"</p> + +<p>"There won't be another train through till to-morrow," the guard +explained, still patiently. "And it will save confusion to wait until +morning to identify the baggage."</p> + +<p>"How far is it to the next town?" inquired Mr. Bradley, and the guard +turned to him with an air of relief that said as plainly as words, +"Thank heaven, here's a man to talk to."</p> + +<p>"Three miles, sir," he said. "I reckon you'll have to walk it, as they +haven't taxi service around here." He grinned, but Mr. Bradley's face +was sober. He was wondering how he was going to get his charges to the +next town.</p> + +<p>However, even while he was wondering, the difficulty was being solved +for him by some of the good-natured farmers who generously put their +wagons at the disposal of the survivors of the wreck.</p> + +<p>When they reached the village fate chose at last to smile upon them—a +very little. They found a comfortable little cottage presided over by a +comfortable little farmer's wife who first gave them supper and then led +them to the best rooms in her house and tucked the girls in bed as if +she had been their own mother.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Jenkins, the farmer's wife, was as pretty and comely as a shining +red apple—and just as neat. She said that her husband had gone to a +neighboring town to sell some of their stock and would not be back for a +week or two. She was so lonely that her guests were as welcome to her as +she and her hospitality were welcome to them.</p> + +<p>Yet in spite of comfortable beds and snowy sheets, the girls slept +little. All night long they tossed and turned, and when occasionally, +worn out, they would drop into an uncomfortable doze, they would always +wake up with a start and a frightened cry.</p> + +<p>Visions of crushed cars with flames shooting from the windows tormented +them all night until at last, when it seemed they could stand it no +longer, they opened their eyes upon the dawn.</p> + +<p>"Oh, girls, it's morning!" cried Billie, jumping out of bed and +beginning to drag her clothes on hastily.</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do?" asked Violet, opening one sleepy eye.</p> + +<p>"Do?" cried Billie, turning upon her like a little whirlwind. "What do +you suppose I'm going to do? I'm going to find that trunk!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>RECOVERED TREASURE</h3> + + +<p>To her great surprise Billie found that not only her father but the boys +were up and had for the past half hour been busily engaged in eating a +breakfast prepared for them by the rosy and good-natured farmer's wife.</p> + +<p>They greeted the unexpected apparition of Billie with enthusiasm, and +their impromptu hostess turned cheerfully back to the frying pan to fry +another egg for the new arrival.</p> + +<p>"I bet I know why you got up," said Ferd, his mouth full of biscuit and +jam. "Come on over, Billie, and after you've daintily pecked at some +food we're all going to look for your trunk."</p> + +<p>"But I'm not hungry," protested Billie, as Teddy dragged a chair up to +the table for her. "Don't you think we'd better get started right away?"</p> + +<p>"Not before you've had some breakfast," said her father, and so she +hurriedly ate—it might be said "gobbled," if it were not so +unladylike—the breakfast that Mrs. Jenkins placed before her.</p> + +<p>If it had not been for the real cause of her excitement the boys might +have found amusing her effort to gulp down her whole breakfast in the +time one usually takes to drink a cup of coffee. As it was, they +sympathized, and once when she choked and became painfully red in the +face, Ferd gravely handed her a glass of water and Teddy gallantly +offered to pat her on the back.</p> + +<p>When, contrary to everybody's expectations, the meal came to an end +without any further mishap, Billie crumpled her napkin into a ball and +threw it on the table.</p> + +<p>"I won't eat another bite for anybody," she said, adding, as she started +for the hall: "I'll put on my hat and be right with you."</p> + +<p>In the bedroom she found that Laura and Violet had turned over for a nap +and she stood for half a minute looking down at them reflectively and a +little scornfully.</p> + +<p>"Go ahead—sleep," she said under her breath. "It isn't your five +thousand dollars." This was hardly fair, seeing that that five thousand +dollars meant almost as much to Laura and Violet as to Billie herself in +the happiness it would bring.</p> + +<p>With one last disgusted look she fled from the room and joined the boys +and Mr. Bradley in the hall. Mrs. Jenkins had directed them to the +station, and, anxious to waste no further time, they set off at once.</p> + +<p>"Daddy, do you suppose we'll find it?" asked Billie, her breath coming +fast. "There were a good many trunks destroyed in the baggage car, +weren't there?"</p> + +<p>"It was hard to tell the extent of the damage," said Mr. Bradley, +anxious to reassure her, yet afraid to raise her hopes too high. +"However," he said, quickening his step a little, "there's the station +right before us, so we ought to find out before long."</p> + +<p>Early as they were, there was already a line of people on the rickety +station platform and Billie was seized with a fresh spasm of dismay.</p> + +<p>"Goodness! they couldn't possibly have saved trunks enough to go round," +she cried, and Teddy, though he was feeling very anxious himself, +laughed at her.</p> + +<p>"There were two baggage cars, both loaded, you know," he reminded her. +"And one of them wasn't touched by the fire. We'll hope yours was in +that one."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Teddy, you're such a comfort!" she cried, and squeezed his arm +gratefully, at which Teddy flushed happily.</p> + +<p>"Have we got to stand in line?" Billie whispered nervously to her father +a minute later. "I know I can't stand still and behave myself, Daddy. +Couldn't we go up and have a look around?"</p> + +<p>"That wouldn't do any good," said her father, glancing at the piled-up +baggage. "It would only make more confusion. And still——" He thought +for a moment and then suddenly he strode off down the station and toward +the guard who had been friendly the night before.</p> + +<p>Billie could hear nothing, but she saw enough to make her heart beat +faster. Mr. Bradley whispered a few words to the man who was at first +inclined to be impatient and made a quick gesture as if to wave Mr. +Bradley back to his place in the line.</p> + +<p>However, Billie could see that whatever her father was saying was making +an impression, for suddenly the guard straightened up and began to look +interested.</p> + +<p>"I wonder what Dad's handing him," said Chet slangily in her ear.</p> + +<p>"Look!" cried Billie, clutching his arm. "They're going to look for +something—probably our trunk. No, they're not. Look how excited he is! +And Daddy, too! Oh, Chet, what in the world——" the last words were a +wail, and Chet squeezed her hand warningly.</p> + +<p>"Come on, let's find out," he said. "It looks as if something was up."</p> + +<p>The four young people came within earshot just in time to hear the last +part of Mr. Bradley's sentence.</p> + +<p>"If it was only a few minutes ago, he hasn't had time to get far," her +father was saying with a grim light in his eyes.</p> + +<p>Billie could stand the suspense no longer, and she rushed forward, +grasping her father's arm. The earnest conversation between the guard +and Mr. Bradley and their evident excitement had already attracted the +attention of the line of people, and now they watched Billie curiously.</p> + +<p>"Daddy, what do you mean?" Billie cried in a voice tense with +excitement. "Is the trunk safe? Have you found it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. But only to lose it again," said her father, and then went on +hurriedly to explain. "The guard says he saw a trunk here only a little +while ago that answers our description, but now it's gone. He remembers +seeing a suspicious looking man hanging around, and it's barely possible +that the man may have stolen it. He also remembers seeing this fellow +drive off in a Ford car just a few minutes ago."</p> + +<p>"O-oh!" cried Billie incredulously. "The trunk has been stolen!" Then +she whirled around and faced the guard. "Are you sure it was our trunk? +Could you describe it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," the guard answered, excited himself by this time. "I took special +notice of it because it was so odd and shabby."</p> + +<p>"That trunk was worth five thousand dollars!" wailed Billie, thereby +causing another ripple of surprise among the onlookers. Then she turned +pleadingly to her father.</p> + +<p>"Daddy, we must find the trunk, we must!" she cried. "Just think what it +means." She was on the verge of tears, and her father came suddenly to a +decision. He turned quickly to the guard.</p> + +<p>"Is it possible to get a machine around here—a fast one?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I don't know. But here's the man who keeps the livery stable."</p> + +<p>Suddenly a well-dressed man, who had been watching the proceedings with +lively interest, stepped forward and addressed Mr. Bradley courteously.</p> + +<p>"I have my car here," he said, adding with a smile of pride: "And she's +guaranteed to overtake anything that runs on four wheels. She's at your +disposal, if you can run her. My man went on an errand."</p> + +<p>"That's kind of you, sir," cried Mr. Bradley heartily. "If you will show +me——"</p> + +<p>"I'll say so," said the stranger boyishly, and led the way around the +station to a car which, even in this minute of excitement, the boys eyed +delightedly.</p> + +<p>"I'll drive," announced Teddy; and before any one could have interfered +if they had wanted to, he had jumped into the driver's seat and had +thrown in the clutch. Teddy was young, but he knew all about cars.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bradley took the seat beside him and the two boys and Billie +scrambled into the tonneau. Mr. Bradley motioned to the owner of the +car.</p> + +<p>"Will you come?" he asked, but the man shook his head.</p> + +<p>"No, thanks," he answered, "I'd rather stay here and watch for some +other missing baggage. Good luck!" and he waved to them as the big car +glided forward under Teddy's touch and shot around a turn in the road.</p> + +<p>The wind roared in Billie's ears and whipped little strands of hair +across her eyes, but she pushed them back impatiently and fixed her eyes +upon the flying ribbon of road ahead.</p> + +<p>"Faster, Teddy, faster!" she kept urging until even that young +scatterbrain began to wonder at her.</p> + +<p>"Can't be done, Billie!" he yelled back finally. "We're going about +sixty now, and if we meet anything on the road, we'll have a smash-up."</p> + +<p>"Be careful, Teddy," cautioned Mr. Bradley. "We don't want an accident."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but we've got to catch that thief!" wailed Billie, hoping each time +they rounded a bend in the road to see their quarry just ahead. "He may +have got too much of a start——"</p> + +<p>"Don't worry," Teddy shouted back. "No start will help a flivver against +a car like this. Say, but she's a beauty! Just listen to that engine!" +But Billie was in no mood to listen to anything except the jingle of +queer old coins in a shabby old trunk. Then suddenly there came a yell +from Teddy and an exclamation from Mr. Bradley.</p> + +<p>"There he is!" cried Teddy, leaning down over the wheel as though he +would force even more speed out of the flying car. "See him, Billie? +Didn't I tell you a flivver didn't have a chance?"</p> + +<p>Even as Teddy spoke, the man in the machine ahead of them looked back. +Then abruptly, and to the great surprise of Billie and the boys, he +stopped his car and began groping wildly in the bottom of it for +something.</p> + +<p>Then, while every second brought them nearer, the man did an astonishing +thing. He lifted a small object, which Billie excitedly recognized as +the trunk, and with an effort succeeded in getting it over the side of +the car.</p> + +<p>Then he dropped it in the road and turned for a swift moment to look at +his pursuers before he started his car again. It was only a moment, but +those in the car behind were near enough to get a good look at his face.</p> + +<p>It was a repulsive face topped with a mass of vivid red hair. But what +the boys and Billie most noticed was his unusually wide, loose-lipped +mouth.</p> + +<p>So busy was Teddy in looking at the thief that, if it had not been for +Billie, he would surely have run over the precious trunk in the road.</p> + +<p>She stood up waving her arms excitedly.</p> + +<p>"Teddy, look out! If you run over my trunk——" and Teddy swerved so +suddenly that she was nearly thrown from the car. However, Chet caught +her and put her safely back in the seat; and in another minute Teddy had +brought the big car to a sliding standstill.</p> + +<p>They tumbled to the roadside, and Billie, rushing over to the trunk, +sank to her knees regardless of three inches of dust in the road, and +encircled the shabby old thing with her arms.</p> + +<p>And Teddy, watching her, said with a grin:</p> + +<p>"Gosh! who wouldn't be a trunk?"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>THE "CODFISH"</h3> + + +<p>A few minutes later a very exultant crowd of young folks were starting +back over the road they had just traveled so fast.</p> + +<p>In the bottom of the tonneau,—Billie and the two boys were using it as +a foot rest,—was safely stowed the shabby, but, oh! so precious old +trunk, and on Billie's face was the "smile that wouldn't come off;" or +at least that is what Ferd called it.</p> + +<p>Teddy was the only member of the party who was not fully satisfied with +the expedition.</p> + +<p>"We should have followed and caught the thief," he was saying for the +eleventh time—Billie had counted them. "It would have been like taking +candy from a kid to have caught up with his old flivver, and then we +could have landed him in jail, where he belongs."</p> + +<p>"But we wouldn't have time, Teddy," Billie reminded him. "You know the +train guard said there would be a train through about eleven o'clock. +And we can't miss it. Besides," and she shifted her feet happily on her +five thousand dollar footstool, "what do we care about that old man now +that we've got the trunk?"</p> + +<p>"Isn't that just like a girl," cried Teddy, almost running them into a +ditch in his indignation. "I suppose you would be willing to let all the +thieves in the world go free if you could only get back what they +stole."</p> + +<p>"I certainly would if we had a train to catch," agreed Billie, and Ferd +chuckled.</p> + +<p>"Good for you, Billie!" he cried approvingly. "Stick to your guns. I +don't see any use of following up that old chap now that we've got the +goods."</p> + +<p>"He wasn't very handsome, was he?" asked Billie, remembering that one +glimpse she had had of him.</p> + +<p>"Maybe that's why you didn't want to follow him," chuckled Ferd, and +Teddy scowled blackly at the wind shield.</p> + +<p>"But wasn't he ugly?" Billie persisted. "I don't think I ever saw such +red hair. And his mouth—ugh!" She paused reflectively.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it looked just like the mouth of a codfish," said Chet.</p> + +<p>"The poor fish," remarked Ferd jocularly, but be it said to their credit +that no one laughed at this feeble attempt at a joke. They only stared.</p> + +<p>As the car swept into the village again Billie had a sudden and rather +conscience-stricken memory of her chums. For the first time in her life +she had forgotten them completely. But then one doesn't lose five +thousand dollars and recover it every day!</p> + +<p>As the car stopped at the station it was surrounded by an eager crowd of +people, among whom was the owner of the car. But for his generosity they +would never have been able to recover the trunk.</p> + +<p>"Did you get it?"</p> + +<p>"Did you bring back the thief?"</p> + +<p>"Say, you must have done some speeding!"</p> + +<p>These and other like remarks greeted the adventurers as they climbed +from the car, and under cover of the confusion Billie made her escape.</p> + +<p>Teddy, looking around for her a moment later, missed her and started in +pursuit.</p> + +<p>"You're always running away," he protested plaintively, when he overtook +her just a little way from the cottage, the owner of which had shown +them such generous hospitality.</p> + +<p>Billie wrinkled up her nose in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Running away?" she repeated wonderingly. "Why, Teddy, sometimes I +almost think you're foolish."</p> + +<p>"That's what Mother says, only she's sure of it," said Teddy, with a wry +little grimace that made Billie laugh.</p> + +<p>"Well, she ought to know better than I," she said demurely. "She's known +you longer."</p> + +<p>"Not very much," Teddy retorted, opening the gate of the little picket +fence for her. "And, anyway, you haven't answered my question. What did +you run away for?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't run away. I escaped," she explained, making a face at the +memory of the crowd. "I wonder what makes people so curious. I do +believe all a person would have to do to collect a crowd would be to +stand on a soap box and say, 'Isn't this beautiful weather?'"</p> + +<p>"You bet. Especially if that person were you," said Teddy, and Billie +looked at him reproachfully.</p> + +<p>As the two entered the hall they met the girls just coming down stairs.</p> + +<p>They all went to the kitchen, where they found Mrs. Jenkins just +finishing a batch of golden brown crullers. She greeted the girls with a +beaming smile and insisted that Laura and Violet sit down while she got +them some breakfast.</p> + +<p>"Why, you must be nearly starved," she said.</p> + +<p>The girls protested that they were making her too much trouble, but she +gave them a cruller—"to stop their mouths," she said—and then set +cheerily to work to fry some more bacon and eggs, putting in a word now +and then and listening with a smile to the girls' merry chatter.</p> + +<p>"You mustn't scold me when you're hungry," Billie said, and the gladness +in her voice made the girls look at her eagerly. "No, I'm not going to +tell you a word," she said firmly as they started to ply her with +questions. "Not till you've had some breakfast, anyway. Eat, pretty +creatures, eat."</p> + +<p>Billie looked up at pretty Mrs. Jenkins and invitingly patted the empty +chair beside her.</p> + +<p>"Sit down here, please," she coaxed. "I want you to hear this too."</p> + +<p>"Now tell us," Laura commanded impatiently. "Why did you leave us asleep +and go out? And, oh, Billie! have you found your trunk?"</p> + +<p>So Billie told the story while the girls listened open-eyed and +open-mouthed, completely forgetting their breakfast, which lay untouched +before them.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Jenkins seemed almost as excited as they did, and leaned over the +table, one hand clutching the bread knife, while her rosy face fairly +beamed. Here was adventure such as rarely came to the village.</p> + +<p>Billie had just come to the part where the thief dropped the trunk in +the road when Mr. Bradley and the two other boys burst in upon them with +the news that the train was due in about fifteen minutes.</p> + +<p>Laura and Violet left their almost untouched breakfast, mumbled an +excuse to Mrs. Jenkins, and rushed with Billie up to the bedroom they +had occupied the night before to gather up their things and put on their +hats and coats.</p> + +<p>"Laura, you have my comb," said Violet accusingly, as Laura was stuffing +that article hastily into her hand bag.</p> + +<p>"Well, take your old comb," replied Laura, throwing it over to her. "It +isn't as good as mine, anyway. It has a tooth out."</p> + +<p>"Somebody will have more than one tooth out if she doesn't hurry," +threatened Billie. "Girls, we mustn't lose that train. Listen! There's +the whistle."</p> + +<p>Thereupon the girls forgot to quarrel and combined forces for a rush to +the train.</p> + +<p>They rushed down the stairs, falling over their suitcases and each +other, and found Mrs. Jenkins waiting for them at the bottom of the +stairs.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bradley had insisted upon paying her for her hospitality, but she +had stubbornly refused to take a cent.</p> + +<p>"No, sir," she had said, shaking her head decidedly. "Do you think I'm +going to let you pay me for having a good time? I love the girls and +boys, bless 'em, and I hate to see 'em go. Pay me—well, I guess not!"</p> + +<p>So Mr. Bradley had shaken her hand and thanked her heartily, which was +the best that he could do.</p> + +<p>And now the girls even risked missing the train to give her the only +kind of pay she wanted. Billie dropped her bag and impulsively threw her +arms about the comely woman.</p> + +<p>"You've just been sweet to us," she said, "and we'll never, never, +<i>never</i> forget how kind you've been. I—I'd like to kiss you, if you +don't mind."</p> + +<p>Shyly she kissed Mrs. Jenkins' rosy cheek, and Violet and Laura followed +suit. The boys and Mr. Bradley shook hands with her heartily, and then +they picked up their belongings and fairly ran down the steps and out at +the little white gate.</p> + +<p>They turned to wave to Mrs. Jenkins, and she waved back at them until +they disappeared around the corner; and when she started to go into the +house she was surprised to find that there were tears in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"The precious lambs," she said. "The precious little lambs! They kissed +me, too, bless 'em!" and she put her hand up gently to her face.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the train that was to carry the North Bend party back home had +thundered into the station, and all the passengers who had been stranded +in the place overnight were crowding on board.</p> + +<p>As Billie was being hurried up the steps, she suddenly paused and looked +back at her father.</p> + +<p>"Where's the trunk?" she asked nervously.</p> + +<p>"In the baggage car," Mr. Bradley assured her. "We'll get it safely to +North Bend—unless we have another wreck."</p> + +<p>As soon as he had made the speech he regretted it. Billie's face went +white and Laura and Violet looked back at him with startled eyes, then +went on more slowly into the car.</p> + +<p>The luggage had been stowed away in the racks overhead and the girls +were removing their hats when the train moved slowly from the station.</p> + +<p>"You know, I'm terribly afraid," Violet confided in a whisper to Billie. +"I—I won't feel safe for a minute until we reach North Bend."</p> + +<p>Billie looked a little uncertain herself, but suddenly there floated +across her vision a shabby, odd, little trunk, filled to the brim with +old coins and postage stamps. Then she laughed.</p> + +<p>"After this morning," she said, "I'm not afraid of anything. The luck's +all on our side!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>AMANDA'S SURPRISE</h3> + + +<p>Billie was right about their luck, for they reached home without further +mishap. And it was with great relief the boys and girls later saw the +precious trunk safely deposited in Billie's attic.</p> + +<p>The next few days were mostly spent in telling wondering and interested +home folks about the ghostly happenings at the old homestead that was +Billie's inheritance and in recounting in detail the circumstances that +led to the discovery of the treasure trunk.</p> + +<p>And then one night Mr. Bradley came home with the wonderful news that he +had sold most of the contents of the old trunk and had realized four +thousand three hundred and fifty dollars—and every cent for Billie!</p> + +<p>"Did you sell them all, Dad?" Billie inquired, her eyes shining.</p> + +<p>"No, I kept out a few coins and stamps that were especially rare and +I'll take them to another dealer. I think," and he looked at Billie +thoughtfully, "they ought to bring in quite a little pile more."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Daddy, it's like a fairy tale!" Billie cried, and then added, +edging around to where her father stood and looking up at him +appealingly: "You and Mother haven't really said it, Dad, but Chet and I +will be able to go to boarding school, won't we?"</p> + +<p>"I should think so—on four thousand dollars," her father answered +dryly, and so Billie's cup of happiness was filled to the brim.</p> + +<p>But Billie, young as she was, was beginning to learn that no matter how +perfect a thing seems, there is almost sure to be a fly in the ointment +somewhere; and it was not long before she discovered the fly in the +present case.</p> + +<p>It was one beautiful bright day, the kind that only early autumn knows, +and the chums were walking down the main street of North Bend eagerly +discussing plans and talking of the fun they would have at Three Towers +Hall when suddenly Billie espied Miss Beggs, the English teacher whose +statue she had broken, coming out of a drug store.</p> + +<p>With a great wave of happiness that now she could pay for the statue, or +at least replace the one she had broken, she hurried forward and spoke +to the English teacher as she was about to enter another store.</p> + +<p>"Why, how-do-you-do!" cried the latter, evidently surprised and very +much pleased at the meeting. "I didn't know you were back yet."</p> + +<p>"We left Cherry Corners on Monday," Billie replied, then added eagerly +as Laura and Violet came hurrying up: "I'd like to tell you what +happened to us there; that is, if you have time enough."</p> + +<p>"Indeed I have," replied Miss Beggs heartily, and after she had greeted +the other girls they all walked down the street together while Billie +launched into the wonderful tale of her good fortune.</p> + +<p>"Over four thousand dollars!" cried the teacher when Billie stopped for +lack of breath. "Why, Billie, isn't that marvelous? It sounds like a +story. What," she added, smiling down into the eager face, "do you +intend to do with all that wealth?"</p> + +<p>"Buy a statue for you, first of all," said Billie promptly, and Miss +Beggs flushed.</p> + +<p>"I had forgotten all about that statue," she said. "I told you it had +already been broken, anyway."</p> + +<p>"I know you did. But since you had mended it so it looked all right, it +was almost as good as new, wasn't it? You mustn't say 'no,'" she added +quickly, as she saw Miss Beggs was about to interrupt, "for it won't do +the slightest bit of good. I'm not going to buy anything for myself till +I replace that statue."</p> + +<p>Miss Beggs gave a little helpless shrug of her shoulders.</p> + +<p>"I can see that nobody has a chance to change your mind, Billie Bradley, +when it's once made up," she said with a smile, then added as the girls +turned toward home: "I know what I shall name my new statue. Her name +shall be 'Billie.'"</p> + +<p>"She's lovely, isn't she?" asked Violet, referring to Miss Beggs. "I +wish she were going to be one of the instructors at Three Towers."</p> + +<p>"I hope they're nice, for it's awful to live with people who aren't," +sighed Laura.</p> + +<p>"Well, we won't know very much about them till we get there."</p> + +<p>"And then it may be too late," put in Violet dolefully.</p> + +<p>"But Daddy says," Billie went on, "that Miss Walters, the head of the +school, is just splendid."</p> + +<p>"Well, that ought to help some," said Laura, adding with a quick change +of tone that made the girls look up suddenly: "There's Amanda Peabody. +Can't we hide or something?"</p> + +<p>"I don't see where, and, besides, she won't bite you," said Billie.</p> + +<p>Amanda Peabody was probably the most unpopular girl in North Bend. The +girls disliked her as real girls always dislike a sneak and tattle-tale. +Amanda was always spying around, minding everybody's business but her +own, and making a general nuisance of herself.</p> + +<p>And because Billie was so popular, Amanda seemed to have an especial +grudge against her and was always trying to get her into trouble.</p> + +<p>As Amanda came toward them on this beautiful afternoon she seemed more +unpleasant than usual and there was a mean little smile at the corners +of her thin-lipped mouth.</p> + +<p>"Hello!" she accosted the girls, then turned to Billie with a more +pronounced grin. "I've heard all about the money you found in that awful +old house. You must feel like a regular Captain Kidd, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Since I never was sure how Captain Kidd felt, I don't know," said +Billie coolly, although she could feel the blood slowly mounting into +her face. Oh, if she could only do what she wanted to, Amanda Peabody +wouldn't be smiling very long!</p> + +<p>The girls made as if to go on, but with characteristic ill breeding, +Amanda planted herself directly in front of Billie, still with that +maddening grin on her face.</p> + +<p>"I suppose now you'll be going to Three Towers Hall and your brother to +Boxton Academy."</p> + +<p>Billie did not say anything—she just looked. But that look must have +been enough, for suddenly with a flirt of her dress and a toss of her +head and an insolent look Amanda flung past them.</p> + +<p>"Just the same you needn't think you're the only pebble on the beach," +she called back. "I'm going to Three Towers, too."</p> + +<p>For a minute the chums could not believe their ears. Then they looked at +each other with horror written on their faces.</p> + +<p>"Did you hear what I heard?" gasped Billie, when she could find her +voice.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I heard," said Laura faintly. "Girls, do you think she could have +been telling the truth?"</p> + +<p>"I don't see why she should want to fib about it," said Vi, feeling +rather bewildered. "She'd know we would soon find it out."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but it's too awful!" burst out Billie suddenly. "Why, girls, it's +apt to spoil our whole year! Just think of having that sneak around, +prying into all our affairs and reporting every little thing we do."</p> + +<p>"I guess the only way out of that is not to do anything she can report," +said Violet ruefully, and Laura caught her up quickly.</p> + +<p>"There you go taking all the fun out of it before we start," she said, +and in spite of their consternation the girls had to laugh.</p> + +<p>"Why, you actually sound as if you intended to break the rules," said +Billie, drolly adding, with a prim little pucker of her mouth: "Laura, +I'm surprised at you."</p> + +<p>"Listen to the good little girl talking," gibed Laura. "I never knew you +to get into any mischief, Billie,—oh, no!"</p> + +<p>"Well, I won't quarrel with you about it," said Billie, calmly adding +with a little chuckle: "If we try to have any midnight feast at Three +Towers with sweet Amanda wandering round loose we will have to appoint a +guard to stand outside the door and warn us."</p> + +<p>"I suppose that will be my job," said Violet plaintively. "It will be +lots of fun standing out in a drafty hall looking for Amanda while you +girls are having a feast."</p> + +<p>"No, we'll fix it so it will be perfectly fair," said Billie soothingly. +"We'll draw lots or something."</p> + +<p>"But I don't know what good a guard would do anyway," said Laura +dolefully. "There's something creepy about the way Amanda finds out +things. You think she's miles away and the next day she tells you more +about what you did than you know yourself."</p> + +<p>"Maybe she has an accomplice," said Billie dramatically, and the girls +giggled.</p> + +<p>"Anybody'd think Amanda was a criminal or something," said Laura, but +Billie shook her head decidedly.</p> + +<p>"Uh-uh," she said. "I might like a good honest criminal but I'll be +jiggered—scuse me, ladies—if I can like Amanda Peabody! She's too +sly!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>OFF FOR THREE TOWERS HALL</h3> + + +<p>It was just two weeks to the time when the girls were to leave for Three +Towers Hall.</p> + +<p>It seemed to them they would never get done all the things that they had +to do, and they sewed and packed and planned until it seemed they must +stop because of sheer exhaustion.</p> + +<p>However, their parents sent them to bed early—and not without +difficulty was this feat accomplished—on the night before the great +day, and the morning found them refreshed and wildly eager for this new +adventure.</p> + +<p>As, in her own little room, Billie regarded her flushed reflection in +the mirror it seemed impossible to make herself realize that she was +really going to Three Towers Hall at last—Three Towers which had been +the height of her ambition from the time she had entered the grammar +school.</p> + +<p>She was beginning to feel quite grown up—which was perhaps the reason +she regarded her new and very pretty brown hat with a critical eye and +smoothed down her new and very pretty brown dress with hands that +trembled with excitement.</p> + +<p>"Well, I think I'm all ready now," she said at last, and gave a little, +half-frightened glance around the familiar room. She wondered how it +would seem to sleep in a strange place with no mother or father near by.</p> + +<p>Then she shook herself impatiently and picked up her bag—for was she +not grown-up now?</p> + +<p>However, she did not feel very grown-up when a moment later she met her +mother in the hall and saw traces of tears on her face. For Mother had +no new scenes to go to and the departure of her two noisy children would +leave the house strangely quiet and subdued.</p> + +<p>Billie flung herself upon her mother and hugged her tight.</p> + +<p>"Mumsey, you've been crying!" she said to her accusingly. "And you know +you mustn't."</p> + +<p>Then to her great surprise she felt a peculiar lump in her own throat, +and two tears forced themselves to her eyes.</p> + +<p>She had never dreamt of crying, and for the first time she realized that +leaving one's mother—even for Three Towers—was not easy, after all!</p> + +<p>But it was Mrs. Bradley who came to the rescue and prevented a break +down by asking:</p> + +<p>"Isn't that Laura coming down the street? And the boy with her must be +Teddy."</p> + +<p>With a quick movement, Billie brushed her hand across her eyes, kissed +her mother hard, and straightened the new brown hat.</p> + +<p>"You're coming to the station, M—mother?" she asked, and Mrs. Bradley +nodded.</p> + +<p>After that Chet came in, wrestled with the same troublesome lump in his +throat, told his mother, "Not to worry, Mumsey, he'd write every day, +and she mustn't forget to write for he was going to miss her awfully," +and then Mr. Bradley joined them and they all started for the station.</p> + +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Jordon were with Teddy and Laura. Teddy said that Ferd was +on his way, but had told them not to wait for him, he'd catch up to them +later.</p> + +<p>A little farther on they picked up Violet and Mr. and Mrs. Farrington, +and after that there was no more time to think of being homesick.</p> + +<p>There was something in the sunshine, the crisp air, the brilliant, +changing colors of the leaves on the trees that went to Billie's head +and made her feel as though she were walking on air.</p> + +<p>"Do you suppose Ferd will catch up to us?" she asked of Teddy. Teddy was +looking unusually handsome this morning—at least so Billie thought—and +she was surprised to find that he was walking beside her. "It would be +awful if he made us miss the train."</p> + +<p>"You don't think we'd <i>wait</i> for him do you?" asked Teddy scornfully. +"If Ferd's late he'll be the only one to miss the train!"</p> + +<p>Both Teddy and Billie had always agreed that if you talked of an angel +he or she was sure to turn up, and in this case their faith was +justified.</p> + +<p>For just as they reached the station platform a figure that looked very +familiar turned the corner and came rushing down toward them as if bent +on running a Marathon.</p> + +<p>"There's Ferd—and here's the train," announced Teddy, as a shrill +whistle made them jump and look eagerly down the track. "Not much time +to waste at that."</p> + +<p>The young folks were so taken up in the leave taking that they failed to +notice two girls who got on the train just after them. Even if they had +not been able to see the faces of these newcomers, an overheard sentence +or two would have given them the clue to their identity.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it just like them, the stuck up things," one of the girls said to +the other, "to bring all their relations to see them off?"</p> + +<p>"Never mind," said the other with a malicious grin. "I guess I gave them +rather a jolt the other day when I told them I was going to Three Towers +too. I guess they thought they owned the place and ought to have it all +to themselves."</p> + +<p>However, the boys and girls were perfectly unaware of this conversation +concerning themselves; although it probably would not have bothered them +very greatly if they had heard it.</p> + +<p>They were still leaning out of the window, calling to those left on the +platform and answering injunctions "not to get killed" from their +mothers and to "please be careful and not get into any more scrapes than +they could help" from their fathers, when the guard shouted a warning +and the train started off.</p> + +<p>They waved until the station and the people on it were out of sight, +then settled back in their seats "to view the prospect o'er," Chet said.</p> + +<p>For a moment they all felt a little lost and queer, though nothing in +the world could have made them confess to the feeling. But the little +wave of homesickness soon passed off, swallowed up by the vision of the +amazing adventure ahead of them.</p> + +<p>Before the little party had stowed away their baggage and taken off +their wraps, several boys and girls they had known at school came over +to greet them and talk things over, and Billie, leaning over to rescue a +box of chocolates that had fallen at her feet, suddenly looked up and +right into the beaming face of Nellie Bane.</p> + +<p>Nellie was a friend of the chums who had rather expected to go to Three +Towers Hall with them at first. But Mr. and Mrs. Bane had suddenly +decided to go to Europe and take Nellie with them, which had rather +upset Nellie's plans. And now here she was on the train with them.</p> + +<p>"Why, Nellie!" Billie cried, almost dropping the chocolates again in her +surprise and delight. "How did you get here——"</p> + +<p>"Through the window," mocked Nellie, and dropped into a vacant seat +beside Laura.</p> + +<p>"But," stammered the latter, her eyes round and wide with wonder, "the +last we heard of you you were going to England."</p> + +<p>"Yes. But an aunt of Daddy's died and he decided we'd better postpone +the voyage until next summer."</p> + +<p>"Are you glad or sorry?" demanded Billie breathlessly.</p> + +<p>"Glad," said Nellie without a moment's hesitation. "I want to go to +Europe, of course. But I can go there any old time, and I was simply +wild to go to Three Towers with you girls. You'll never know how jealous +I was," she ended with a sigh.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it funny?" marveled Violet. "And here we were envying you!"</p> + +<p>They laughed, and thereupon entered into a spirited conversation that +lasted until Ferd interrupted to inquire what they were keeping the +chocolates to themselves for, anyway. Did they think they had a corner +on the chocolate market? To this Billie answered by holding out the +whole box, showing that they had been too busy talking even to open it.</p> + +<p>This interruption led to others, however, and they found that nearly the +whole car was occupied by girls and boys from North Bend who were going +to Three Towers or the Boxton Military Academy.</p> + +<p>At last, wearied with excitement and visiting, Billie sank into her own +seat. A moment later Teddy came and sat down beside her.</p> + +<p>"I see we have your friend with us," he said, handing over the candy +box.</p> + +<p>"My friend?" repeated Billie, bewildered.</p> + +<p>"Amanda Peabody," he explained. "She is sitting with another girl who +looks as if she might be a second edition of Amanda. There! Away at the +end of the car! You surely missed a lot by not seeing them."</p> + +<p>"Another girl," Billie repeated, looking worried. "Then there are two of +them."</p> + +<p>"Yes. But don't let it hurt your appetite. Have some more candy."</p> + +<p>"Do you know her name—the other one?" asked Billie, ignoring the +offered candy box.</p> + +<p>"No, I didn't stop long enough to inquire. In fact," he chuckled and bit +into a chocolate, "I gave them one look and beat it."</p> + +<p>Billie dimpled, but the next moment her face was grave again.</p> + +<p>"That's all right for you," she said. "But what would you do if you +couldn't 'beat it'?"</p> + +<p>It was Teddy's turn to be puzzled.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Only," said Billie, speaking very slowly and distinctly, "that Amanda +and most likely that other girl, whoever she is, are both going to Three +Towers Hall with us."</p> + +<p>Teddy emitted a long whistle and looked sympathetic.</p> + +<p>"Say, I'm sorry. That's tough luck."</p> + +<p>"It's worse than that," wailed Billie. "It's—it's ruinous! I just know +that Amanda Peabody will do her best to spoil the term for us girls!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>MISS WALTERS</h3> + + +<p>In spite of their eagerness to reach their destination, the ride seemed +all too short to the boys and girls. They started when the guard called +out, "Molata, next stop!"</p> + +<p>Hardly knowing what she was doing, Billie found her hat and coat, put +them on, and then sat on the very edge of her seat with her gladstone +bag grasped tightly in one hand. Then she looked around at Laura who was +sitting in the seat beside her.</p> + +<p>It was then she got her surprise. For Laura was sitting in almost the +same position as herself, perched on the edge of the seat, bag tightly +gripped in one hand, pocketbook in the other and—this was the fact that +made Billie chuckle—Laura's hat was very much over one eye.</p> + +<p>Laura looked up at the sound of the chuckle and giggled as her eyes met +Billie's.</p> + +<p>"I'm so excited," she whispered in Billie's ear, "that my knees are +trembling. I'm afraid I'll never be able to walk out."</p> + +<p>"Well, you needn't expect me to carry you," said Billie, reaching up and +putting Laura's hat on straight. "Because I'm going to have all I can do +to manage myself. Goodness, what's that?"</p> + +<p>It was merely the train stopping, but by the tone of Billie's voice one +might have thought it was the end of the world.</p> + +<p>"Say, are you girls all ready?" asked Ferd, leaning over the back of +their seats.</p> + +<p>The girls nodded nervously.</p> + +<p>"Well, then let's go," Teddy chimed in, grabbing his suitcase and cap. +"Come on, pick up your hats, girls, and don't forget your feet."</p> + +<p>"Oh, isn't he funny?" gibed Laura making a face at him. Then she grabbed +wildly at her bag as one of the excited girls seemed bent upon carrying +it off with her. "Say, come back with that," she cried. "Isn't one +enough for you?"</p> + +<p>However, they did succeed at last in getting themselves safely on the +station platform. It was a pretty station, and this being their first +glimpse of the place where they were going to spend so much time, they +looked about them with interest.</p> + +<p>Molata was the nearest town to Three Towers Hall and Boxton Military +Academy. Both of these schools were situated on Lake Molata, for which +the town had been named. Most of the inhabitants of Molata were wealthy, +and the estates in and about the town were magnificent. There was also +a large hotel, filled during the summer season.</p> + +<p>Even the station was in keeping with the general air of prosperity. In +the minute the girls had to look about them, they saw a stone-built +waiting room with a red-tiled roof. A beautiful green velvety lawn +completely surrounded the station on three sides, while on one side a +beautiful fountain sent its sparkling spray high into the clear air. And +further back through the trees they caught glimpses of beautiful +estates.</p> + +<p>They found themselves being hustled toward the other end of the station +where two conveyances, one from Three Towers Hall and the other from +Boxton Military Academy, were waiting to take the girls and boys to +their destination.</p> + +<p>Two attendants tended to the trunks and deposited the luggage inside the +cabs, while the girls and boys said excited good-byes to each other on +the platform.</p> + +<p>"We'll be only a little over a mile away from you," Chet called out. +"And when we get an afternoon off we'll row down the lake and get you +girls."</p> + +<p>"Oh, won't that be fun!" cried Vi, her eyes dancing. "I'm just crazy to +get out on the lake."</p> + +<p>"Goodness, we haven't even seen it yet," Laura reminded her.</p> + +<p>"Yes, and if we're going to," Billie added, "I guess we'd better get +started. Come on, girls. Everybody's in but us. Good-bye, Chet! +Good-bye, Ferd and Teddy! Please be good and don't get sent home the +first week—we wouldn't have anybody to give us that row, you know. +Good-bye—good-bye——"</p> + +<p>Laura and Vi had already clambered into the long, car-like machine with +<i>Three Towers Hall</i> painted in gold letters on the outside and were +impatiently commanding Billie to follow them.</p> + +<p>As soon as she was inside the boys rushed to the car with <i>Boxton +Military Academy</i> painted in gold letters on the outside, and the +good-byes were over.</p> + +<p>As they left the station and swung into a wide smooth road on their way +to Three Towers Hall the girls relaxed with a sigh of happiness.</p> + +<p>"Isn't this a wonderful road?" said Billie, screwing her head around so +that she could look out the window. The machine had two long seats on +either side, running from the front to the back of it so that, in +turning, Billie accidentally stuck her elbow into the girl next to her.</p> + +<p>She had not noticed the girl, but now, when the latter spoke, Billie +turned around quickly. The girl was Eliza Dilks, Amanda Peabody's chum, +and beside her sat Amanda herself looking on with her usual sneering +grin.</p> + +<p>"Say, if you haven't got room enough," Eliza said in a thin high voice, +"I can move over to the other side of the car."</p> + +<p>For a minute Billie just stared, while several girls about them paused +in their own conversations to listen. Vi was aghast and Laura was +furious.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Billie at last, letting her gaze travel from Eliza's mean +face to her ill-fitting shoes—somewhere Billie had heard that people +hate to have you look at their feet—"maybe you'd better move. There's +lots more room on the other side."</p> + +<p>The girls chuckled. Laura said: "Good for you, Billie," under her +breath, and Eliza flushed angrily. She seemed about to speak, but as +Billie was still gazing steadily at her feet she looked down at them +herself and thereby lost the battle.</p> + +<p>However, the incident had made them miss some of the prettiest scenery +in Molata, and it was almost with a feeling of regret that the girls saw +the majestic three towers of Three Towers Hall rise before them.</p> + +<p>Their regret did not last long, however; and when the car started up the +broad driveway the girls strained their eyes for a better view.</p> + +<p>It was a beautiful place. The hall itself was built of rough, +greenish-gray stone, and over the whole front of it, twining round the +windows, hanging over the doors, grew clinging, bright green ivy.</p> + +<p>A smooth velvety lawn sloped down straight to the water, and the girls +cried out at this, their first glimpse of Lake Molata. Through the +trees, the water of the lake glistened and shimmered and danced while +the soft rippling sound of tiny wavelets lapping at the bank seemed to +call to them invitingly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, g-girls, it's lovelier even than we pictured it!" cried Laura, +stammering in her eagerness. "Aren't you just c-crazy to get out on that +water?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. But look!" cried Billie, grasping her arm and pointing to the +front door of Three Towers Hall. "There's the president, I suppose, +waiting to welcome us."</p> + +<p>For in the doorway was standing a slender figure in white, evidently +waiting, as Billie had said, to welcome the girls to Three Towers Hall.</p> + +<p>Other girls had noticed her, too, and as the attendant came around and +opened the door, they all scrambled down in a flurry of excitement.</p> + +<p>"It's Miss Walters," the whisper went around, and Billie felt a thrill +of excitement.</p> + +<p>"Miss Walters!" Always she had seemed to Billie a person to be looked up +to—a sort of goddess set apart from ordinary mortals. For Miss Sara +Walters had been head of Three Towers Hall for a number of +years—always, it seemed to Billie. And now Billie was actually going to +see her, talk to her, perhaps even make her take notice of her, Billie, +above the others!</p> + +<p>As she rather breathlessly ascended the steps to the entrance of Three +Towers with the other girls she studied this slim, straight woman who +had been the heroine of so many of her day dreams.</p> + +<p>And what she saw satisfied even Billie.</p> + +<p>Miss Walters was only thirty-five, but her hair was snow white and +framed her face in thick wavy masses. Her complexion was pink and white, +and her dark violet eyes looked almost black under their dark lashes. +And her figure was that of a girl of twenty.</p> + +<p>"Isn't she wonderful?" Vi whispered in her ear; but Billie squeezed her +arm warningly.</p> + +<p>"Sh-h," she said. "She might hear us."</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't care if she did," said Violet with unusual spirit, and in +her heart Billie could not blame her.</p> + +<p>A moment more and Miss Walters was speaking to them, saying a few words +to each of them, welcoming them to Three Towers Hall.</p> + +<p>Then she turned and led the way into the building, the girls crowding +after her eagerly.</p> + +<p>"And her voice," said Billie, adoringly in Laura's ear, "is the very +sweetest part of her!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>THE DILL PICKLES</h3> + + +<p>Miss Walters took the girls into her office, looked up the cards she had +made out for them—for of course their names had been sent in some time +before as prospective students at Three Towers Hall—and then called in +another teacher, Miss Ada Dill, who had part charge of the dormitories.</p> + +<p>Miss Dill was tall and thin with sharp black eyes and white hair drawn +severely back from her forehead. She smiled when Miss Walters introduced +her to the girls, but her smile reminded Billie of the smile on the face +of a Chinese idol which she and her chums had come upon among the +antiques of the old homestead at Cherry Corners. It was merely a crack +in her face and the beady black eyes remained unsmiling.</p> + +<p>"Miss Dill," Miss Walters told the girls, "will show you your places in +the dormitories and will give you the hours for meals and such other +information as you will need at first. Lunch will be served in half an +hour, and after that you may have the rest of the day to yourselves to +become acquainted with Three Towers Hall."</p> + +<p>Then she dismissed them, and Billie and the other new arrivals found +themselves following the stiff back of Miss Dill through the corridor +and up a broad flight of steps.</p> + +<p>They met several girls on their way to the dormitory, and the latter +looked at them curiously. The girls learned a little later that these +students had spent the summer at Three Towers, although most of the +girls had gone home to relatives and friends and would not be back until +the next day.</p> + +<p>It was a rule at Three Towers Hall that the new students should report +the day before the year formally opened for the purpose of becoming +acquainted with the rules and regulations of the school.</p> + +<p>"Wasn't that a pretty girl?" Vi whispered to Billie, as Miss Ada Dill +opened the dormitory door and a lovely girl with very pink cheeks and +very black hair stopped for a word with the teacher and then hurried +past the girls on her way downstairs. "I wonder who she is."</p> + +<p>"If she's as nice as she is pretty," Billie whispered back, "she'll be +all right."</p> + +<p>Then they stepped into the long, many-windowed room and looked about +them curiously. There were beds, beds, beds and more beds. Everywhere +the girls looked they seemed to see nothing but beds. As a matter of +fact there were only ten of them, but the girls could have sworn there +were at least twice that number.</p> + +<p>"We can put five of you girls in here," Miss Dill said in a crisp, dry +tone, almost as if she resented having to say it at all. "Are there any +of you who would particularly like to be together?"</p> + +<p>Of course Billie spoke up for herself and Laura and Vi, and after +regarding her severely through her glasses for a moment, Miss Dill +finally assigned three beds at the further end of the room to the chums.</p> + +<p>"Then there is room for two more," Miss Dill said, and to the horror of +the chums Amanda Peabody came forward, holding Eliza Dilks by the hand.</p> + +<p>Laura uttered a little exclamation and seemed about to protest when +Billie pinched her arm and made her say "ouch" instead.</p> + +<p>"There's no use in saying anything," Billie whispered fiercely. "It +wouldn't do any good, and we'd only make more of an enemy of that—those +girls."</p> + +<p>They were relieved a little when they saw that "those girls" were +assigned to beds half way down the room so there would at least be a few +neutral girls in the beds between.</p> + +<p>"So if the rest of you will come with me," said Miss Dill, "I will give +you places in the other dormitories."</p> + +<p>Then she and the other girls went out into the hall, the door was shut, +and the chums were left alone in the big room with Amanda Peabody and +Eliza Dilks.</p> + +<p>The girls sank down upon their beds and looked about them curiously. +There was a little wash basin and a towel rack beside each snowy white +bed and on the towel rack hung several small towels with blue and white +borders.</p> + +<p>The beds were set at regular intervals down the long room, and the +spaces in between them were fitted out in such a manner as almost to +make a separate little room for each girl.</p> + +<p>Beside the wash basins, there was a dresser set at the foot of each +white bed and under each bed was a hamper for soiled clothes. Each girl +had a little table with a chair to match.</p> + +<p>The woodwork had been painted white and the walls were a grayish blue +color with several pretty pictures scattered about them to break the +bareness.</p> + +<p>"Why, the room's all blue and white," Billie suddenly discovered +delightedly. "Isn't that a lovely blue they've painted the wall? And the +snowy white woodwork! Oh, it's delicious!"</p> + +<p>"And just look at the view from this window!" cried Vi, beckoning to +them eagerly. As the girls looked over her shoulder they fairly gasped +with delight.</p> + +<p>Below them stretched the velvety lawn dotted with the darker green of +shrubbery, while away through the trees glimmered and gleamed the water +of Lake Molata. The day was warm for autumn, and a gentle breeze played +among the leaves of the great trees bordering the lake, coming to the +girls in a soft, rustling whisper. The picture was almost too perfect to +be true.</p> + +<p>"And she said," Billie murmured at last with a sigh of content, "that we +could have all the afternoon to become acquainted with Three Towers."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Laura, turning from the window, "but I guess she meant only +the inside of Three Towers. I don't believe they will allow us off the +grounds so soon."</p> + +<p>At that moment the door opened and the pretty girl that had passed them +in the hall entered and shut the door softly behind her. In the bright +light of the room she seemed even prettier than she had in the hall, but +there was something about her—Billie could hardly have told what, +perhaps it was the expression of her mouth—that made Billie +instinctively dislike her.</p> + +<p>The strange girl's eyes rested on Amanda and Eliza where they sat in +their corner, talking in whispers, and her lips curled disdainfully. +Then she came over to where Billie and her friends were standing.</p> + +<p>"Hello!" she said with a quick smile. "You're the new girls, I suppose, +and we might as well get acquainted right away. My name is Rose Belser, +and I'm from Brighting," mentioning a town several miles the other side +of North Bend.</p> + +<p>"We're awfully glad to know you," Billie answered, with her own +particular friendly smile. "I'm Beatrice Bradley, and these are my two +chums, Violet Farrington and Laura Jordon. We're from North Bend."</p> + +<p>"Glad to know you," said Rose Belser with a quick little nod of her +black head. Then she curled herself on the foot of Billie's bed and +proceeded to make herself at home.</p> + +<p>"I've been staying here for the summer," she told them. "It's an awful +place to spend the summer, you know. First time I ever did it, and I +never was so lonesome in my life."</p> + +<p>"Why, I'd love to spend the summer here," said Vi, thinking of the +beautiful country they had glimpsed and the lovely lake where one might +row or canoe to his heart's content. "The country's so pretty, and you +have the lake——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, the lake!" the girl interrupted impatiently. "And the country! I'm +tired to death of the lake and the country. I want to go to the city +where you can wear pretty clothes and go to parties and things."</p> + +<p>"But I should think you could wear pretty clothes here," said Billie, +wondering. "And as to parties—I thought you always could have parties +at boarding school——"</p> + +<p>"Maybe you can at some boarding schools," the girl interrupted again +with that same impatient toss of her head. "But those schools don't have +Dill Pickles for guardian angels."</p> + +<p>The girls looked at her as though she had gone crazy, and indeed for a +moment they thought she had. But Rose Belser gave a short little laugh +and went on to explain.</p> + +<p>"The Dill Pickles are two old-maid sisters. One of them brought you up +here——"</p> + +<p>"Miss Dill!" cried Billie, beginning to see light. "Oh, has she a +sister?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. And the sister is worse," said the girl, with a little grimace. +"They are Miss Ada and Miss Cora, and Miss Cora is the terror of the +Hall. If it weren't for Miss Walters——But say, you'd better hurry," +she interrupted herself suddenly and jumped to her feet. "It's almost +time for the lunch gong to ring, and if you're late for lunch, Miss Cora +will be furious. She has charge of the dining hall, you know. You'd +better wash and straighten your hair. Miss Cora looks you through with a +gimlet eye."</p> + +<p>She ran over to her wash basin, which happened to be the next one to +Billie's, and began to wash her hands vigorously.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear, we forgot all about lunch, and we must be a sight!" cried +Vi, pulling off her hat and excitedly patting her hair. "Girls, we +haven't any combs—our trunks haven't come up yet. Give me a comb, +somebody! Oh, here's one in my grip."</p> + +<p>"How strange," mocked Billie, dashing cold water on her face till it +shone rosily. "It almost seems to me I have one in mine also."</p> + +<p>"Well, you'd better get busy and use it," Violet retorted, drawing her +own comb through her heavy hair, "or you'll get in bad the very first +day. Oh, dear! there's the gong." She stopped with her comb in the air +and gazed in horror at the girls. As for Billie and Laura, they stood as +if they had suddenly become paralyzed.</p> + +<p>"If you'd start in time you'd be ready in time," said a nasal voice from +the other end of the room, and the girls glanced around quickly. They +had been so absorbed in their new experience that for a time they had +completely forgotten Amanda and Eliza. But now they turned just in time +to see the two girls leaving the room. As she shut the door behind her +Amanda gave it a defiant little slam.</p> + +<p>"Say, who's your friend?" asked Rose Belser, looking in astonishment at +the closed door. "She's pleasant, isn't she?"</p> + +<p>"They're neither of them friends of ours," said Billie, jerking her hair +angrily as though she wished it had been Amanda's hair instead. "They +just happen to come from the same town, that's all."</p> + +<p>"Never mind about Amanda, Billie," pleaded Violet, looking uneasily at +the door. "We're late——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't worry," interrupted Rose, giving a final pat to her black +hair. "That was only the first gong. The second one rings five minutes +later. There it goes now. Are you ready?"</p> + +<p>The girls were ready, and with quickly beating hearts they stepped out +into the corridor.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>A NEW ACQUAINTANCE</h3> + + +<p>"This way," said their new acquaintance, turning to the right and +starting for the stairs. "Now for the second of the Dill Pickles. Long +may she wave!" she added gaily.</p> + +<p>It was a new experience for Billie Bradley and for Laura and +Violet—that hour in the dining hall. The hall itself was an immense +room and seemed at first glance to be made up almost entirely of +windows. As Rose Belser afterward remarked to the girls, there was one +thing that no one at Three Towers Hall had to complain of, and that was +lack of light.</p> + +<p>Three tables stretched almost the entire length of the hall, and +although they all bore snowy cloths there was only one of them that was +really "set for action," as Laura said.</p> + +<p>Most of the girls had already assembled when the chums reached the +dining hall. They were standing around in little groups of two or three, +talking excitedly, and while the girls were hesitating which group to +join Miss Cora Dill swept into the room.</p> + +<p>"Now you'd better mind your Ps and Qs," Rose whispered to them, and the +girls regarded with interest the second of the Dill twin sisters who had +been called by the disrespectful name of the "Twin Dill Pickles."</p> + +<p>Miss Cora Dill was indeed Miss Ada's counter-part. There was the same +thin figure and straight back, the same black eyes and thin-lipped +mouth, the only difference being that where Miss Ada's hair was white, +Miss Cora's hair still retained some traces of its original brown color.</p> + +<p>"Goodness, I'm glad there's some way we can tell them apart," said +Billie to Laura in an under-tone. "If they were just exactly alike we'd +have to do with them the way they do with twin babies—tie a blue ribbon +on one and a pink ribbon on the other."</p> + +<p>The idea of tying a pink ribbon or any other kind of ribbon on the "Twin +Dill Pickles" was so ridiculous that the girls giggled aloud, thereby +causing Vi to nudge Billie sharply.</p> + +<p>"Sh-h," she whispered. "Her Highness is about to speak."</p> + +<p>Miss Cora carried some cards in her hands, and as the girls gathered +about her she asked them to answer when she called out their names.</p> + +<p>Although there were a hundred students in Three Towers Hall, there were +only half a dozen who, like pretty Rose Belser, had spent the summer at +the school.</p> + +<p>The rest of the girls were almost all from North Bend and the other +surrounding towns, although a few had come from a distance.</p> + +<p>When the girls had all reported present, Miss Cora gave them their seats +at the table and took her own place at the head of it.</p> + +<p>At first the girls were not at all sure whether they were supposed to +talk or not, for the presence of thin-lipped Miss Cora at the head of +the table threw rather a damper on both their enthusiasm and their +appetites.</p> + +<p>However, when Rose Belser leaned across several girls to say something +to Billie the rest of the girls took courage and a little murmur of +conversation traveled around the table.</p> + +<p>The lunch was a satisfying one, and the girls, beginning to recover from +their excitement and being really hungry from the long train trip, ate +heartily.</p> + +<p>But every once in a while, when the talk and laughter about the table +threatened to become too hilarious, the girls were conscious of Miss +Cora's voice reminding them that the table was the "place for +decorum—not for rioting."</p> + +<p>Billie and her chums were half way down the table, a fact for which they +were very thankful. Placed only two or three seats away from Miss Cora, +at the head of the table, was Nellie Bane. Nellie seemed to have struck +up a sudden friendship with one of the half dozen girls who had spent +the summer at the school, and the two were evidently having an +interesting conversation.</p> + +<p>Billie, catching Nellie's eye, telegraphed to her by means of the sign +language the wish to see her some time after lunch, and Nellie, in the +same language, agreed.</p> + +<p>At last lunch was over and the girls reluctantly left the table. But as +they were about to leave the room Miss Cora called them together again, +saying that she had something important to say to them.</p> + +<p>"You will each find a set of rules on your dresser," she said. "And +before you do anything else it will be well for each girl to become +thoroughly acquainted with them and the penalties for breaking them. +After to-day any departure from the rules will meet with the proper +punishment."</p> + +<p>"Anybody would think we were three years old," grumbled Laura, when they +were on their way back to the dormitories. "Goodness, I wonder who ever +let her in, anyway."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you'll soon get used to her," Rose assured them. She seemed to have +attached herself definitely to the girls, who, although they found her +amusing and interesting, would rather have been left to themselves on +this first day. "Everybody dislikes her at first—and Miss Ada, +too—but they only laugh at them after awhile. You see," she finished as +if the girls must understand, "we have Miss Walters."</p> + +<p>"Well, all I have to say," said Laura, whose temper had been +considerably ruffled by this second of the "Twin Dill Pickles," "is that +it's lucky Miss Walters and not Miss Cora is at the head of things."</p> + +<p>When the girls reached the dormitory they looked for the rules, found +them, and sat down eagerly to read them over together. First of all they +found that the dormitories, eleven in all, were lettered. The letter of +their dormitory was "C."</p> + +<p>There were the usual rules about late hours, going outside the grounds +without leave, neglecting to wear rubbers in the rain, all with the +usual penalties attached. But the one that most interested the girls was +the punishment given for keeping lights on after hours.</p> + +<p>"Three days without recreation and isolation in the dormitory for the +duration of that period," read Billie indignantly. "Goodness! I wonder +if all that happens to you if you keep your light on five minutes after +hours."</p> + +<p>"It does if Miss Cora or Miss Ada catches you," drawled Rose, from where +she was curled up again on the foot of the bed watching the girls with +lazy interest. "Some of the teachers are all right. There's Miss Harris, +and Miss Race the math teacher. If they catch you just a few minutes +over time they'll give you a lecture and let you off without reporting +it to Miss Walters. But if it's any of the others—look out, that's +all."</p> + +<p>A few minutes later Nellie Bane came in, bringing her new friend with +her, and for a little while the girls forgot all about rules and "Twin +Dill Pickles" and everything else and just had a good time.</p> + +<p>Nellie's new acquaintance was a small fluffy little blonde whom the +girls liked right away. Her name was Constance Danvers, called "Connie" +for short, and the name seemed to suit her exactly. Of course, she and +Rose Belser, having spent the preceding year together, knew each other +well, but Billie noticed that the two girls did not seem over friendly.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," she thought to herself, "but I'm going to like Connie +better than Rose."</p> + +<p>A little while later Rose suggested that she and Connie show the girls +about the Hall, to which the newcomers eagerly agreed.</p> + +<p>"I wonder," said Vi suddenly, as they were about to leave the room, +"what has become of Amanda and Eliza Dilks. They haven't been up here +since lunch."</p> + +<p>"Well, why should we care?" sang out Billie happily. "I only hope they +stay away."</p> + +<p>"Probably up to some mean tricks," said Laura gloomily.</p> + +<p>Connie and Rose were eager to hear more of Eliza and her friend, but the +chums could not be made to tell tales. The girls would have to find out +what Amanda was for themselves.</p> + +<p>"Only," thought Billie to herself, as they ran down the stairs, "I would +like to know where those two sneaks are and why they didn't come back to +the dormitory. I know they'll <i>try</i> to spoil all our fun, even if they +can't <i>do</i> it."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>LAKE MOLATA</h3> + + +<p>How the girls did enjoy the rest of that afternoon! Connie and Rose +showed them the classrooms and lecture rooms, told them little stories +about the different teachers and recounted funny incidents of school +life that made the girls bubble with laughter.</p> + +<p>All the rooms were high-ceilinged, many-windowed and cheerful, but it +was the lecture hall and gymnasium that the girls thought the most +attractive of all.</p> + +<p>The lecture room was on the third floor and was arranged in the shape of +a Roman circus, the seats in tiers all around the room with the lecture +platform in the center.</p> + +<p>"My, I won't even mind being lectured to in a room like this," said Vi, +in an awed little voice. "Do you have many lectures?"</p> + +<p>"Too many," drawled Rose, sinking down in one of the seats and spreading +out her ruffled dress carefully. The girls had been too excited to +notice the dress before, but now they saw it was much more elaborate +than any they had brought with them, except one or two apiece for party +wear.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if all the girls dress like that for every day," thought +Billie in a sort of panic, looking down at the pretty little brown cloth +dress she had thought so wonderful at home. She wondered if Vi and Laura +felt the same way.</p> + +<p>A little later they wandered downstairs to the gymnasium, and then all +thought of clothes was put in the background.</p> + +<p>Around the gymnasium were all sorts of swinging ladders and standing +ladders. There were punching bags and medicine balls; in fact, +everything calculated to make strong healthy women of the girls who came +to Three Towers Hall.</p> + +<p>There was a swimming pool, also, and over this the girls went into +raptures. They had had scarcely any opportunity to learn to swim in +North Bend, and although on their visits to New York they had never +failed—that is, in the summer time—to take a dip, or several of them, +in the Atlantic Ocean, they had never learned to swim more than a few +strokes at a time.</p> + +<p>"A swimming pool!" cried Billie. "I suppose we might have known we would +have one here. Now we can really learn to swim. I wonder," and so +interested had she been with her own affairs that this was the first +time she had even given the boys a thought, "if Chet and Teddy and Ferd +have a swimming pool at Boxton Academy."</p> + +<p>"Boxton Academy?" Rose took her up quickly, suddenly looking interested. +"Do you know any one who goes there?"</p> + +<p>"I should say we do," put in Laura proudly. "Billie's——"</p> + +<p>"Billie?" Connie interrupted, looking puzzled.</p> + +<p>"I'm 'Billie,'" Billie explained, with a laugh. "They call me 'Billie' +for short."</p> + +<p>"Never mind about that," Rose put in impatiently. "What were you saying +about the boys?"</p> + +<p>The girls looked at pretty, black-haired, pink-cheeked Rose, and Billie +realized suddenly why it was she had not altogether liked the girl.</p> + +<p>"She'll be friendly to almost any girl if she happens to like her +brother," she thought, and instinctively she glanced at Laura. The +latter must have had almost the same thought, for she gave Billie a +meaning glance.</p> + +<p>"You said they were at Boxton Academy," Rose insisted.</p> + +<p>"Tell us about them," said Connie. She was interested, but in an +entirely different sort of way.</p> + +<p>"Well, there's Billie's brother and mine and a chum of theirs, Ferd +Stowing. They came with us as far as Molata. Then they left us for the +Academy and we came on here. And we were having such a good time we +never thought about them," she finished penitently.</p> + +<p>The girls were eager to look about the grounds of Three Towers after +that, but Rose would not let them go till she had found out all about +the boys and their "life history," as Billie resentfully said later. +After that the girls noticed that she was even more friendly than she +had been before.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well," said Billie to herself, feeling strangely comforted by the +thought, "she won't have much of a chance to see the boys, anyway, +because we can only leave the grounds on special permission and they +won't be able to get away from the Academy to come here very often. I +suppose I'm an awful cat," she finished ruefully, "but I'm not going to +let her meet any of our boys if I can help it."</p> + +<p>A little later she forgot all about her irritation in the delight of +walking about the beautifully kept grounds of Three Towers and examining +the outside of the picturesque old building itself.</p> + +<p>The latter was even more beautiful than they had thought in their first +glimpse of it, with its rugged, ivy-grown walls and its +three-battlemented towers rising above the trees.</p> + +<p>"It looks almost like an old castle," cried Billie. "The kind you read +about in 'The Days of Chivalry.' All it needs is a——"</p> + +<p>"Moat," finished Laura excitedly. "I was just thinking that, Billie."</p> + +<p>"Yes, a moat would make it just perfect," sighed Violet, adding, with a +laugh: "Anyway, even if we haven't the moat, we have a lake."</p> + +<p>"Yes, let's go down and look at it," proposed Connie. "We've had +wonderful times on it all summer."</p> + +<p>"Doing what?" asked Laura eagerly. "Do they let you row on it—all by +yourselves?"</p> + +<p>"I should say not," answered Rose, with a little toss of her head. "You +have to learn to swim in the pool first so that if you upset your boat +you won't get drowned. It's their great boast that no girl has ever been +drowned at Three Towers."</p> + +<p>"Well, we don't want to start anything," said Billie, with a little +grimace, and the girls laughed.</p> + +<p>"Then," Rose went on, "after you learn to swim you have to take an +instructor out in the rowboat or canoe with you until she thinks you +know how to handle it like an expert."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by an instructor?" asked Vi. "One of the teachers?"</p> + +<p>"Sometimes it's a teacher," Connie spoke up. "But as a rule it's one of +the older girls in the first grade who teaches the younger ones. Miss +Walters said," and her fair face flushed with pleasure, "that perhaps +next semester I shall be appointed as instructor."</p> + +<p>"Oh, isn't that great?" cried Billie heartily, for she was beginning to +like Connie Danvers with all her heart. Then, too, she had noticed with +a feeling of relief that Connie was not dressed like Rose Belser. She +had on a pretty cloth dress very much like Billie's own. "And she didn't +seem crazy to know all about the boys," she added, with an added warmth +around her heart.</p> + +<p>"I wonder," she said aloud, "how long it will take us girls to learn to +become instructors."</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't know about the rest of us," spoke up Nellie Bane; "but I +know it won't take you very long, Billie. You were always the very first +to pick up anything."</p> + +<p>As with most of the rest of Billie's friends, Nellie shared the +conviction that Billie could do everything she tried to do just a little +bit better than any one else.</p> + +<p>"I should say so," Laura added loyally. "There's nothing that you can't +do, Billie."</p> + +<p>Billie flushed with pleasure and Rose Belser looked at her with new +interest. For if Rose was not the most popular girl at Three Towers she +certainly thought she was and the praise of Billie's friends started her +thinking. Could it be possible that here was a rival? But she shook her +dark head impatiently. If this Billie Bradley thought she could start +anything, why, she, Rose, would show her, that was all!</p> + +<p>And all the time Billie, who had no thought of what was going on in the +other girl's mind, was having the time of her life.</p> + +<p>"Look at all the canoes!" she cried. "And they actually have racks for +them."</p> + +<p>They had come down to a little dock that jutted out into the lake and +had been hidden from their view, or at least partly so, by the trees. +Now, as they came out upon it, they stood astonished and delighted by +the sight that met their eyes.</p> + +<p>There were half a dozen racks on the dock, each one constructed so as to +contain three canoes, one above the other, and every rack was full.</p> + +<p>The canoes were each neatly covered with a tarpaulin, but the tarpaulin, +drawn tight, revealed the long graceful outline of each beautiful little +boat, and the girls fairly ached to launch one of them upon the water.</p> + +<p>"And there are rowboats, too," cried Vi, making another discovery. "Lots +and lots of them! Look! Here they are—tied to the dock."</p> + +<p>Sure enough, there were fully a dozen gaily painted rowboats swaying +gently in the water on either side of the dock, sometimes straining a +little at the ropes that held them.</p> + +<p>"But who would row when they could canoe?" cried Billie, for in Billie +was a passion for canoes which Chet had always declared must have come +from her Indian ancestors. "I think rowboats are horribly clumsy."</p> + +<p>"Hardly anybody really likes to row," Connie answered, "but we have to +do it for the exercise, Miss Walters says there's no better exercise in +the world than rowing."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Billie, with a little laugh. "And no harder work, either."</p> + +<p>"Do you do much swimming in the lake?" asked Nellie, gazing down at her +reflection in the still water.</p> + +<p>"Oh, we can," Rose answered. "But no one likes it very much. They'd +rather do their swimming in the swimming pool. There's a mud bottom to +the lake, and the water, though it looks mighty nice, isn't good to +drink."</p> + +<p>While they were speaking two girls whom the chums remembered having seen +in the dining hall but did not know came down to the dock, and, after +waving to Rose and Connie, went to a rack and started to take down one +of the canoes.</p> + +<p>The girls watched rather wistfully while they slipped it from the rack, +removed the cover, and slid it into the smooth water.</p> + +<p>One girl with a skill born of experience jumped into the front seat of +the canoe, lifted one of the paddles and waited while her companion +settled herself in the stern seat. Then they glided from the dock +softly, almost silently but for the dip of the paddles in the water, and +drifted out toward the middle of the lake.</p> + +<p>"Oh, if we could only do that," sighed Billie, "I think I'd die happy."</p> + +<p>"Those girls are instructors," Connie explained. "They are in the first +grade and expect to graduate in the spring."</p> + +<p>"It's funny, I suppose," said Billie, dreamily gazing up at the blood +red sun that was slowly sinking in the western sky, "but I'm really +sorry for them."</p> + +<p>"Why?" they asked, surprised.</p> + +<p>"Because," said Billie soberly, "they have to graduate and leave Three +Towers!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>LIGHTS OUT</h3> + + +<p>The girls sat up till the very last minute that night, discussing the +absorbing happenings of the day. Rose left them to talk to some of the +other girls—a fact for which they were thankful—and Nellie and Connie +Danvers went to their dormitory, leaving the three chums alone at last.</p> + +<p>They had had supper, a meal not as good as lunch, for the meat had been +too crisp, almost burned in fact, and then they had come up to the +dormitory for a good time together.</p> + +<p>They were rather disgruntled to find that Amanda Peabody and Eliza Dilks +were there before them, but even that fact could not bother them +much—not to-night!</p> + +<p>"I tell you what let's do," said Billie, patting her brown curls into +place before her mirror and noticing with surprise how flushed her face +was and how her eyes sparkled. How could she know, being modest, that +not only her friends, but almost all the girls that had seen them +together, thought her even prettier than Rose Belser.</p> + +<p>"What?" asked Vi, sinking down on the edge of her bed with a sigh of +content. "I don't feel as if I wanted to do any more for years but just +sit here and talk things over."</p> + +<p>"Well, that's just what I was going to say," Billie answered, turning +away from the mirror and flinging herself on the bed beside her. "Only I +thought it would be more comfortable if we got into our nighties. It's +been a pretty warm day——"</p> + +<p>"Billie, you're a wonder," cried Laura, jumping up and fishing in her +bag for her nightgown. "When it comes to thinking you have it all over +us like a tent—as Teddy says," she added apologetically, and the girls +laughed at her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but there are our trunks!" cried Billie, suddenly remembering. +"Miss Walters said that we were to unpack our clothes and get everything +in shape before to-morrow, don't you remember?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, we remember," groaned Violet. "I don't think much of your idea +this time, Billie. Oh, well, I suppose if we must we've got to."</p> + +<p>So they opened the trunks, which had been brought up while they were out +in the afternoon, and in a very short time had their clothes all hung up +neatly in the wardrobes.</p> + +<p>Then, with a sigh of mingled content and weariness, they brought out +their nightgowns and began to undress, talking all the while.</p> + +<p>"Isn't Miss Walters lovely?" asked Billie, when she was at last curled +up happily on the foot of the bed with Vi at the head of it and Laura +stretched out full length with a pillow tucked beneath her head.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but aren't the 'Dill Pickles' horrid?" cried Laura. "It's lucky +they aren't at the head of things or I guess we'd have a mighty hard +time of it."</p> + +<p>"Well, maybe they aren't as bad as they look," said Violet.</p> + +<p>"Who was that other teacher that Connie said the girls all loved so?" +asked Billie. "I thought I'd remember her name. It was something like +Pace——"</p> + +<p>"Wasn't it Race?" asked Laura, and Billie clapped her hands.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's it. And Connie said the girls adored her next to Miss +Walters."</p> + +<p>"She's the math teacher, isn't she?" asked Violet, adding as the girls +nodded: "It's lucky for me she's nice, because I'm so awful in math a +mean one wouldn't have me in class more than a week."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but it's all perfectly glorious," said Billie softly. "Just think, +girls, if we hadn't found that darling old trunk we wouldn't have been +here—at least I wouldn't."</p> + +<p>"And if that man—What was it you and the boys called him?" Laura +paused and looked inquiringly at Billie.</p> + +<p>"The 'Codfish?'" asked Billie, guessing at what she meant.</p> + +<p>"Yes. And if the 'Codfish' hadn't got scared and dropped the trunk in +the middle of the road you would have lost it after all."</p> + +<p>"Yes," sighed Vi, "and that would have been worse than not finding it at +all."</p> + +<p>"The only thing that bothers me," said Billie, with a little frown, "is +that we didn't go after that man and get him. He may be a regular thief +for all we know, and if he is he ought to be in prison where he belongs. +Every once in a while," her voice lowered and she looked over her +shoulder nervously, "I dream about him, and when I do he always has a +mask or something over his eyes, but his codfish mouth is always there +sort of grinning at me——"</p> + +<p>"Billie!" cried Laura and Vi in the same voice, and Laura got up +suddenly, sat on her pillow, and regarded Billie with startled eyes.</p> + +<p>"But you never told us!" she said. "Have you—have you dreamed that +often?"</p> + +<p>"No, only once or twice," said Billie. "Just the same, I wish we could +have caught him. I always have a sort of feeling that if he robs anybody +else it will be our fault for not having had him arrested when we had +the chance. Of course, he may not be a regular thief at all. But, oh, +girls, he was an awful looking thing. And I feel sure some day I'll +meet him again."</p> + +<p>"You said he had red hair, didn't you?" asked Laura, a delicious little +thrill running up and down her spine. "And little eyes and that broad +codfishy mouth. Goodness! I wish I'd been with you when you chased him. +It must have been no end of fun."</p> + +<p>"Fun!" exclaimed Billie. "I should say it wasn't fun. Not when I was +afraid I was going to lose the trunk and everything. I was just scared +stiff."</p> + +<p>"But do you really think you'd know the man again if you saw him?" Laura +insisted.</p> + +<p>"Why, of course I would," said Billie. "Didn't I tell you I've dreamed +of him a couple of times—just as he is? I couldn't miss him."</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't it be fun," cried Laura eagerly, "if he should try to rob the +Hall or something and we caught him?"</p> + +<p>"Laura!" they cried, and Billie added with a shiver: "It might be your +idea of a good time, but it wouldn't be mine. I hope I'll never have to +see his old codfish mouth again."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know," said Laura, putting the pillow under her head and +lying down again. "Sometimes when I'm very brave I wish something really +exciting would happen—you know, a burglary or something. I'd just like +to see what I'd do."</p> + +<p>"Well, I know what I'd do——" Vi was beginning, when the "lights-out" +gong sounded through the hall and the girls scurried wildly for their +beds.</p> + +<p>Amanda and Eliza were already in theirs, and Rose, coming in at the last +minute, fairly flew into her nightgown and then scurried over to put out +the one remaining light.</p> + +<p>The room had been in silence and darkness for nearly five minutes when +suddenly Laura leaned over and whispered to Vi.</p> + +<p>"What would you do if a burglar got in?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"I'd just get under the covers," said Vi, "and die off fright!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>TOO MUCH TO EAT</h3> + + +<p>If any one had told the three girls that the second day would hold more +of excitement and pleasure than the first, they would not have believed +it. But so it was.</p> + +<p>Billie woke early that morning and found the sun shining gloriously +through the window. It took her a minute or two to realize just where +she was. Then she sat up in bed and looked across at her two sleeping +chums.</p> + +<p>Laura lay on her side, hugging her pillow, and Violet was flat on her +back, blissfully unconscious of the ray of sunshine that fell across her +face.</p> + +<p>Billie's glance traveled from them to Rose Belser, who looked as pretty +asleep as she did awake, and from her to Amanda Peabody and Eliza Dilks.</p> + +<p>She made a little grimace as she looked at them, for their straight, +stringy hair and pinched, freckled faces were a striking contrast to +Rose's prettiness.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I wish everybody'd get up," she thought. "It must be nearly seven +o'clock."</p> + +<p>Even as she spoke the first bell rang, and the sudden sharp noise +through the still Hall made her start up in bed. It roused the other +girls, and they yawned and stretched sleepily.</p> + +<p>"Goodness, is it time to get up already?" asked Laura, glaring at Billie +as if it were all her fault. "Why, I just this very minute got to +sleep."</p> + +<p>"You'd better stop talking and get up," Rose called to them, flinging +back her black hair and jumping to her feet. "We have only half an hour +to get ready for breakfast, and if you're late and haven't any +excuse—well, don't expect any sympathy from Miss Cora, that's all."</p> + +<p>The girls did not need any second hint to make them hurry, and full ten +minutes before the breakfast gong rang they were ready and waiting.</p> + +<p>There was great excitement in the dining hall, for this was the day when +the old students of Three Towers Hall were expected, and the girls who +had remained at the school for the summer vacation were eager to renew +old friendships.</p> + +<p>It was about ten o'clock when the girls began to pour in, and from then +on excitement and confusion reigned.</p> + +<p>"It makes you feel kind of lonesome," said Laura, with a sigh.</p> + +<p>"And the older girls look awfully dressed up and—and—stuck up," said +Vi, snuggling up to Billie as if for comfort. "Do you suppose they +really are, Billie—stuck up, I mean?"</p> + +<p>"I'm sure I don't know," said Billie, feeling a little nervous herself. +"For all we know," she added, with a chuckle, "we may look stuck up +ourselves."</p> + +<p>"Well, maybe we are," Laura giggled. "That's what Amanda is always +calling us, you know."</p> + +<p>"Oh, look," whispered Vi suddenly. "There's Rose Belser with one of the +new girls. I wonder who she is."</p> + +<p>The new girl in question was a nice looking, rather serious girl who +wore glasses and looked to the girls—so they said later—as if she +might really like to study. She was carrying a grip and had evidently +just arrived.</p> + +<p>While the girls watched, she and Rose turned and started in their +direction. For a minute Billie could have sworn Rose did not mean to +stop. However, she did stop, and rather reluctantly introduced the +stranger to them.</p> + +<p>"This is Caroline Brant," she said, adding as she turned to the strange +girl with a queer little smile: "These are some of the new girls who are +in our dorm, Caroline. Billie Bradley, Violet Farrington and Laura +Jordon."</p> + +<p>Caroline Brant shook hands and smiled a grave smile that seemed "just +made to go with her glasses," Laura said afterward. When the girl had +passed on with Rose toward the stairway, the chums had a queer sense of +comfort—as though they had found at least one good friend at Three +Towers Hall.</p> + +<p>Lunch came and went, and so absorbed were the girls in the fun and +excitement of meeting new girls and listening to stories of good times +had during the summer that dinner caught them before they knew it and +they found that the day was gone.</p> + +<p>Everybody went to bed early that night, for Miss Walters had sent around +an order that all lights should be out by nine o'clock sharp. The next +day the real work of the term was to begin, and she wanted all her girls +bright and fresh for the start.</p> + +<p>The next week would have been perfect for the girls, but for one thing. +They liked their classrooms, which occupied all the second and third +floors, they liked their studies, and they loved most of their +teachers—especially Miss Race, the mathematics teacher.</p> + +<p>But they soon found that what Rose Belser and Connie Danvers had said +about Miss Cora and Miss Ada Dill—the "Twin Dill Pickles," when nobody +was around—was terribly and awfully true.</p> + +<p>The Dill twins never seemed to miss an opportunity to make the girls +feel bad. They were sarcastic in class, and seemed to take real delight +in hurting the feelings of their pupils whenever it was possible.</p> + +<p>It was only a few days after the opening of the school year when Billie +had her first little set-to with Miss Cora Dill. The latter had just +finished calling the roll and had pushed the book from her. Then she +looked sharply at Billie.</p> + +<p>"Your name is Beatrice, is it not?" she asked in a tone as acid as her +dill pickle nickname.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Miss Dill," answered Billie, wondering nervously if there were +anything wrong about her name and miserably conscious that the eyes of +all the girls were upon her.</p> + +<p>"But the girls call you 'Billie,' do they not?" asked Miss Cora.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Billie again.</p> + +<p>"But 'Billie' is a boy's name," said Miss Cora tartly, boring Billie +through with her black eyes. "And it is extremely unladylike for a girl +to bear a boy's name. Extremely unladylike," she repeated, staring at +poor Billie, who was as red as a beet and filled with a wild desire to +run away and cry.</p> + +<p>She might have done it, too, at least the crying part, but a titter from +one of the girls in the back of the room saved her. She was no longer +afraid, only angry—horribly angry.</p> + +<p>So she just looked up in thin-lipped Miss Cora's face and said very +quietly: "I never thought about my name being unladylike, Miss Cora, and +I'm sure it hasn't made any difference with me. Mother says that it is +the way one acts that counts."</p> + +<p>"Well, see that you take care of your actions," retorted Miss Dill +tartly, and turning to one of the other girls called upon her for a +recitation.</p> + +<p>But it was Billie who had won the day. The girls knew it and Miss Cora +knew it, and this helped to make the latter feel in a still more +unkindly mood toward the girl with the "unladylike name."</p> + +<p>"I'll watch her," thought Miss Cora angrily. "She isn't the kind to be +trusted."</p> + +<p>Laura and Violet were furious, and when they returned to the dormitory +to prepare for lunch began to hatch all sorts of wild plans by which +they could "lay this one of the Dill Pickles low."</p> + +<p>"What's the excitement?" asked Rose, and Laura began heatedly to +describe what had happened in the schoolroom, while several of the other +girls gathered around.</p> + +<p>When she came to Billie's answer the girls looked pleased and one of +them clapped her hands.</p> + +<p>"Good for you, Billie Bradley!" cried a dark girl, joyfully. "You must +have given the Dill Pickle the surprise of her life."</p> + +<p>"She bearded the lion in his den, the Pickle in her Hall," quoted +another of the girls. "You know, I'd have given anything to have been +there."</p> + +<p>"And you a new girl, too," said another, looking at Billie with admiring +eyes.</p> + +<p>From that time on Billie became a noted figure among the hundred girls +at Three Towers Hall, and her fame and popularity grew in leaps and +bounds.</p> + +<p>Rose Belser viewed this new state of affairs calmly at first, then with +alarm, and later with dismay. That a new girl should come to Three +Towers and immediately begin to shoulder herself into the limelight was +unthinkable, impossible, it couldn't be done. And yet Billie Bradley was +doing it!</p> + +<p>After a while she began to draw away from Billie, look indifferent when +one of the girls spoke of her praisingly, slighted her in a hundred +little ways that Billie herself could hardy put her finger on. And yet +she felt it.</p> + +<p>Billie had one other constant enemy at Three Towers, and that was Miss +Cora. Miss Cora never missed a chance to humiliate her—or at least try +to humiliate her. But Billie was so happy and having such a wonderful +time that she never gave these attempts any more attention than she +would so many mosquito bites, thereby fanning Miss Cora's dislike of +her.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the two Miss Dills grew more and more sour and crabbed until +the girls began to wonder "why they didn't die of it." Then one noon +time Laura came running into the dormitory, her eyes big and round with +excitement.</p> + +<p>"What do you think?" she cried, while the girls gathered round her. "I +heard Miss Cora and Miss Ada talking together. I was in the lab and they +were in the hall and they didn't know I was anywhere around."</p> + +<p>"Well?" asked the girls impatiently as she paused for breath.</p> + +<p>"They were talking about our meals," Laura went on. "They said we got +altogether too much to eat."</p> + +<p>"Too much to eat!" echoed the girls, looking at one another wonderingly.</p> + +<p>"Why, we don't get any more than we want," said Billie.</p> + +<p>"What else did they say, Laura?" urged Vi.</p> + +<p>"That was about all." Laura had gone over to the wash basin and was +washing her hands hard as though to get some of her dislike of the "Dill +Pickles" out of her system. "I was so surprised I couldn't help hearing +a couple of sentences. Then I coughed and came out of the lab and they +looked as if they'd like to kill me. 'The girls are getting altogether +too much to eat,' said Miss Ada." Laura mimicked her to perfection. +"'Yes,' said Miss Cora, 'we must give them less—a good deal less.'"</p> + +<p>"Well, I'd just like to see them try it, that's all," said Billie, +adding with a sigh: "Thank goodness, we still have Miss Walters, anyway. +She won't let us quite starve to death!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>FOUR ENEMIES</h3> + + +<p>"Are we really going to have one, Billie Bradley? Oh, how wonderful!"</p> + +<p>Several weeks had passed, and this afternoon the five of them, Laura +Jordon, Vi, Nellie Bane, Connie Danvers and Billie, were sitting close +together at the very farthest end of Billie's dormitory talking over +some plans that made them feel delightfully like conspirators.</p> + +<p>"A real feast!" said Violet Farrington eagerly. "With sandwiches and +pickles and cake and—and—everything! Oh, Billie, who all are going to +be in the party?"</p> + +<p>"All the girls from Nellie's dorm, we four and Caroline Brant," Billie +said, in a voice scarcely above a whisper.</p> + +<p>"But I don't think Caroline will come," said Laura doubtfully. "You know +she would lots rather study than go to a party. That's her idea of a +good time."</p> + +<p>For although Caroline Brant had proved a good friend to the chums, +especially to Billie, they had tried in vain to draw her into their +little escapades. She was what the girls usually referred to scornfully +as "a grind," yet, strange to say, they all loved her.</p> + +<p>She willingly helped them with their lessons, had often coached some of +the more backward of them for tests, passing them when otherwise they +would have hopelessly flunked, and cheerfully helped them out of scrapes +when they needed help.</p> + +<p>So now it was not strange that Laura should expect her to refuse an +invitation to this new escapade—the most forbidden of all forbidden +escapades, the midnight feast.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm going to ask her, anyway," Billie said in answer to Laura's +objection. "The worst she can do is to say she won't come."</p> + +<p>"But you're going to ask Rose, aren't you?" Connie broke in, adding, as +Billie frowned and looked doubtful: "She'd never in the world forgive +you if you didn't."</p> + +<p>"Yes, we'll ask Rose," said Billie, after a minute's hesitation. "Here +she comes now," she added, as the door opened and Rose entered. "Come on +over here," she called, "I want to ask you something."</p> + +<p>She was just about to tell Rose the plans and invite her to the party +when the door opened again and Amanda entered with Eliza Dilks. Amanda +was never seen without Eliza trailing along in the background, and for +this reason the girls had nicknamed the latter, "The Shadow."</p> + +<p>By this time the girls at Three Towers Hall had learned to dislike the +two sneaks as much as the girls of North Bend disliked Amanda.</p> + +<p>Wherever anything was going on, especially of a secret nature, Amanda +and "The Shadow" were sure to be prying about, saying mean little +things, forcing the girls to move over to some other place where they +could be private for a little while.</p> + +<p>And now here they were again!</p> + +<p>"What do you want?" asked Rose, not noticing the two who had come in +after her. Rose's voice was not very pleasant, for she was beginning to +show her growing dislike of Billie openly.</p> + +<p>"Nothing just now," Billie answered, looking behind Rose to where Amanda +and "The Shadow" stood, apparently talking together, yet listening to +every word that was being said. "I'll tell you later."</p> + +<p>Amanda looked up and her mean little eyes twinkled angrily.</p> + +<p>"Don't mind us," she said. "If we're in the way, of course we'll get +out. Come on, Eliza," and with their noses in the air she and "The +Shadow" sailed out of the room.</p> + +<p>"Some day I'm going to kill 'em," said Laura, glaring ferociously at the +closed door.</p> + +<p>"Go on. What were you going to tell me?" drawled Rose, turning to the +mirror and eyeing her pretty reflection with satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"You'd better not say anything, Billie," Nellie Bane warned her. +"They're probably listening at the keyhole or something."</p> + +<p>"It must be horrid to hate everybody and have everybody hate you," mused +Connie, smoothing back her pretty hair.</p> + +<p>"But they seem to hate Billie most of all," said Vi. "I'm sure I don't +know why. It's because she's so popular, I suppose."</p> + +<p>Then to Rose, still fussing with her hair before the mirror, came the +dawn of an idea. It would be hard to do anything to hurt Billie herself, +for, whatever her faults, Rose was not a sneak. But she might make use +of Amanda——</p> + +<p>It was several days later—the day that had been set for the greatest of +all adventures, a midnight feast in the dormitory.</p> + +<p>It was Billie who had arranged it all, and although the feast itself was +by no means a new idea, she had thought up something to make it a little +more interesting and daring.</p> + +<p>Each girl had been instructed to learn some little piece or poem which +she was to recite on the great occasion. Some of the girls protested on +the ground that they were poor at memorizing, but Billie had been firm.</p> + +<p>"No recite, no eat," she had said; and so the girls, some joyfully, +some reluctantly, had set to work to learn their pieces.</p> + +<p>And Billie, full of energy and enthusiasm, had gone to work and got up a +regular program with the names of the girls and the recitations they +would give. Laura and Vi had helped her make duplicates of the program +so that there was one for each girl.</p> + +<p>And the strangest thing about the whole affair was that Caroline Brant, +junior student and grind, had agreed to make one of the party.</p> + +<p>Billie's chums called her a witch, for since Caroline Brant had come to +Three Towers Hall she had never been known to take a hand in one +adventure, no matter how harmless it may have been. And Rose, growing +more and more resentful as she saw even her most faithful followers +deserting her for Billie, became more sure that she would have to make +use of Amanda and "The Shadow."</p> + +<p>Neither Billie nor any of the other girls knew Caroline Brant's real +reason for accepting Billie's invitation. The fact was that Caroline had +fallen in love with Billie at first sight, perhaps because she was just +the opposite of Caroline herself, and had since become as fond of her as +if she had been her younger sister.</p> + +<p>But all the time, while she had seemed to be engrossed in her studies, +she had been keeping one eye on Billie, and with that one eye had seen +pretty nearly everything that had happened.</p> + +<p>She was as proud of Billie's growing popularity as if it had been +herself, but she knew Rose would never stand for the taking of her place +by any one. And that was what Billie was very surely doing.</p> + +<p>She knew that Amanda and Eliza disliked Billie and would do almost +anything to get her into trouble.</p> + +<p>And then there was that fourth enemy of Billie's, Miss Cora Dill. +Caroline knew that if Miss Cora were to catch Billie in any sort of +scrape she would never in the world give her the benefit of the doubt.</p> + +<p>And most of all, Caroline knew that Billie, with her imp of mischief, +would be the very last to try to keep out of a scrape, and that sooner +or later one of her four enemies would get just the proof she wanted to +take to Miss Walters.</p> + +<p>In that case, so great was her affection for Billie, Caroline had +desperately decided that she would go to Miss Walters herself and plead +for Billie.</p> + +<p>And all this, nobody seeing Caroline, quiet, reserved, studying +furiously for the mid-term examinations that were coming dangerously +near, would have guessed at. Nor would they have guessed that Caroline +was breaking her rule and going to Billie's party simply to keep Billie +from harm.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>BILLIE SNORES SUCCESSFULLY</h3> + + +<p>It was a wonder any of the girls could keep their minds on their lessons +that morning. As a matter of fact, they recited so poorly for Miss Ada +and Miss Cora that the two "Dill Pickles" turned sourer than ever and +threatened to report them to Miss Walters.</p> + +<p>But what did they care? The night was before them!</p> + +<p>Seven o'clock came, then eight o'clock, and then nine. The gong rang for +"lights out," and every girl was in bed and, apparently, sound asleep.</p> + +<p>But underneath the bed of each and every girl who was to be in the party +was a box or a basket filled to the brim with smuggled dainties.</p> + +<p>These containers held cold meat and pickles from the delicatessen shop +near by. There was jelly. Olives and biscuits and fancy cakes with +foolish icing on top were there—everything in fact that goes to the +making of a first class midnight feast.</p> + +<p>Miss Ada Dill, making her evening round of the dormitories to see that +all was well and every girl in her place, found nothing to arouse her +suspicions until she came to Billie's dormitory. Then she paused, +started to close the door, opened it again and stood still, intently +listening.</p> + +<p>And it was Billie who, in her eagerness not to be discovered, almost +gave the thing away. For Billie was snoring, gently but decidedly +snoring, and to Miss Ada's trained ear, the snore did not sound natural.</p> + +<p>So in she came, and Billie, watching out of the corner of one eye, felt +a panicky desire to pull the covers over her head and hide.</p> + +<p>Suppose Miss Ada should discover that five of the girls in dormitory "C" +were not undressed at all, but wore their nightgowns over their clothes?</p> + +<p>Suppose—but this was too awful even to imagine—Miss Ada should +discover those baskets under the beds. Billie shivered and almost gave +the thing away a second time.</p> + +<p>Miss Ada slowly made the rounds of the beds, scrutinizing each girl +sharply and passing them by one by one reluctantly until she came to +Billie's bed.</p> + +<p>Billie was still snoring gallantly—she did not know what else to do. If +she stopped now it would be a dead give away. And yet to keep on was +almost impossible.</p> + +<p>Poor little Billie! Afterward she could laugh at it, but at the time it +seemed nothing short of a nightmare. She knew that Laura and Vi and +Rose and Caroline were awake and waiting for the terrible moment when +Miss Ada should discover the conspiracy.</p> + +<p>If she could only keep on snoring for a minute longer! thought Billie +desperately. And then the unbelievable thing happened. Instead of +commanding her in no uncertain tones to get out of bed, Miss Ada +turned—slowly but surely turned—and marched out of the room.</p> + +<p>Not until the door was shut could Billie believe that she was really +safe. And not until she heard Miss Ada's footsteps die off down the hall +did she dare to stop snoring.</p> + +<p>Then she drew a long breath and stretched out arms cramped by lying so +long in the same position. And in the dark stillness of the dormitory +she heard four more sighs—distinct and very plaintive.</p> + +<p>For a full five minutes the girls lay still, hardly daring to breathe, +afraid that Miss Ada would change her mind and come back again.</p> + +<p>But as the minutes passed and nothing happened, their courage returned +and Billie began to feel jubilant. She must be a good actress indeed to +fool Miss Ada!</p> + +<p>And then——</p> + +<p>Five ghostly figures sat up in bed, pushed back the bed clothes, and +slid silently to the floor. Once on their feet they shed their +nightgowns and their dark dresses only made a blurr in the blackness of +the room.</p> + +<p>Still noiseless as mice, they drew out the precious baskets from under +the beds and crept over to where Billie was waiting for them.</p> + +<p>"Where do we go from here, girls?" said Laura in a hysterical whisper. +"Goodness, but I'm scared to death."</p> + +<p>"Keep quiet or you'll have something to be scared about," Billie +directed in a fierce little whisper. "Come on—I think the road's +clear."</p> + +<p>They tiptoed to the door, and Billie opened it cautiously and peeped +out. There was no one in sight, and she stepped out into the hall +quickly, motioning to the girls to follow her.</p> + +<p>Caroline, the last to leave the dormitory, stopped for a moment and +looked about at the sleeping girls. Then, satisfied that they were +really asleep and that none of them suspected the prank, she followed +the other girls out into the hall and closed the door carefully behind +her.</p> + +<p>They found their fellow conspirators in dormitory "F" already up and +stirring. The lights were lit, hampers were out on the table ready to be +opened, and the real fun of the party was commencing when the five +arrived.</p> + +<p>They were greeted with subdued enthusiasm, for no one dared to speak +above a whisper, and Connie demanded to know why Billie was late.</p> + +<p>"We couldn't do a thing without you," she said. "You had the program and +everything——"</p> + +<p>"And besides," finished Nellie, "we'd promised not to start anything +until you came."</p> + +<p>"We thought you'd been caught," Connie added reproachfully.</p> + +<p>"We were just about to put out the lights and get into bed ourselves," +chimed in another girl, "because we thought if you were caught, Miss Ada +would come over here and catch us too."</p> + +<p>"But what made you late?" asked Connie again.</p> + +<p>"If you'll stop talking and listen a minute," said Billie, her eyes +shining with excitement, "I'll tell you what a narrow escape we had."</p> + +<p>The girls gathered around eagerly while she told her story, and when she +had finished they gazed at her with horrified eyes.</p> + +<p>"Billie, what ever made you do such a thing?" cried Nellie. "Why, if you +had just kept still she probably would never have suspected a thing."</p> + +<p>"I know that now," said Billie ruefully. "It was a crazy thing to do, +but when I'd once started it I didn't dare stop."</p> + +<p>"Well, I think you deserve a gold medal," said Laura loyally. "If it had +been me——" this wasn't correct English, but Laura was too excited to +notice it—"I'd have giggled or something and given the whole thing +away."</p> + +<p>"Goodness! wouldn't Miss Ada be happy if she could really catch us at +something," said Nellie, but the girls would not listen to her.</p> + +<p>There wasn't a bit of danger. Weren't they going to have somebody at the +door to mount guard and to warn them of the slightest noise downstairs?</p> + +<p>They had decided to draw lots to see who should be chosen for this very +disagreeable position of guard and now they set to work at once to "get +the agony over with" as Rose Belser said.</p> + +<p>Rose had been very quiet, for her, and there was a queer expression in +her eyes when she looked at Billie that would have made the latter +wonder if she had had time to notice it. However, there was one girl who +did notice it, and that was Caroline Brant.</p> + +<p>Strangely enough, it was Rose who drew the blank that made her "guardian +of the portal" for the first twenty minutes. At the end of that time the +girls would draw again and let another poor unfortunate take her place.</p> + +<p>Rose was inclined to grumble at her hard luck at first, for she wanted +to be in the fun as much as any of the girls. But suddenly there came to +her an idea—a way that she might punish Billie for daring to become so +popular at Three Towers Hall.</p> + +<p>Of course, she could not hurt Billie without hurting all the rest of the +girls but—her lips shut tight and her eyes narrowed to slits—goodness +knew they deserved it. It was they who had helped to make Billie so +popular.</p> + +<p>The plan she had thought of was very easy. All she had to do was to slip +from dormitory "F" into her own, leaving both doors open a little so +that the light from one could shine into the other.</p> + +<p>Then, as she passed Amanda Peabody's cot, just a little jostling to +awaken her and the thing would be as good as done. Amanda, seeing the +light, would be sure to investigate, and, while she was gone, she, Rose, +could undress quickly, put on her gown, and slip into bed. Then when the +discovery came—and Rose knew Amanda well enough to be sure there would +be a discovery—she would be safe in bed and unsuspected. That is, +unless the girls should tell.</p> + +<p>She looked over her shoulder at the happy scene in dormitory "F," and +for a minute she felt guilty. Then one of the girls came over and put an +arm about Billie and her lips tightened again.</p> + +<p>Of course if the girls knew that she had been the one to give them away, +no one would have anything to do with her. She would probably have to +leave Three Towers Hall.</p> + +<p>But how would they know? She could tell them that she had slipped into +dormitory "C" to get a handkerchief—or something else, she could think +that up later—and while she was gone, Amanda had slipped out and given +the alarm. It was all very simple.</p> + +<p>She looked back into the room where the fun was in full swing and once +more her heart forsook her. It would be a dreadful thing for the girls. +They would probably be expelled from Three Towers.</p> + +<p>But here was her chance, if she was going to do it—and it might be her +only one. One of the girls was giving a whispered and funny recitation, +and the girls were doubled up with laughter, fairly holding on to +themselves to keep from making a noise.</p> + +<p>The look in Rose's eyes hardened. She forsook her post</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>A PLOT FAILS</h3> + + +<p>Caroline Brant had been watching from behind a pair of horn-rimmed +spectacles, although nobody, not even Rose, could have told it.</p> + +<p>She had seen Rose glance into the room, had noticed how queerly she had +looked at Billie, and now, as Rose started across the corridor, Caroline +was at her heels, quick as a cat.</p> + +<p>It was not till Rose's hand was on the knob of the door across the hall +that Caroline spoke.</p> + +<p>All she said was, "Where are you going?" in a quiet little whisper, but +Rose whirled upon her fiercely.</p> + +<p>"You're following me," she cried, almost forgetting to whisper in her +fury. "What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"You'd better not make so much noise," said Caroline calmly. "We'll have +Miss Ada or Miss Cora down upon us if you're not careful."</p> + +<p>"Miss Ada or Miss Cora," mimicked Rose, actually trembling with fear and +rage at being caught. "What do I care for Miss Ada or Miss Cora!"</p> + +<p>"Well, I care a lot, if you don't," retorted Caroline, urging the +excited girl back toward the lighted dormitory. "I don't know what +you're so mad about anyway," she added, as Rose glared at her. "Your +time for playing guard was up, and when I came over to tell you about it +I found you were gone."</p> + +<p>Caroline was fibbing—or, at least, partly so—but Rose had no way of +knowing that. What she did know was that she had made a goose of herself +for nothing, and all at once she hated Caroline more than she hated +Billie or any one else on earth.</p> + +<p>But she did not dare show it. The only thing for her to do was to try to +pass the thing off the best she could. So when they reached the door she +looked up at Caroline with the best smile she could manage and tried +hard to keep her voice steady.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry I spoke as I did," she said. "I was just going to slip into +the dorm and get a bottle of olives that fell under the bed. And when +you spoke to me so suddenly it frightened me—that's all."</p> + +<p>"It seems a pretty big chance to take—for a bottle of olives," said +Caroline gravely, and in spite of herself Rose flushed. Oh, how she +hated "grinds" that wore horn-rimmed spectacles!</p> + +<p>The two were greeted joyfully by the rest of the girls, who would never +know just how near they had been to discovery.</p> + +<p>"I guess the time's up for your watch, Rose," said Billie. "Come on, +let's draw lots and see who's the next."</p> + +<p>Laura made a dash for the glass bowl that served as a lottery but +Caroline interrupted her.</p> + +<p>"I'll stand watch for a while," she said, adding as the girls started to +protest: "It's hot in here and it's cool in the hall, and I need cooling +off. Will somebody hand me a sandwich once in a while?"</p> + +<p>"I'll say we will," they cried, and immediately began plying her with so +many sandwiches and pickles and biscuits that she laughingly protested.</p> + +<p>"And don't make too much noise," she said, as she started for the door. +"You know Miss Ada may be a little suspicious that there's something up +and come snooping around again."</p> + +<p>"Well, you know the signal," Billie whispered after her. "Scratch twice +on the door."</p> + +<p>Caroline nodded, glanced at Rose, and went out to her post, sandwiches, +pickles, biscuits and all.</p> + +<p>The rest of that evening was not very pleasant for either Caroline or +Rose. Caroline was wondering whether she ought to tell Billie and the +other girls that she had found Rose sneaking, yes, actually sneaking, +into the room across the hall when she should have been at her post.</p> + +<p>"Of course, I don't know that she was going to do anything wrong," she +kept telling herself, yet in her heart she knew that Rose had been up to +some mischief. "But it isn't fair to Billie not to say anything," she +worried. "I know Rose, and she's sure to try to get even some time, and +Billie ought to be told to look out." And all the time she was thinking, +her ears were strained for the slightest noise below stairs.</p> + +<p>As for Rose, she would have pleaded a headache, for by that time she +really had one, and gone to bed, if she had not been afraid of being +laughed at by the girls.</p> + +<p>And so she stayed on and on, trying to act as if nothing were the +matter, laughing and joking with the other girls, eating sandwiches and +cake till she was sick of the very sight of them, while all the time she +was wondering, wondering, what Caroline was going to do.</p> + +<p>"She can't really tell anything," she worried, while her head ached +harder and harder. "I didn't really <i>do</i> anything."</p> + +<p>But all the time she knew that just leaving her post at the door when so +much depended upon the girls not being discovered was a terrible thing +and one that the girls would find it hard to forgive should they find +her out.</p> + +<p>"If only Caroline doesn't say anything," she thought, adding spitefully: +"And now I suppose I've got to be nice to the old thing, whether I want +to or not."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the rest of the girls were having a gay time. Never had a +forbidden feast gone off so beautifully before, and they were in +hilarious spirits.</p> + +<p>As the hour hand of the little clock on Nellie's dresser crept near to +midnight the girls packed up the fragments of the feast, and, after they +had pushed the baskets out of sight under the beds, drew their chairs +together to form a semi-circle and began joyfully to tell the most +blood-curdling ghost stories they knew.</p> + +<p>Each girl had to tell some story she had read or heard, or if she was so +unfortunate as never to have read or heard any, was forced to make one +up "out of her own head."</p> + +<p>The fun waxed fast and furious, each story being more hair-raising than +the last until it came to Billie's turn.</p> + +<p>"But I don't know any ghost stories, and I'm no good at making them up," +she protested when the girls looked at her expectantly. "I like +adventure stories about treasure hunting and robbers and murderers and +things——"</p> + +<p>"Well, that'll do," said Laura joyfully, while the other girls shivered +delightedly and drew close together. "Tell us a murder story, Billie."</p> + +<p>Billie was about to open her mouth in protest when Vi suddenly made a +suggestion.</p> + +<p>"I've got the very thing," she cried. "Tell the girls about the +'Codfish,' Billie."</p> + +<p>"'The codfish'?" they repeated, looking puzzled, while Rose added with a +little yawn: "Yes, do tell us about the codfish, Billie—it sounds so +interesting."</p> + +<p>The tone more than the words made Billie angry, but before she had time +to retort the girls broke in, eagerly demanding the story of the +"Codfish."</p> + +<p>"We caught one one time on a family fishing trip," said one of the +girls, taking it for granted that this particular codfish was of the +swimming variety, "and we had fried codfish steaks for a week +afterward."</p> + +<p>Billie chuckled while Vi and Laura openly giggled.</p> + +<p>"But this wasn't that kind of a fish," said Billie. "It was a man."</p> + +<p>This was almost too much for the girls, who were beginning to think that +Billie and Laura and Vi had suddenly gone crazy, but Billie hurried on +to explain about the "Codfish," growing more and more interested in her +story as she went on.</p> + +<p>As for the girls, well, they simply hung on her words, and when she came +to the part where the thief had dropped her precious trunk in the +roadway they exclaimed so loudly that Caroline had to warn them to be +quiet. By this time the guard at the door had been removed, as there was +little danger of discovery at so late an hour.</p> + +<p>"Well," sighed Connie Danvers, when Billie had finished her story, "I +wish something like that would happen to me sometime. It sounds just +like a story book."</p> + +<p>"But you should have caught him," Nellie objected. Though Nellie had +heard of Billie's wonderful good fortune in finding the old trunk, she +had never heard the details of the part the "Codfish" had played in it +until to-night. "It gives me the shivers to think that an awful thing +like that, with red hair and a fishy mouth, should be wandering around +loose."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure I'll dream of him to-night," said one of the other girls +plaintively.</p> + +<p>"Speaking of dreams," said Billie, getting to her feet so quickly that +she almost upset the girl beside her, "don't you all think we'd better +get back to our dorm? It's after midnight, and—I'm awfully afraid of +Miss Ada."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm not—not after to-night," said Laura. "You surely did fool +the Pickle with your snoring, Billie."</p> + +<p>"Yes. But next time somebody else will have to do the snoring," said +Billie, with a rueful little smile.</p> + +<p>There followed whispered good-nights interspersed with giggles, and +finally the five girls from dormitory "C" tiptoed across the hall, and, +silent as mice, crept into their own room.</p> + +<p>Quickly they undressed and slipped into their white nightgowns, +listening breathlessly every once in a while for some sound that might +tell of discovery.</p> + +<p>None came, however; the big house was as silent as a tomb and Billie was +just about to slip into bed when she happened to look out of the window.</p> + +<p>The moon was bright, bathing the smooth lawn of Three Towers in a light +almost as bright as day, so that Billie could not have been mistaken in +what she saw.</p> + +<p>A man ran quickly, furtively, across the lawn and disappeared in the +shadow of the trees bordering the lake. Billie's heart amazingly skipped +a beat and then stood still.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>MYSTERY</h3> + + +<p>For several minutes Billie Bradley stood at the window straining her +eyes in the direction in which the man had disappeared, scarcely daring +to breathe.</p> + +<p>Then, when she was sure that whoever the fellow was he did not intend to +come back, she turned from the window with a little sigh of mingled +excitement and relief.</p> + +<p>It was only a sigh, but it sounded so loud in the stillness of the room +that it suddenly brought Billie to her senses.</p> + +<p>Shivering a little, she crept into bed and drew the covers up under her +chin. It would never do to be discovered by Miss Ada at this last +minute, and she certainly could not do any good by standing there +staring out of the window.</p> + +<p>Whoever the man was, he had gone now and would not return. But could she +be sure of that? Suppose he had been a thief—she shivered and drew the +covers over her head. In that case she should have roused Miss Ada and +told her the story.</p> + +<p>But then, Miss Ada's first question was sure to be, "How did you happen +to be standing by the window at twelve o'clock at night?"</p> + +<p>Then would come suspicion, a search, perhaps, and discovery. No, she +couldn't, she couldn't! But what had that man been doing?</p> + +<p>For more than an hour she lay, too excited to sleep, shivering at any +sudden sound, wondering—wondering. Toward morning she fell asleep, only +to dream of picnics where one did nothing but catch codfish and eat +them, of a strange man with a stooping figure, running across a lawn +bathed in moonlight.</p> + +<p>Luckily for the girls who had been at the party, there were other girls +in dormitory "C" who had gone to bed at the usual respectable +hour—Amanda Peabody and Eliza Dilks, for instance—and who, as usual, +heard the rising bell. If it had not been for them and the noise they +made Billie and the others of the five might have slept on till noon.</p> + +<p>As it was, they rose resentfully, finding it hard to get their eyes +open, looking for their clothes half-heartedly, grumbling at everything +and everybody.</p> + +<p>It was Billie, who had slept less than any of them, who whispered a +warning to them. She had seen Eliza and Amanda eyeing them suspiciously. +It would never do, after having managed the party so successfully, to +let the cat out of the bag after the affair was over.</p> + +<p>The argument appealed to the girls, and they woke up with a suddenness +almost more suspicious than their former sleepiness had been.</p> + +<p>It was not till noon that Billie found a chance to tell the girls what +she had seen from the dormitory window after the rest of them were in +bed.</p> + +<p>By that time the last evidence of last night's party had been cleared +away, and the girls were beginning to feel secure again.</p> + +<p>One by one they had run back to the dormitories between classes, made +the remnants of the feast into small paper bundles, and had smuggled +them down to the cellar and deposited them in the big box where all the +papers and other rubbish was kept until the man of all work about Three +Towers carted it off into the woods to be burnt up.</p> + +<p>So now, in hilarious spirits, they answered Billie's call and flung +themselves in various characteristic and joyful attitudes upon her bed.</p> + +<p>"Speak, woman, speak," Laura commanded her, stealing a chocolate from +Vi's sweater pocket. "What have you got to say for yourself?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, what do you mean by getting up such a disgraceful affair as +happened here last night?" added Nellie Bane in such an exact imitation +of Miss Ada's manner that the girls giggled delightedly.</p> + +<p>"Look out," cried Connie Danvers, in a whisper, for Amanda and the +"Shadow" had just come into the room. "If you are not careful our +wicked plot will yet be discovered."</p> + +<p>"What is it you wanted to say, Billie?" asked Caroline in her +matter-of-fact tone. "If it's anything very private, I guess we'd better +move."</p> + +<p>Caroline had been thinking about Rose and the happening of the night +before—thinking till her head ached—but she had not yet decided what +to do about it. As for Rose—her head ached, too—she knew what she was +going to do about it. Some way or other she was going to get even with +Billie! And Caroline, too, big snooping, spectacled thing!</p> + +<p>"It isn't a bit private," said Billie, looking so serious that the girls +suddenly became serious too. "It was about something I saw last night +after——" she was about to say "after the party," but as Amanda and her +"Shadow" had come dangerously near and were listening with all their +ears, she decided not to.</p> + +<p>"Well, what was it you saw?" the girls demanded impatiently, as she +hesitated.</p> + +<p>Billie lowered her voice and spoke hurriedly.</p> + +<p>"I saw him going across the lawn. He was running, and while I watched he +disappeared among the trees near the lake."</p> + +<p>"A man?" asked Vi while the others stared.</p> + +<p>"Of course," Billie nodded impatiently. "What did you think it was—a +grizzly bear?"</p> + +<p>"It might have bees from your description," Vi retorted, but right here +the girls broke in with a running fire of questions and Billie was kept +busy trying to answer them all at once.</p> + +<p>"But, Billie, why didn't you tell somebody?" Vi asked, but Laura crushed +her with a look.</p> + +<p>"Tell somebody?" she repeated scornfully. "How could she and give the +whole——"</p> + +<p>But this time it was Laura who suddenly came to a standstill, the reason +being a vicious little pinch from Billie in the fleshy part of her arm.</p> + +<p>"Hush!" she whispered fiercely while all the girls looked alarmed. +"Haven't you any sense at all?"</p> + +<p>And Laura, feeling very sheepish, did not even answer back. For Amanda +and the "Shadow" were still making excuses to hang around.</p> + +<p>"But, Billie, what are we going to do about it?" asked Connie nervously.</p> + +<p>"Yes, we don't want funny looking men wandering around our campus at +night," said Rose, lazily straightening a ruffle on her dress.</p> + +<p>"No, nor in the day time either," said Nellie, looking fierce.</p> + +<p>"Well, you all needn't look at me as if it were my fault," said Billie +plaintively. "I certainly didn't ask him to come and keep me awake all +the rest of the night."</p> + +<p>"But nobody's answered my question," Connie objected. "I want to know +what we're going to do about it."</p> + +<p>"Why, there's nothing to do about it," said Billie. "I suppose all we +can do is to wait till we see him again—if we do—and then tell Miss +Walters about it."</p> + +<p>At that moment the gong rang and hands flew to straightening hair and +belts and ruffles preparatory to starting the afternoon classes.</p> + +<p>"Well, all I have to say is," said Nellie as they turned toward the +door, "that I hope your strange man stays where he belongs, Billie, and +doesn't come back here."</p> + +<p>"So say we all of us," said Connie, adding with a shudder: "Ugh! Your +story about the 'Codfish' last night, Billie—and now this! It's enough +to scare a person to death."</p> + +<p>"There you go blaming me again," said Billie plaintively.</p> + +<p>In the weeks that followed the girls very nearly forgot about the +unknown man, who certainly had no business roaming around Three Towers +Hall after midnight.</p> + +<p>The only thing the chums did not like about the boarding school was the +Twin Dill Pickles. The latter were getting more and more +miserly—insisting that the girls were getting too much to eat and that +they should be allowed a great deal less liberty. In short, if the twin +teachers had had their way Three Towers might have been a prison instead +of a boarding school.</p> + +<p>"However," said Billie one day, after Miss Cora Dill had been unusually +unpleasant, "perhaps we need the Dill Pickles. If we didn't have them we +might be too happy."</p> + +<p>The girls from North Bend had now become fully settled at the school. +They had made a number of other friends, but so far their enemies seemed +to be confined to Amanda Peabody and her constant companion, Eliza +Dilks. Except Billie, that is, who added Miss Cora Dill and Rose Belser +to her enemy list. Amanda was becoming known as the sneak of the school, +but for this she did not seem to care.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't want such a reputation as that," said Laura one day.</p> + +<p>"Nor I, either," answered Billie.</p> + +<p>The boys from Boxton Military Academy had been over to see the girls +several times. Rules were very strict at Three Towers Hall, and if the +lads had not been related the boys could probably never have been +admitted at all. But Chet and Teddy could come in, and once or twice +they managed to smuggle poor Ferd along.</p> + +<p>"I wish we could go out for a row on the lake," remarked Billie one +evening, as she gazed at the moonlight on the water.</p> + +<p>Her wish was gratified the very next day. The boys invited them out, +having first obtained Miss Walters' consent to let them go.</p> + +<p>Rose Belser had looked and smiled her prettiest—and that was a good +deal—the first time she happened to meet the boys and girls together. +But as the boys were too much interested in the fun they were going to +have to take much notice of her, she had merely tossed her pretty black +head and sauntered off in the opposite direction.</p> + +<p>"Somehow or other I can't get next to that girl Rose," remarked Chet to +his sister, when the whole crowd was out on the lake.</p> + +<p>"Well, Rose is rather peculiar in some respects," answered Billie, not +caring to say too much.</p> + +<p>"What do you say to a race?" cried Teddy, after they had been rowing +around for a while.</p> + +<p>"Don't upset!" exclaimed Vi warningly.</p> + +<p>"No upsetting to-day, thank you," put in Ferd, who was in the crowd.</p> + +<p>The girls were quite willing that the boys should race, and away they +went up the lake for half a mile or more. Teddy was carrying Billie, +and, of course, he exerted himself to the utmost to win the race.</p> + +<p>"Here is where we put it all over you!" cried Chet, who was carrying +Laura.</p> + +<p>"This race belongs to me," panted Ferd, who had Vi as a passenger.</p> + +<p>A number of the boys and girls on the lake shore were watching the +contest, and wondering who would win. In the crowd, more out of +curiosity than anything else, were Amanda and Eliza.</p> + +<p>"Huh! I wouldn't care to be on the lake with those boys," snapped +Amanda. "First thing they know they'll upset."</p> + +<p>"They must be splashing water all over each other," was Eliza's comment.</p> + +<p>At first it was almost an even race, but gradually Chet and Teddy drew +ahead.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I guess it's going to be a tie," murmured Billie.</p> + +<p>"Not much!" gasped Teddy, and put on an extra spurt which soon sent him +quite a distance ahead.</p> + +<p>"Hurrah! We win!" shouted Billie triumphantly.</p> + +<p>"All right, I guess you do!" flung out her brother. "I guess I ate too +much for dinner. That's the reason I couldn't row so well," he explained +lamely.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear! I wish we got as much as that to eat," sighed Laura.</p> + +<p>The boat race had just come to a finish when those out on the lake heard +a cry from the shore. There seemed to be a great commotion among the +girls from Three Towers Hall.</p> + +<p>"We'll go back and see what's up," shouted Ferd, and those in the +rowboats lost no time in following the suggestion.</p> + +<p>They were still a hundred feet or more from the lake shore when they +saw what had happened. In their eagerness to see the finish of the race +Amanda Peabody and Eliza Dilks had ventured out on a soft bank, holding +to some low bushes for that purpose. Bushes and bank had given way +suddenly, and both girls had gone floundering into the water and mud up +to their waists. Now they had been pulled to safety, and their chums, +seeing that they were not hurt, set up a shout of laughter.</p> + +<p>"You are mean things, that's what you are!" cried Amanda, in vexation.</p> + +<p>"The meanest ever was!" echoed Eliza.</p> + +<p>And then the two dripping figures hurried for the friendly shelter of +the boarding school.</p> + +<p>"Gracious, what a happening!" was Vi's comment. And then she added +quickly: "But they deserved it."</p> + +<p>"They certainly did," responded Laura. "What a fine thing it would be if +they would leave this school."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h3>THE QUARREL</h3> + + +<p>There was a secret club among the girls at Three Towers Hall, and only +the students who stood first in their classes could be admitted to the +chosen circle.</p> + +<p>Also the girls who were lucky enough to be elected to the "Ghost Club," +for that was what the society was called, must be popular among their +fellow students. There was an unwritten law that membership in the club +should not exceed fifteen.</p> + +<p>Rose Belser was president of the club, while Connie Danvers and several +of the other girls with whom Billie and her chums were on the best of +terms, were fellow members. Caroline Brant had been asked to join but +had refused on the ground that the club took too much time from her +studies. It was a compliment to Caroline that, in spite of her refusal, +the girls—all except Rose Belser—liked her just the same.</p> + +<p>Billie and her chums had not been in Three Towers a week before they had +heard of the secret club—no one but the members themselves even knew +the name of it—and had realized how much all the girls longed to be +members of it.</p> + +<p>So when one day Connie came to Billie and whispered something in her +ear, it was no wonder that Billie's heart beat a little faster.</p> + +<p>But all Connie had really said was: "We want to see you and Laura and Vi +outside near the old maple tree at ten to-night. It's very important. +Don't keep us waiting!"</p> + +<p>And Billie, in a voice she tried hard to keep natural, said that they +would not keep her waiting. And when she imparted the mysterious message +to Laura and Vi they gaped at her, then pulled her down on a bench—it +was noon and they had come out for a bit of sunshine and fresh air +before the afternoon lessons—and showered her with questions.</p> + +<p>"But, Billie, didn't she say why she wanted to see us?" cried Laura.</p> + +<p>"And who wanted to see us?" added Vi.</p> + +<p>"I've told you just exactly what she said," Billie answered a little +impatiently, while her eyes shone with excitement. "She said it was very +important and not to keep them waiting."</p> + +<p>"I bet I know what it is," said Laura, almost afraid to put her hope +into words. "It's the secret society, Billie."</p> + +<p>"The secret society!" Vi repeated in an awed voice, while two girls who +were passing paused and looked at them curiously. "Oh, Laura, it +couldn't be! Billie, do you think it is?" She looked eagerly at Billie. +Then her gaze traveled on to the two curious girls who were still +lingering within earshot, and she sat up so straight that Billie and +Laura looked at her in surprise. As usual the loiterers were Amanda and +her "Shadow" and as they saw Vi's eyes upon them they smiled +unpleasantly.</p> + +<p>"Hello," said Amanda coming over to the girls while the "Shadow" +lingered behind. The latter was not quite as bold as Amanda—nor quite +as mean. "I heard you say something about the secret society. Are you +invited?" The last words were said with such a sneer and the grin on her +face was so aggravating that the girls felt their blood begin to boil.</p> + +<p>Billie jumped to her feet and faced Amanda, both hands clenched at her +sides.</p> + +<p>"We've stood just about as much as we're going to from you, Amanda," she +said, her eyes blazing. "You've done nothing, you and Eliza, but spy +upon us ever since we came to Three Towers, and I'll tell you right now +we're tired of it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you are!" said Amanda, her grin a little wider, while Laura and Vi, +alarmed at what they saw was going to be a real quarrel at last, got up +and stood beside Billie. Other girls who had come out on the campus +gathered around them curiously. "Well, what do you think you're going +to do about it?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know yet," said Billie, trembling with fury—for usually +good-natured, fun-loving Billie had a whirlwind of a temper when it was +roused. "But we'll make you stop your spying and mean tricks if we have +to try your stunt and go to Miss Walters about it."</p> + +<p>"What's this?" asked a cool pleasant voice behind them, and the girls +turned quickly to find Miss Walters looking on gravely. "What is it you +want to come to me about, Beatrice?"</p> + +<p>But Billie turned all colors of the rainbow and stood as if stricken +suddenly dumb. A minute before she had been furious. Now she was only +ashamed.</p> + +<p>How could she explain to Miss Walters without telling about Amanda? That +would be telling tales, and, in spite of her threat, that was the very +last thing Billie wanted or intended to do. Beneath Miss Walters' steady +gaze she hung her head.</p> + +<p>"Come, speak up, Beatrice," Miss Walters commanded, not unkindly, for, +like almost every one in Three Towers Hall, she had come to love +reckless, sweet-natured Billie, and even laughed at her pranks in +secret. "I've asked you a question, and my girls are in the habit of +answering me."</p> + +<p>"Please," said poor Billie without looking up, "I want to answer you, +Miss Walters, but I don't know how I can without t-telling tales."</p> + +<p>"Was there a quarrel?" questioned Miss Walters, her face still grave, +for she disliked that kind of thing. "If you can't tell me about it +without telling tales," here the faintest of smiles flitted across her +face, "I want you at least to tell me that you are no longer angry and +that a scene of this kind will never happen again. Here, Beatrice, shake +hands with Amanda and be friends again."</p> + +<p>Billie looked more startled at this than at anything that had happened +so far. Shake hands with Amanda? Pretend they were friends again? Why, +they never had been friends! Instinctively she put her hands behind her +back. Then she looked up at Miss Walters appealingly.</p> + +<p>"Please, Miss Walters," she said, "won't it be enough, if I tell you I'm +sorry I made a scene and that I'll never do it again? I won't, truly I +won't."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that will do," answered Miss Walters, her eyes really smiling now. +She was thinking that if she had had a daughter she would have liked her +to be like Billie. "Only remember, I have your word that it will never +happen again. Come now, it is almost time for afternoon class," and she +led the way back across the lawn.</p> + +<p>The girls followed in groups of two and three while Amanda and the +"Shadow" brought up the rear. There was a smile on Amanda's face, and +for the first time since she had come to Three Towers she was exultant. +She had succeeded in making Billie furious, had seen her called to +account—gently of course, altogether too gently, for "Billie was Miss +Walters' pet"—but called to account nevertheless and before a crowd of +her classmates. That ought to hold her for a while!</p> + +<p>As for Billie herself, and Laura and Vi, they were desperate.</p> + +<p>"You ought to have told Miss Walters about Amanda, Billie," Laura said +over and over again. "You shouldn't have let that little old sneak get +away with it. Did you see her smile when Miss Walters turned away? Oh, +if I could only give her what I want to give her!" Laura's hands clasped +and unclasped nervously as she talked and her eyes snapped.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's just what she was waiting for," said Vi, hardly less +furious than Laura. "If you only hadn't answered her, Billie. Had just +looked at her with your nose in the air and turned away. That makes her +mad enough to murder you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I know it, I know it," said Billie, still ashamed to look any one +in the face. She had broken one of the rules and had been reprimanded +for it by Miss Walters in public. There was no getting over that. If it +had been one of the "Dill Pickles" she would not have minded so much. +But Miss Walters!</p> + +<p>"Never mind," Vi whispered in her ear. "Miss Walters doesn't like Amanda +any more than we do, and she just scolded you because she had to. And I +know she liked the way you refused to tell tales. I saw it in the way +she looked at you."</p> + +<p>At this Billie brightened and glanced up hopefully.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm glad if there's something she can like about me," she +answered, and just then the gong echoing through the hall, sent them +scurrying to their classes.</p> + +<p>In the excitement of the scene with Amanda the girls had almost +forgotten their mysterious engagement for ten o'clock that evening. But +when they did think of it again it had the effect of making them forget +everything else.</p> + +<p>The afternoon dragged on, evening came with supper, and then at last +they were in the dormitory, pretending to undress with the other girls, +while they really left most of their clothing on.</p> + +<p>When everything was dark and the whole place seemingly asleep, they got +out of bed quietly, stole softly down the stairs, and finally came out +into the moonlit night.</p> + +<p>The old maple tree where they were to meet Connie was a magnificent old +giant which the girls had always admired, set back a little way in the +woods.</p> + +<p>The place had probably been picked out because nobody, happening to +look from the windows of Three Towers, would be able to see anything but +shadows and waving branches.</p> + +<p>When the girls, moving softly over twigs and branches, so as to make no +noise, finally came to the meeting place they were surprised and a +little alarmed to find no one there.</p> + +<p>The woods were dark and silent, save for the soft murmuring of the wind +among the trees.</p> + +<p>"Nobody's here," said Vi, glancing nervously over her shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Suppose nobody comes," whispered Laura. "Maybe it's all a joke."</p> + +<p>"Well, if it is," said Billie with a rueful little smile, "the joke is +on us."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h3>THE "CODFISH" AGAIN</h3> + + +<p>It seemed an age while Billie and Laura and Vi stood under the maple +tree before anything happened. It really was only about five minutes. +Then a sound was heard through the darkness. It was the cracking of a +twig.</p> + +<p>The girls started, and Billie, drawing some bushes aside, peered out in +the direction of the sound. What she saw made her draw in her breath +sharply and Laura and Vi drew closer, looking over her shoulder.</p> + +<p>Ten ghost-like figures were coming quickly toward them across the +moonlight-flooded lawn that surrounded Three Towers Hall.</p> + +<p>It looked as though each figure had draped itself from head to foot in a +flowing sheet with places for the eyes and nose and mouth rudely cut +out. The girls, watching in half-frightened silence, were reminded of +the "Ku-Klux Klan" of post Civil War days, which they had seen once or +twice in moving pictures.</p> + +<p>"Do you suppose it's the girls dressed up like that?" Laura whispered, +beginning to wish herself back in the security of her dormitory.</p> + +<p>"Of course. Who else could it be?" said Billie, trying to make her voice +sound natural when the skin on the back of her neck was beginning to +crawl. "For goodness sake, don't let them think you're scared, whatever +you do," she whispered fiercely, as the first of the white-draped +figures reached the woods. "That's probably just what they're trying to +do."</p> + +<p>The leader of the "ghosts," as they had already dubbed them in their +minds, came to a halt just a few feet in front of the chums, and her +followers drew up behind her.</p> + +<p>Then they stood there, motionless as the trees around them, looking at +Billie and Laura and Vi through those ghastly white masks until the +girls thought they must scream.</p> + +<p>They afterward found out that this was the "silence test," that unless +the girls passed this first test they were unworthy to belong to the +"Ghost Club." And passing the test consisted of doing what the girls +were doing now—although they did not know it—just standing still and +waiting for the head "ghost" to speak.</p> + +<p>And finally, when the girls felt that they could no longer stand it but +must dash out of the dark woods and away from the ghostly, motionless +figures, the "head ghost" spoke.</p> + +<p>"We have come," it said, "to ask you a question."</p> + +<p>There followed another silence, and Billie, not knowing just what was +expected of her, but wishing to be polite, said, rather weakly: "Yes, +ma'am."</p> + +<p>For a minute it looked as if the meeting would be broken up, for who +could be dignified and ghostly when addressed as "ma'am"? There was a +giggle from among the ghosts, and one or two of them began to double up +as if with silent laughter. But once again the head ghost lifted its +hand, or what looked more like a wing, under the sheet and her followers +straightened up.</p> + +<p>"And that question is," said the head ghost in a voice not quite so +solemn as before: "Do you believe in ghosts?"</p> + +<p>This was a poser. The girls never had believed in ghosts, but how could +they say so to this white-clad group. They had either to tell a fib or +offend their visitors. Billie, acting as spokesman, chose the fib.</p> + +<p>"We never used to," she said, and for the life of her she could not keep +the laughter out of her voice, "but I think we shall after to-night."</p> + +<p>"Ah," said the head ghost softly, and it seemed as if there were a +little stir in the group behind her. "Then come closer for I would ask +you yet one other question."</p> + +<p>Obediently the chums came closer,—although they would much rather have +stayed where they were—and the head ghost put her second question.</p> + +<p>"Listen," she said solemnly, lowering her voice at least two degrees +more. "Listen well, for it is a matter of great import. Would you be one +of us?"</p> + +<p>In the silence that followed the girls could almost hear their hearts +beat. This was the secret society to which every girl in Three Towers +longed to belong, and they, Billie, Laura, Vi, were being asked to join. +The last question of the head ghost could mean nothing else.</p> + +<p>They hesitated a moment, too dazed to answer, and the head ghost +repeated its request.</p> + +<p>"Would you be one of us?" it asked. "Answer quickly—yes or no?"</p> + +<p>Billie took a chance on her chums and took the plunge.</p> + +<p>"Yes!" she answered breathlessly.</p> + +<p>"Ah, 'tis well," came in solemn tones from the white mask of the leader. +Then she waved her arm toward the white-clad figures behind her and the +latter moved up till they were close to her.</p> + +<p>"You understand," said the leader then, "that one cannot change from a +human to a ghost in a minute. There are different stages to be gone +through. Spider!" She lifted her hand again and one of the girls +separated herself from the group and came forward. As she faced the +leader she shivered as if with a chill, raised her hands in the air, +and, still shivering horribly, lowered them to her sides again.</p> + +<p>The girls learned afterward that this was only a sort of salute which +every member of the "Ghost Club" was supposed to give its leader.</p> + +<p>But here at night, with the wind sighing through the trees, and weird +shadows all about, the thing looked so uncanny that once more the girls +had a wild desire to run away and hide.</p> + +<p>"What is it, your Ghostship?" asked the one addressed as Spider, and +although the voice was disguised the girls were sure it belonged to +Connie Danvers. They began to feel more at home.</p> + +<p>"Tell these humans," the head ghost ordered, "what they will have to go +through to be initiated into the Ghost Club. Come forward, one at a +time."</p> + +<p>"But would it not be better to show them?" asked Spider, and this time +the girls were sure it was Connie.</p> + +<p>"Show them, by all means," said the head ghost, and then the girls knew +they were in for it.</p> + +<p>They had heard of initiations before and what ridiculous things the +girls and boys who were lucky or unlucky enough to be initiated had to +go through with. But in every case they had heard of the clubs and +fraternities had been human ones. The initiation into a ghost club was +sure to be much worse.</p> + +<p>The leader of the ghost club raised her hand again, and three girls +sprang forward from the group behind her. Before the girls knew what was +happening to them they found their hands pinned behind them while huge +sheets were flung over their heads.</p> + +<p>The girls that were doing all this to them tied something that felt like +ropes around their waists, pulled the sheets into shape and the girls +found to their great relief that there were eye and nose and mouth holes +similar to those in the strange robes worn by the ghosts themselves.</p> + +<p>After that they went through strange and weird experiences that they +remembered in their dreams for a long time afterward.</p> + +<p>They were taught the "shiver salute," bandages were tied over their +eyes, or rather eye holes, and queer, slimy crawly things were pressed +into their hands.</p> + +<p>They were forced to swallow things that felt like particularly fat and +squirmy worms. It was no wonder that the stomachs of the girls +threatened to turn inside out. Several times they were on the point of +revolt, but always they choked back protests and did as they were told. +For to have come so near being members of the secret society of Three +Towers and then to lose out at the last minute because they had not +nerve enough to go through with the initiation, would have been real +tragedy. So they gritted their teeth and went ahead.</p> + +<p>At last it was over, the bandages were taken off their eyes, and they +were led before the head ghost to take the final oath of allegiance when +a strange thing happened.</p> + +<p>Billie, happening to glance through the trees to the bright patch of +lawn beyond, uttered a startled cry. For across that bright patch of +lawn a man was running, crouched and furtive.</p> + +<p>"Girls!" she cried, forgetting the club, forgetting everything but this +new and startling fact. "Look! Quick! Here, through the trees!"</p> + +<p>They crowded behind her, stirred by the note of excitement in her voice, +straining their eyes in the direction she had pointed out.</p> + +<p>The man was just about to enter the shelter of the woods when the +snapping of a twig under Laura's foot caused him to stop and look about +him, startled.</p> + +<p>In that brief second the moon shone full upon his face, and with a start +of sheer amazement Billie recognized him.</p> + +<p>"It's the 'Codfish'!" she cried. "Girls, it's the 'Codfish'!"</p> + +<p>"The Codfish?" they repeated in excitement, and Laura shook her arm +wildly.</p> + +<p>"Billie, are you sure?" she asked, then gave a gasp of amazement and +dismay.</p> + +<p>For Billie, forgetting how ridiculous she must look in her ghostly garb, +had started in pursuit.</p> + +<p>"She's crazy!" cried the "head ghost," speaking this time in the voice +of Rose Belser. "Some one go after her quick and get her back. Suppose +one of the Pickles should see her from the house!"</p> + +<p>But before she could finish Laura was racing like mad after her chum.</p> + +<p>Billie had stopped at the edge of the woods and was listening for some +sound that might tell her in what direction the man had disappeared.</p> + +<p>Laura grasped the sheet that enfolded Billie and tugged at it wildly.</p> + +<p>"Billie, come back, come back!" she cried. "We may be seen from the +house any minute."</p> + +<p>"But it was the 'Codfish,'" cried Billie wildly. "If I only had a—a +gun, or something!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but you haven't, and he probably has." Laura was dancing with +impatience, glancing now over her shoulder at the dark woods, now toward +the house, standing out boldly in the moonlight. "Billie, for goodness +sake, don't be so crazy. We can't do anything!"</p> + +<p>So Billie at last allowed herself to be dragged away. They found the +"ghosts" talking excitedly about what had happened. And every once in a +while a girl would glance nervously over her shoulder into the dark +shadows of the woods.</p> + +<p>"Goodness, he must be a regular robber," Connie said in an excited +whisper.</p> + +<p>"And to think it's Billie's 'Codfish', the man who stole her trunk!" +said another. "I'm scared to death!"</p> + +<p>"D-don't you t-think we'd better go back?" asked Vi, her teeth +chattering.</p> + +<p>"I guess so," agreed Connie, looking fearfully about her. "He may be in +the woods now. He may even be listening to what we say!"</p> + +<p>This was enough for the girls. Without even a backward glance they +scurried across the lawn like so many little white phantoms and in at +the side door of Three Towers Hall.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h3>ROBBED!</h3> + + +<p>For days the girls could think of little else than the initiation into +the "Ghost Club" and their startling meeting with the "Codfish." +Whenever they could get together between classes or at noon or before +they went to bed, these were the topics of conversation. And of these, +the "Codfish" held first place.</p> + +<p>"He must be a real burglar," Connie said during one of these gatherings.</p> + +<p>"Of course he was," said Rose, looking a little bored. "Respectable men +don't sneak around places at all hours of the night."</p> + +<p>"But what in the world did he want?" Laura asked wonderingly. "You +wouldn't think he'd come out from the woods at all—especially when +there's such a bright moon. He might be sure some one would see him."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know," said Billie thoughtfully. "He probably knows the +rules of Three Towers and that the girls are all supposed to be in bed +before ten o'clock, and I suppose he felt safe enough. We <i>should</i> have +been in bed, you know," she added, dimpling mischievously.</p> + +<p>"But I wonder what he was sneaking around Three Towers for," Laura went +on, unwilling to change the subject. For to Laura, mysteries were the +very breath of life.</p> + +<p>"Maybe he's waiting for a chance to rob us," said Vi in an awed little +voice, and the girls shuddered.</p> + +<p>"Well, I hope he changes his mind," said Nellie Bane anxiously. "I never +did like burglars very much."</p> + +<p>But as the days went by and nothing further happened, the mystery of the +"Codfish" was pushed a little into the background.</p> + +<p>In the first place, the chums were having the time of their lives in the +"Ghost Club," and proud as could be of having been chosen for +membership.</p> + +<p>The only one who was not particularly happy was Rose Belser. Of course +she had not wanted the girls in the club at first. But the rest of the +club did want them, and she was afraid that if she was the only one who +voted against them it would make her unpopular with the rest.</p> + +<p>Then, too, she reasoned with herself, if she hoped to get even with +Billie, the only thing was to have her around until she saw her chance.</p> + +<p>And all the time the "Twin Dill Pickles" were getting so obnoxious that +more than once the girls were upon the point of revolt. From day to day +it was only Miss Race, the mathematics teacher, who stood between them +and open rebellion.</p> + +<p>For Miss Race was a staunch friend of the girls, and in her heart +disliked Miss Ada and Miss Cora as much as they did. Whenever things got +a little bit too bad, Miss Race would have a secret conversation with +Miss Walters, who in her turn would have a little talk with the two Miss +Dills. Then for the space of a day or two the girls would have +comparative comfort.</p> + +<p>However, in spite of all efforts on the part of Miss Race, conditions +were steadily growing worse for the girls.</p> + +<p>Things went on very much the same, without much change one way or +another, while autumn merged into winter and the snow began to fly.</p> + +<p>There was a good deal of snow the early part of that winter, and +sledding parties became more and more frequent. There was a splendid +hill for coasting near Three Towers, and here the girls gathered almost +every afternoon after classes.</p> + +<p>Sometimes, very often in fact, there were boys, too, brothers and +friends of the girls, boys who attended Boxton Military Academy. It was +great sport, even more thrilling than rowing or canoeing had been, so +that when Lake Molata froze over the girls were joyful at the prospect +of more fun. There would be skating, and Billie Bradley and her two +especial friends were splendid skaters.</p> + +<p>Before long the lake was full of joyful, shouting boys and girls +whenever the weather was fine. And as for Chet and Teddy and Ferd, they +walked the mile from Boxton Academy almost every afternoon.</p> + +<p>"Let's have a race," Billie suggested one day, skating up to a group of +her chums. Her cheeks were rosy with wind and exercise, and her brown +hair had escaped in little curling strands about her ears.</p> + +<p>Teddy, looking up at her, thought that she looked like the picture of a +girl on a magazine cover that he had seen not so very long before.</p> + +<p>"All right," he said, doing a fancy step on the ice that almost landed +him on his nose. "Shall we take partners? Yes we shall. Billie, will you +be mine?"</p> + +<p>The rest of the girls giggled—all but Rose, who had taken a great +liking to handsome Teddy and did not at all fancy the way he always +singled out Billie, "the little cat"—and Billie made a face at Teddy.</p> + +<p>"I'll think about it," she teased, then drew the boys and girls around +her while she outlined the course of the race. "Now," she said, "we'll +skate straight ahead till we come to where the lake takes that sudden +bend. Then we'll double, and whoever passes the big maple tree first +will win. Who's going in this race?"</p> + +<p>It seemed that nearly everybody wanted to—everybody who could get a +partner, that is—and in a minute or two a score of merry young figures +were flying over the ice in a gallant effort to make the turn and get +back to the old maple first.</p> + +<p>It was a pretty scene, at least Caroline Brant thought so. But Rose +Belser, sitting close beside her, scraping her skates along the ice +until she made two ugly little ridges in it, did not agree with her.</p> + +<p>There was Billie, taking the center of the stage again as usual, and +there was Caroline looking after her with a smile. Well, Caroline could +smile. She had never been the most popular girl at Three Towers, +although most of the girls did like her, at that. Billie wasn't taking +<i>her</i> place. And she dug still more viciously at the ice.</p> + +<p>"Better not do that," said Caroline, bringing her eyes back from the +flying figures and looking at the ugly ridges Rose had made. "Somebody's +apt to tumble over them and get hurt."</p> + +<p>"I wish they would," said Rose savagely, then added with a mean little +smile that suddenly reminded Caroline of Amanda Peabody: "I suppose +Billie would like to fall so that Teddy Jordon would have a chance to +pick her up."</p> + +<p>"Rose, stop saying such things!" Caroline said. But further speech was +prevented when a girl's voice hailed them excitedly. They turned to see +Nellie Bane running toward them at full speed.</p> + +<p>"Girls, the most awful thing has happened!" she panted when she came +within speaking distance. "Miss Race was coming home from town a few +minutes ago, and suddenly a man stepped out from the bushes near the +road and held her up."</p> + +<p>"Held her up!" they gasped, and Caroline added sharply:</p> + +<p>"Do you mean she was robbed?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Nellie, still panting and with eyes wide with excitement +"And from what she said, I'm sure it was the 'Codfish.'"</p> + +<p>At that minute the skaters sped down upon them, Teddy and Billie winning +triumphantly by about a yard. Caroline skated over to them, calling her +story as she went. It was a minute or two before she could make them +understand.</p> + +<p>"You say one of the teachers was robbed?" asked Ferd.</p> + +<p>Then Caroline told the story all over again, while Nellie shouted to +them from the shore—for Nellie had on no skates and did not dare +venture out on the ice without them. Before she had finished the boys +were tearing wildly for the bank with the girls close behind them.</p> + +<p>There they sat down and tore their skates off, asking questions all the +while.</p> + +<p>"Did you say it was just the other side of the gate?" Chet asked. "Say, +if we hurry, fellows, we may have a chance to find him. Who would ever +have thought of that old Codfish turning up again?"</p> + +<p>"Don't talk—work," cried Teddy, getting rid of his skates and stamping +his numbed feet to get the blood back into them. "We missed that fellow +once before, and we're not going to miss him again if we can help it. +Ready, fellows?"</p> + +<p>"You bet!" Ferd and Chet cried, and the three were off on a run, the +first of the boys to start. Behind them the girls were still fumbling +with numbed fingers at their skates.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<h3>CHET PLAYS THE HERO</h3> + + +<p>The boys stopped at the gate of Three Towers Hall, not knowing just what +to do next. All they knew was that Miss Race had been held up and robbed +only a few hundred feet from the gate and that the robber had +disappeared in the bushes at the left-hand side of the road.</p> + +<p>"We'll have to spread out," Teddy said in an excited voice. "Probably +the fellow doesn't expect to be followed, because he thinks there are +only women and girls around Three Towers and he's probably around near +here somewhere counting over his loot.</p> + +<p>"There are five of us," he went on quickly, noticing that two more boys +had come up from the lake on a run. "And if we go in the woods one at a +time and circle about we ought to find the thief."</p> + +<p>"Don't you think we'd better get Miss Race?" asked Chet eagerly. "She'd +be able to show us just where the fellow disappeared, and everything."</p> + +<p>"But it will take too long," Ferd was objecting, when Miss Race +herself, with two or three of the other teachers and Miss Walters, came +hurrying toward them.</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do, boys?" asked Miss Walters, looking worried.</p> + +<p>The boys explained quickly, and Teddy, turning eagerly to Miss Race, +asked her to go with them as far as the woods and point out the place +where the thief had disappeared.</p> + +<p>Miss Race was still white from her fright. But she was angry, too, for +the pocketbook she had lost contained a good deal of money.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'll go," she said, then added, turning quickly to her principal: +"That is, if you don't mind, Miss Walters."</p> + +<p>Miss Walters still looked troubled, but she shook her head slowly.</p> + +<p>"I think it will be all right," she said, adding as the boys started +eagerly off: "Only be careful, boys, and don't get hurt. The man may be +desperate if he finds himself cornered."</p> + +<p>The girls started to follow the boys, but Miss Walters checked them.</p> + +<p>"You can't help," she said when they looked at her reproachfully. "And +since I'm responsible for you, you will stay right here."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the boys and Miss Race were running down the road. Yes, even +Miss Race, who was never <i>very</i> dignified, was running.</p> + +<p>Suddenly they came to a trampled place in the road, showing that some +struggle had taken place there.</p> + +<p>"It was right here," said Miss Race, her eyes black with excitement. +"And he ran across the road and disappeared in that thick mass of +bushes. Then he covered me with his gun and told me to 'beat it while +the beating was good.'"</p> + +<p>"The rat!" cried Chet indignantly. "Come on, fellows! I want to get my +hands on that rascal."</p> + +<p>Eagerly the boys started for the woods, but Teddy turned back suddenly +and called to Miss Race.</p> + +<p>"You'd better go back now," he said, and Miss Race's eyes twinkled at +his grown-up tone. "There isn't anything more you can do, and if there +are any bullets flying around we don't want you to get them. Please," he +added impatiently, as she did not move.</p> + +<p>"No, I'm going to stay right here," she answered him firmly, and when +Miss Race spoke in that tone everybody knew that she meant what she +said. "Go along, but don't take too many risks. Remember the man is +armed."</p> + +<p>So Teddy disappeared after his comrades and Miss Race waited nervously +in the road, expecting she hardly knew what.</p> + +<p>It seemed a long time that she stood there, dreading any moment to hear +a shot, blaming herself for sending the boys on such a hunt.</p> + +<p>"I'd rather lose a hundred pocketbooks," she scolded herself, "than have +a finger of one of those boys hurt. I wish I hadn't said anything about +it."</p> + +<p>As for the boys, they were beginning to despair of ever finding the +thief and were calling themselves all sorts of names for ever thinking +they would, when suddenly Chet walked out of the woods and almost upon +him.</p> + +<p>It was so sudden that the boy almost yelled in his surprise, but all he +really did was clap his hand over his mouth and stare. For he had come +so softly that the man had not even heard him.</p> + +<p>He was crouched over something that Chet could not see—probably the +stolen pocketbook. His revolver lay beside him on the ground, close to +his right hand.</p> + +<p>With his heart in his mouth—for after all, with all his courage, he was +only a boy and the robber was a man, and armed at that—Chet crept +forward, fearful each second of stepping on a twig and giving his +presence away.</p> + +<p>Nearer and nearer he crept, hardly daring to breathe, until he was right +behind the thief and the revolver was almost under his feet.</p> + +<p>Then with a motion as quick as a cat's, he stooped and caught tip the +revolver. The next moment he stepped quickly back and covered the thief +with it.</p> + +<p>"Hands up!" he cried. "Quick there, before I shoot!"</p> + +<p>So sudden, so noiseless, had been his action that the thief was taken +completely by surprise. With an exclamation he reached his hand out for +his revolver, then, not finding it, stumbled to his feet.</p> + +<p>"Hands up!" cried Chet sharply. "Quick, now. This blamed thing might go +off."</p> + +<p>The man's hands went up, but he still kept his back to Chet, his little +furtive eyes glancing about for a means of escape.</p> + +<p>"Turn around," Chet commanded, then as the man did not move he clicked +the trigger meaningly. "Say, I think you want to taste the lead in this +thing," he added, and there was something in his tone, boyish though it +was, that made the man turn quickly.</p> + +<p>Chet uttered a gasp of recognition.</p> + +<p>"So it <i>is</i> you," he said. "I thought it was all the time, but I +couldn't be sure till I'd seen the color of your eyes. So you're really +the 'Codfish.' Please to meet you, old man."</p> + +<p>"Say, cut that out," snarled the "Codfish," making as though to spring +upon Chet, but the latter waved his pistol and the man evidently changed +his mind, for he stood where he was, hands above his head, eyes glaring.</p> + +<p>"And so there's the pocketbook and the nice fat roll of money you just +stole from the Three Towers teacher," Chet went on, his glance shifting +from the man to the pocketbook with the money stuffed hastily in it +where the man had left it on the ground. "You thought it was easy, +didn't you? Well, you didn't know you had me to reckon with." Chet was +boy enough to want to strut a little. Never before had he had a chance +to play the real hero. He probably never would have again, so he wanted +to make the most of this.</p> + +<p>"You little puppy!" the man spat out at him. "You think you can get the +best of me, don't you? Let me tell you, no kid can do that."</p> + +<p>He made a sudden lunge forward, and Chet, taken by surprise, stepped +backward, caught his foot in a root and stumbled a little.</p> + +<p>He recovered himself in a minute, but in that little space of time the +"Codfish" had gone, disappeared as if the earth had swallowed him up.</p> + +<p>Then Chet went mad. To have had the thief and then to lose him! He +started off wildly into the woods, but his foot struck against +something, and, looking down, he saw the pocketbook with the money still +in it.</p> + +<p>He picked it up, feeling that he had partly played the hero anyway, for +if he had not caught the thief, he had at least recovered the money.</p> + +<p>Then he started off on his hunt again, and this time almost stepped +into the arms of Ferd and Teddy.</p> + +<p>"Say, what's the row?" the former yelled at him. "We heard the talking, +and thought we'd have a look—say, stop pointing that thing at me, will +you?"</p> + +<p>"Then get out of my way," yelled Chet, his mind on only one thing. He +must catch the "Codfish." "I'm after the thief, I tell you! Get out of +my way!"</p> + +<p>"Say, has he gone crazy?" asked Teddy. Then his eyes fell on the +pocketbook that Chet was still holding tight in his hands.</p> + +<p>"He got the money! Say, Ferd, he got the money! Chet you're some hero. +Where's the thief?"</p> + +<p>By this time Chet knew he had no chance of catching the "Codfish," who, +now that he was discovered, was probably running into hiding as fast as +he could, so he turned back with the boys and began excitedly to tell +them what had happened.</p> + +<p>"And you really had him and you let him go again!" cried Ferd in +disgust. "Well, you poor old fish!"</p> + +<p>"I got the money, anyway, didn't I?" Chet defended himself, adding in a +superior tone: "It's more than any of you did, I guess."</p> + +<p>"You're some boy, Chet," Teddy repeated heartily. "Come on and let's +tell the good news to Miss Race. Make believe she won't be glad to see +her wealth again."</p> + +<p>"Where are the other fellows?" Chet asked, as they started back.</p> + +<p>"Oh, they'll be along soon," said Ferd indifferently. "When they can't +find old 'Codfish' they'll come wandering back again."</p> + +<p>"I wonder if Miss Race has waited," said Teddy, adding as he came near +the roadway: "Yes, there she is, looking pretty white and scared, too."</p> + +<p>As they clumped through the heavy bushes Ferd looked at Chet gloomily.</p> + +<p>"Say, make believe I don't envy you, you lucky dog," he said slangily. +"Gosh, all the girls will be wanting to skate with you and everything +now."</p> + +<p>"Sure! Well be left out in the cold," added Teddy mournfully.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<h3>RAIDING THE PANTRY</h3> + + +<p>As a matter of fact, Teddy and Ferd and all the other boys, too, were +left out in the cold more than even they had expected.</p> + +<p>Miss Race greeted rapturously the return of her money. And as for the +girls—well, they hung around Chet, showering him with questions and +praise until it was really a wonder they did not spoil him entirely.</p> + +<p>But when the first excitement was over, the boys had gone home, and +everything was quiet again, they could not help feeling sorry that Chet +had not kept the Codfish when he had him. And Miss Walters, though she +said nothing to the girls, was more worried than any of them.</p> + +<p>"Why, we'll be afraid to go out at all after dark," Billie said, +wide-eyed and excited.</p> + +<p>"And I'm sure I'll dream of him every night," Laura added with a +shudder.</p> + +<p>But as the days went by the girls found other things to worry about than +the Codfish. They were having more and more trouble with Miss Ada and +Miss Cora. Then one day there came news that brought the whole matter to +a head.</p> + +<p>Miss Walters had received a telegram calling her away suddenly and had +no way of knowing just when she would be back.</p> + +<p>And in the meantime—this part of the news the girls received in +horror-stricken silence—Miss Ada Dill and Miss Cora Dill were to be +left in entire charge of Three Towers Hall.</p> + +<p>It was nothing less than tragedy to the girls, for they knew that now at +last the "Dill Pickles" had their chance. And they knew, too, that Miss +Ada and Miss Cora would make the most of it.</p> + +<p>The day came when Miss Walters left, and the girls watched her go with +puckered brows and stormy eyes.</p> + +<p>"The meals have been bad enough, goodness knows," Laura grumbled, as +they gathered up their books for the first class. "But now I suppose we +won't get anything to eat."</p> + +<p>"We'll just be prisoners, that's all," said Billie, her eyes rebellious. +"I know Miss Cora's hated me from the very first, and now she'll be able +to do just about what she pleases to me. But if she gets too funny, +I'll—well, I don't know what I'll do," she ended rather helplessly.</p> + +<p>And during the next week the girls' worst fears were realized. All the +liberty that they had enjoyed under Miss Walters was taken away from +them, and, as Billie had predicted, they were practically prisoners.</p> + +<p>That they could have stood perhaps; at least until Miss Walters +returned. But that was by no means the worst of it.</p> + +<p>The two Miss Dills had always said that the girls could get along just +as well on far less to eat. In fact, Miss Ada was positive they could +study better if "they didn't cram themselves so full of food." And now +they set to work to prove their theory.</p> + +<p>The meals became skimpier and skimpier, until one day after the noon +meal the girls left the table feeling positively hungry.</p> + +<p>The afternoon seemed unbearably long, and for the life of them they +could not keep their minds on their books. All they could think of was +delicious juicy steaks, French-fried potatoes, chicken pie and +strawberry short cake.</p> + +<p>And when girl after girl failed in her recitations, Miss Cora and Miss +Ada scolded them so harshly and said such sarcastic things that it +brought the angry red to their faces. But, as the girls said later, they +were "almost too hungry to fight back."</p> + +<p>Two more days passed with conditions getting worse and worse until the +girls were becoming weak from lack of food. Two of the younger girls +became faint and sick.</p> + +<p>"We can't stand this much longer," said Billie.</p> + +<p>The girls were gathered in Billie's dormitory after supper, and one by +one girls from the other dormitories joined them. It was fast becoming a +mass meeting.</p> + +<p>"We simply can't stand it," Billie went on, her little fists clenched +angrily at her side. "It's all right if they want to take our liberty +away. We can stand that for a little while, until Miss Walters comes +back. But when they begin to starve us——"</p> + +<p>"But what are we going to do?" asked one girl, helplessly.</p> + +<p>"We could run 'em out, I suppose," said one of the older girls gloomily. +"But I suppose we'd be run out ourselves as soon as Miss Walters got +back."</p> + +<p>"I don't see why Miss Walters left 'The Pickles' in charge, anyway," +spoke up another of the girls fretfully. "She knew how horrid they were +and how they've all the time been picking on us girls."</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't see that it makes any difference why Miss Walters did +it," Billie broke in, and there was something in her tone that made the +girls stop talking and look at her expectantly. "The fact is, she has +left the 'Dill Pickles' in charge and they're trying to starve us to +death. Now what I want to know is this: Are we just going to stand +around and let them do it? Or are we going to fight?"</p> + +<p>"Fight!" they cried, their pale faces beginning to flush with hope.</p> + +<p>"What do you want us to do, Billie?" asked Laura eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Listen and I'll tell you." She leaned forward and one could almost have +heard a pin drop in the room. "There's only one way I know of that we +can get food that 'The Pickles' don't give to us."</p> + +<p>"And that?"</p> + +<p>"Is to raid the pantry and storeroom," said Billie, her eyes gleaming. +"We'll probably find plenty of cooked things in the pantry, and if we +don't, we'll go on into the storeroom and get canned sardines and +vegetables and soup. I know I don't care what I eat, as long as I get +enough of it."</p> + +<p>The girls were silent a minute, staring at Billie half hopefully, half +fearfully. To raid the pantry and storeroom? It had never been done in +all the history of Three Towers. It would be open rebellion! And yet +they were hungry—terribly hungry—two of them had been faint and sick +from lack of food.</p> + +<p>"Will you do it?" asked Billie, her eyes blazing at them.</p> + +<p>"We will!" they almost shouted, and then rose such a pandemonium that +Billie, trying to scream above the noise, found her voice drowned +completely.</p> + +<p>After a minute they quieted down a little—enough to listen to her, +anyway.</p> + +<p>"Please don't make so much noise," she begged. "We'll be likely to make +our raid a great deal easier if we wait until the cooks are gone and the +teachers are in bed. We don't care if we are caught, but we don't want +to be caught until after we've had something to eat."</p> + +<p>The girls realized the common sense in this, but it was all they could +do to be patient and wait. The thought of something to eat—all they +wanted to eat—after a week of starvation made them ravenous, furiously +impatient of delay.</p> + +<p>The time passed at last, however, and when the "lights out" gong sounded +through the hall the girls were apparently in bed and fast asleep.</p> + +<p>Hardly five minutes had passed before the doors of the different +dormitories opened, and the girls crept singly or in twos and threes +toward the farther end of the hall until all the hundred-odd girls of +Three Towers were gathered there except two. Two of them had stayed +behind, and so absorbed were the other girls that they never noticed the +absence of Amanda Peabody and Eliza Dilks.</p> + +<p>It may be that Rose noticed, for as she left the dormitory she looked +over at them and smiled a little. She had guessed at the truth.</p> + +<p>For Amanda and Eliza disliked Billie so bitterly that they would even go +hungry for the chance of getting even with her. Miss Ada and Miss Cora +would be very glad to know who had been the ring-leader in the +rebellion!</p> + +<p>In the meantime the girls, satisfied that every one was present, had +started softly down the back stairs which led them by the shortest way +to the kitchen.</p> + +<p>As Billie had said, they did not care if they were discovered, except +that if they were caught they would probably have a harder time getting +what they wanted.</p> + +<p>Billie was in the lead with Vi and Laura close behind her. They hardly +made any noise at all, and before they knew it they were facing the +closed door that led to the kitchen.</p> + +<p>Billie swung it open cautiously and looked inside. The kitchen was dark, +but she knew where the electric switch was, and the next minute the room +was flooded with light.</p> + +<p>The sudden glare rather frightened the girls, and they hesitated for a +moment—but only a moment. They were terribly hungry, and just across +the kitchen was the pantry, and back of that, the storeroom.</p> + +<p>"Come on, girls," Billie whispered. "Here's where we get the best of +'The Pickles.'"</p> + +<p>They found cold ham in the refrigerator, they found bread and butter and +crackers and jam. In the twinkling of an eye all these dainties had +disappeared, and they were looking around for more.</p> + +<p>Next they raided the storeroom. They found tiers upon tiers of canned +goods, and Billie, because she was the first to find a can-opener, was +pronounced "official can-opener," and opened cans till her arm ached.</p> + +<p>But how good that stolen food tasted! They ate ravenously. They ate with +knives and forks and spoons, and when these ran short, they even ate +with their hands. And by and by the brightness came back to their eyes, +the color to their cheeks, and they chattered like joyful magpies.</p> + +<p>When they could eat no more, they filled their pockets with biscuits and +crackers and started back the way they had come.</p> + +<p>But they only started, for as Billie opened the door that led to the +stairs she found herself face to face with Miss Cora, Miss Ada, Miss +Race and several of the junior teachers.</p> + +<p>In the background—triumphant smiles upon their faces—lurked Amanda +Peabody and Eliza Dilks.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2> + +<h3>A CHALLENGE</h3> + + +<p>The girls stood still, awaiting they did not know what, while Miss Ada +and Miss Cora swept into the room followed by the other teachers, Amanda +and the Shadow. The Misses Dill carried their noses high in the air, and +there was a grim expression around their mouths. But as the girls +glanced from them to Miss Race they saw that the latter looked troubled.</p> + +<p>"Amanda and Eliza did it," Laura whispered fiercely in Billie's ear. +"They waited behind and told on us—the sneaks! Oh, how I wish——"</p> + +<p>"Silence!" cried Miss Cora Dill, glaring at Laura. "If there is any +talking done in this place to-night, I expect to do it."</p> + +<p>She paused a minute, sweeping the girls with an icy glance, then her +eyes rested accusingly upon Billie.</p> + +<p>"Three Towers," she said then, "has never before been the scene of such +a disgraceful happening. It is preposterous, unthinkable! I shudder to +think of what will happen when Miss Walters hears the truth.</p> + +<p>"And of course," she added, her eyes still fixed upon Billie, "you girls +would never have thought of such a thing if you hadn't been put up to +it. Fortunately, I have been able to learn the name of the—person," the +word held so much of contempt that Billie's face burned, "who started +this disgraceful affair."</p> + +<p>By one accord the girls turned accusing eyes upon Amanda and Eliza, but +the latter only tossed their heads and looked defiant.</p> + +<p>"Beatrice Bradley"—Miss Cora almost spit out the name—"step forward, +if you please."</p> + +<p>Poor Billie wanted desperately to run away somewhere and hide. But she +held her head high, and her eyes met Miss Cora's squarely.</p> + +<p>"I want you to tell the truth," said Miss Cora, angered by what she took +to be the insolence of the girl. "Did you or did you not propose this +outrageous affair?"</p> + +<p>But this was more than the girls would stand for. Before Billie had a +chance to answer there arose from different parts of the room a score of +voices raised in protest.</p> + +<p>"We all did it."</p> + +<p>"Billie isn't any more to blame than the rest of us."</p> + +<p>"It isn't fair."</p> + +<p>"We were all in it together."</p> + +<p>Billie had so many defenders that the noise they made completely +drowned Miss Cora's voice and prevented her from speaking for several +moments. This, of course, only served to make her angrier than before.</p> + +<p>"I didn't ask you all to talk," she said, when at last she could make +herself heard. "It seemed to me I was speaking to Beatrice Bradley. I +will ask it once more," turning to Billie, who was rather white now. +"Were you or were you not the ring-leader of this affair?"</p> + +<p>There was absolute quiet in the room while the girls waited miserably +for Billie's answer. They knew her well enough to know what it would be, +even before she spoke.</p> + +<p>Then Billie lifted her head and said quietly:</p> + +<p>"Yes, Miss Dill, I was the one who started the trouble. I don't think +any of the girls would have thought of it if it hadn't been for me."</p> + +<p>A ripple of protest rose behind her, but Miss Dill waved it down +angrily.</p> + +<p>"Then by your own confession," she said, something of triumph gleaming +in her eyes, "you have not only broken all the rules of Three Towers but +you have incited the rest of the girls to do likewise. Have you anything +to say for yourself?"</p> + +<p>"No, Miss Dill." Billie's voice was so low it could hardly be heard.</p> + +<p>"You are not even sorry?" Miss Cora went on relentlessly.</p> + +<p>"No," said Billie, lifting her head and looking Miss Cora straight in +the eyes. "We have been nearly starved since Miss Walters left, and some +of the girls have been sick from hunger." Her voice rose a little and +the color came back to her face as she flung out a challenge like a flag +of war. "I'm sorry, Miss Dill, but if I had to, I would do it all over +again."</p> + +<p>Miss Cora looked as if she doubted the evidence of her ears, while a +murmur of applause went up from the girls. Oh, but they were proud of +Billie!</p> + +<p>"You have heard what she said," Miss Cora Dill turned to the teachers +behind her. "Such insolence can only result in expulsion. Beatrice +Bradley, come with me. The rest of you," she turned fiercely upon the +other girls, "will go up to your dormitories. To-morrow I will deal with +you."</p> + +<p>As Billie, dread in her heart at that awful word "expulsion," started +toward Miss Cora Dill, Caroline Brant caught her hand and whispered +reassuringly in her ear.</p> + +<p>"Don't worry," she said. "They won't dare expel you. When Miss Walters +hears all about it she will be more than likely to expel them!"</p> + +<p>Billie gave her a wan little smile, squeezed her hand gratefully, and +was promptly taken into custody by Miss Cora. Then the teachers stood +aside while the rest of the girls filed past them upstairs.</p> + +<p>In the dormitories all was confusion. Sleep was out of the question, +and the girls gathered in excited groups discussing the terrible thing +that had happened to them, half wishing for Miss Walters, yet half +afraid to have her come back. Suppose she should side with the "Dill +Pickles"? Then all would indeed be lost.</p> + +<p>But Billie was their chief worry.</p> + +<p>"Why didn't she fib about it?" cried one girl, pacing up and down +excitedly. "We would all have backed her up. She knew that."</p> + +<p>"But Billie doesn't fib," said Vi proudly. "And besides, it wouldn't +have done her any good. Amanda and the Shadow had already told, and they +were right here in the dorm when we were planning the raid."</p> + +<p>Fiercely the girls looked around for the sneaks; but they were nowhere +to be seen.</p> + +<p>"Probably 'The Pickles' are taking good care of the little darlings," +sneered Laura. "Oh, how I'd like to get my hands on them!"</p> + +<p>"What's the matter, Rose?" asked Caroline Brant suddenly. "Don't you +feel good?"</p> + +<p>For Rose was sitting on the edge of her bed, her head bowed on her +clasped hands. At Caroline's question she raised her head and looked +around her miserably.</p> + +<p>"No, I don't feel good. I—I have a headache," she said.</p> + +<p>The girls regarded her curiously for a minute, and then forgot all +about her. They had worse things than headaches to worry about.</p> + +<p>Rose did indeed have a headache, but the headache was mostly caused by a +heartache. She herself did not quite understand it.</p> + +<p>Billie had at last been singled out from all the other girls for +punishment, would perhaps be expelled from Three Towers Hall, and where +she, Rose, should have been happy about it, she was only miserable.</p> + +<p>Of course she had really had no hand in Billie's disgrace—this time. +But she had planned and schemed for it before, and that made her almost +as bad in her own eyes as those two wretched sneaks whom all the girls +hated and despised. If they could only know what had been in her mind +they would hate and despise her, too!</p> + +<p>Her head felt hot and her lips were feverish. It was a terrible thing to +despise oneself. The only way she could ever put things straight again +was to find some way of getting Billie out of her scrape. She must think +of a plan!</p> + +<p>Suddenly she jumped to her feet, and the girls turned startled eyes upon +her.</p> + +<p>"I have it!" she cried. "We must get word to Miss Walters. If she could +know what an awful fix we're in, she'd come right back. I'm sure she +would."</p> + +<p>The girls stared for a minute—then seized eagerly on the plan.</p> + +<p>"But how can we get word to her if we haven't her address?" Connie +Danvers asked. But Rose answered her impatiently.</p> + +<p>"I've thought of that," she said, then went on to explain while the +girls listened eagerly how she had taken some letters to the mail box +for Miss Race, and, happening to glance down, had seen that the top one +was addressed to Miss Walters.</p> + +<p>Luckily she remembered the address, and now when one of the girls handed +her a slip of paper she wrote it down feverishly.</p> + +<p>"But how are we going to get word to her?" asked one of the girls, and +they looked at each other helplessly. "'The Pickles' won't let anybody +outside the Hall, and they'll look over all the mail."</p> + +<p>They were still trying to think of a plan when a step in the hall—a +step that sounded very much like Miss Ada Dill's firm tread—sent them +scattering.</p> + +<p>A little later silence settled like a cloud over the dormitories, but +few of the girls slept. They were thinking—thinking——</p> + +<p>By and by Laura leaned across and whispered to Vi.</p> + +<p>"Asleep?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"No, I can't sleep," said Vi miserably. "I keep thinking of Billie and +where they've put her and—and—everything."</p> + +<p>"Well, I've thought of a real plan," whispered Laura mysteriously.</p> + +<p>"You have?" cried Vi, sitting up in her turn. "What is it?"</p> + +<p>But in the darkness Laura shook her head.</p> + +<p>"Not now," she said. "I'll tell you in the morning."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> + +<h3>A PRISONER OF WAR</h3> + + +<p>It was a bad night for all the girls, but for Billie Bradley it was a +nightmare. Miss Cora Dill had thrust her into a little room just big +enough to contain a couch, a table, and one or two chairs.</p> + +<p>When Billie had asked for a light the door had been slammed in her face +and she had heard the key turn in the lock.</p> + +<p>So she was a prisoner—and in disgrace. All her dreams had come to that. +Miss Cora had said she would be expelled from Three Towers Hall when +Miss Walters heard what she had done.</p> + +<p>But in her heart Billie did not believe that. The hope that when Miss +Walters was told everything she would side with the girls was the only +thing that kept her from being absolutely miserable. For Miss Walters +was always fair.</p> + +<p>Billie had never been afraid of the dark. She was not really afraid of +it now. But as the hours crept by and the place became still with the +stillness of midnight, she began to feel uneasy and very, very +lonesome.</p> + +<p>The silence was so deep that she was afraid to move for fear of breaking +it, but at last, because her limbs were cramping and she was beginning +to feel chilled, she rose from the couch where she had been sitting and +began moving cautiously about the room.</p> + +<p>She stubbed her toe against one chair and almost fell over the other, +making so much noise that her heart stood still and she looked fearfully +over her shoulder. Finally she came over to the couch again and sank +down upon it, feeling that she must cry or die.</p> + +<p>But she did not do either, just sat there thinking and thinking what she +could do next. She would have to sleep, she supposed, although Miss Cora +had not given her any nightgown and there were no bedclothes.</p> + +<p>Then a happy thought struck her, and she turned down the cover of the +couch and found, as she had hoped, that the couch was made up as a bed. +There were several rooms like this in Three Towers—rooms used only when +there was an overflow of students. Billie remembered having heard the +girls speak of them as "cubby holes."</p> + +<p>But Billie was tired and unhappy, and all of a sudden her only wish was +to get within the protection of those covers. Perhaps it would not then +seem so lonesome and she was cold.</p> + +<p>After that she knew no more till morning.</p> + +<p>It was a dark, dreary morning with a bite in the air that felt like +snow. There was no sign of sunshine anywhere, either outside or inside +of Three Towers Hall.</p> + +<p>The girls rose reluctantly, and there was rebellion in their eyes. They +were on the verge of revolt, and it needed only one more unfair act on +the part of Miss Cora or Miss Ada Dill to start the ball rolling.</p> + +<p>"Are we going down to breakfast?" asked Laura, as the breakfast gong +rang.</p> + +<p>"I suppose we'd better," answered Caroline Brant, her eyes looking tired +and red-rimmed under the spectacles. "We have to eat, anyway. After we +get through we can come up here and decide what we're going to do."</p> + +<p>"Well, I know one thing we're going to do," said Laura fiercely. "If the +Dill Pickles don't let Billie come back to us, or at least tell us where +she is, I'm going to set the place on fire, that's all."</p> + +<p>"That wouldn't help Billie any," said Rose, as they turned from the +room.</p> + +<p>Breakfast was gloomier than ever that morning. The girls were heavy-eyed +and sullen, and Miss Cora, presiding grimly at the head of the table, +looked, as one of the older girls said, "like a death's head at the +feast."</p> + +<p>"But where was the feast?" another girl retorted.</p> + +<p>In fact this meal was scantier than any that had gone before, and if it +had not been for the night's raid the girls would have been in a pretty +bad way.</p> + +<p>Amanda and the "Shadow" were there, and if looks could kill, they would +have both died on the spot. But there was no sign of Billie. The girls +had hardly thought there would be, but they had hoped.</p> + +<p>A little while later there was another mass meeting held in dormitory +"C," and it was Rose Belser this time who took the floor.</p> + +<p>"We simply can't stand it any longer, girls," she told them, her black +eyes snapping. "Wasn't that a wonderful breakfast we had this morning? +It makes you sick to think of it. And we don't even know whether Billie +got as much as we did. We've got to do something right away. We can try +to get word to Miss Walters. I have her address, but I don't know how +we're ever going to——"</p> + +<p>She was interrupted by a familiar whistle from somewhere outside, and +the girls ran over to the window. Sure enough, there were Chet and +Teddy, looking, to the girls, like a couple of heaven-sent messengers, +standing underneath the window, skates flung over their shoulders, +looking up toward them expectantly.</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute," Laura called down, "Don't dare go away from there. +You're angels, and have come just when we wanted you most."</p> + +<p>She turned a radiant face to the girls and began to speak hurriedly.</p> + +<p>"I had it all figured out last night, girls," she said, while they +listened eagerly. "When you told me you knew Miss Walters' address, +Rose, I thought of the boys right away. There was just a chance that +they might come over this morning or this afternoon. And now they're +here."</p> + +<p>"Well?" they asked, puzzled.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't you see?" Laura clapped her hands impatiently. "The 'Dill +Pickles' won't let any of us send word to Miss Walters, but the boys can +do it for us."</p> + +<p>Before she had finished a dozen girls were scrambling for pencil and +paper, Laura was pushed into a chair by the table and was commanded to +write and write quickly.</p> + +<p>And Laura obeyed while the girls fairly hung over her, offering +suggestions, and all talking at once until it was a wonder she could +write anything at all.</p> + +<p>She told the boys briefly what had happened and begged them to send word +to Miss Walters at once. Then they tied the precious piece of paper +around an inkwell—who cared for the wreck of a mere inkwell at a time +like this?—and threw it out of the window.</p> + +<p>Teddy picked it up wonderingly and unwound the paper, while Chet peered +over his shoulder and the girls watched breathlessly from above. When +Teddy came to the part about Billie's capture he was all for storming +the castle, meeting the "Lions in their den, the Pickles in their hall," +and rescuing the heroine without delay. But Chet held him back.</p> + +<p>After that they had what seemed to be a rather heated argument, but Chet +finally got the best of it, and after a wave to the girls, who were +fairly hanging out of the dormitory windows, the two boys started off +and disappeared around the corner of the building.</p> + +<p>The girls watched them out of sight, then turned to each other with +shining eyes.</p> + +<p>"That ought to bring Miss Walters back in a hurry," said Vi. "Then +everything will be all right."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but we may starve before she gets here," said one of the girls +gloomily.</p> + +<p>"And Billie! Oh, girls, we've just got to get her out!" added Laura. +"Nobody knows where she is or what they're doing to her."</p> + +<p>Without warning, the door opened and Billie herself flew in upon them.</p> + +<p>"Girls," she cried breathlessly, "can't you hide me somewhere? +I've—I've—escaped!"</p> + +<p>"Escaped!" they cried, crowding around her, all asking questions at +once, feeling her, to be sure that it was really she, until Billie made +frantic signs for them to be quiet.</p> + +<p>"Girls," she cried, "please stop talking and listen to me. Miss Cora +will find that I'm gone in a minute, and she's sure to come right here +for me."</p> + +<p>"Well, she won't get you, that's one sure thing," cried Laura staunchly.</p> + +<p>"But tell us about it," urged another girl. "Did they have you locked +up?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Billie, adding with a shiver: "And I had a terrible night. +But this morning Miss Cora herself brought me some breakfast—I wish you +could have seen it—and she was just saying some nice mean things to me +when Miss Race called her away for something, said it was important. +Miss Cora went out without locking the door. So I didn't stop for +anything, I just ran. I had something I wanted to tell you."</p> + +<p>"Good old Miss Race," Connie interrupted, her eyes shining. "I bet she +just did it on purpose."</p> + +<p>"But listen," Billie broke in hurriedly. "I thought of something while I +was locked up, and I want to tell you about it before they catch me +again. It's about getting news to Miss Walters. The boys will probably +be around this morning, and if you could let them know——"</p> + +<p>"But we've already done that," interrupted a score of eager voices, and +Billie clapped her hands delightedly.</p> + +<p>"Good!" she cried. Then her face sobered again and she looked nervously +toward the door. "I suppose Miss Cora will be along in a minute, and +she'll want to lock me up again. And I suppose she'll be so mad at my +getting away that she won't give me anything to eat now."</p> + +<p>But suddenly Rose jumped to her feet, face flushed, eyes shining. This +was her chance to square herself with Billie and all the rest.</p> + +<p>"Tell me something, girls," she cried. "Are we going to let Miss Cora +have Billie? Are we?"</p> + +<p>"We are not!" they cried lustily; and Billie suddenly saw them through a +mist of tears.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h2> + +<h3>THE CAPTURE</h3> + + +<p>The girls expected trouble and they had not long to wait for it. They +had left Billie inside the dormitory, had gone into the hall, closed the +door after them firmly and had defiantly placed themselves before it.</p> + +<p>They rather welcomed the sight of Miss Cora, stiff-backed and +stern-lipped, bearing down upon them like a tug of war. They had learned +in their history, that in "union there is strength," and now they were +about to test the truth of it. If one of them felt her courage slipping, +all she had to do was to think of the breakfast they had had that +morning and, presto, it was all back again.</p> + +<p>Miss Cora stopped as she came to the foremost girls, and her eyes swept +them coldly.</p> + +<p>"What is the meaning of this?" she asked, adding as the girls did not +show any intention of moving: "Let me pass, at once."</p> + +<p>Then Rose stepped forward a little and drawled, in the insolent tone +that only Rose knew how to use.</p> + +<p>"Where are you going, Miss Dill?"</p> + +<p>Miss Cora looked as stunned as if she had been hit on the head with a +hammer. That one of the girls should have the insolence—the absolute +impertinence—to ask her, Miss Cora Dill, where she was going!</p> + +<p>Then a hot wave of anger flowed over her, and she found her voice.</p> + +<p>"Where I am going has nothing to do with it, whatever," she said, her +voice icy. "I command you to stand away from that door."</p> + +<p>Then it was Caroline Brant who spoke in her quiet, calm voice.</p> + +<p>"We will be glad to do as you say, Miss Dill," she said, "if you will +promise not to lock Billie Bradley up again."</p> + +<p>"Promise—not to lock——?" gasped Miss Cora. Then she turned upon the +girls with blazing eyes. "You are mad—all of you!" she said, her voice +shaking with fury. "I will wire Miss Walters at once!" and she turned +away down the hall, her hands so tightly clenched that her nails left +little angry red marks where they had bit into the flesh.</p> + +<p>The girls watched her go—then turned back into the dormitory with a +sigh. They had won a victory, and yet they were not happy about it. +Except that Billie was free, things were even worse than before.</p> + +<p>"Now I don't know what we're going to do," said Vi, gazing drearily out +of the window. The leaden sky had turned still darker and a flurry of +snow had begun to fall.</p> + +<p>The gong for classes rang out through the hall and the girls started and +looked at each other questioningly. Several of them began to gather up +their books, but Billie, who had been thinking deeply, suddenly sprang +to her feet.</p> + +<p>"Listen, girls," she said, and they looked at her questioningly. "It +seems to me there's only one thing left for us to do. We can't go to +classes, not after what we've just done, and we can't stay around here +till Miss Walters comes. The Pickles will surely starve us to death."</p> + +<p>She paused for a moment and they looked at her expectantly. Then she +lowered her voice and spoke quickly.</p> + +<p>"Let's go home," she said. "Or at least we can go to the hotel in town +till Miss Walters gets back. What do you say?"</p> + +<p>And not one of the girls but what hailed the idea joyfully. It would be +rebellion, of course; and a few days before they would have hesitated. +But not now.</p> + +<p>They set about packing in feverish haste, fairly throwing their things +into their suitcases. They were afraid of having their plans spoiled at +the last minute. And in Molata they could get all they wanted to eat; +that is, as long as their money held out.</p> + +<p>At last they were ready. Hats and coats on, valises in hand, they +gathered in the hall waiting for Billie to give the word to march.</p> + +<p>Eyes were bright, color was high, for they had started on real adventure +and they were beginning to enjoy it.</p> + +<p>"Come on," said Billie, raising her hand smartly to the little brown hat +in salute. "For-ward march!"</p> + +<p>As they reached the lower hall they were met by Miss Ada Dill and Miss +Cora, Miss Race and several of the other teachers. The latter had feared +trouble when the girls failed to report at classes, and had started out +to see what the matter was.</p> + +<p>And now they saw! Before they could even gasp their amazement the girls +swept past them, opened the front door, and ran down the steps to the +drive. There were only about a hundred of them, but it seemed to the +teachers who watched them go that there were easily twice that number.</p> + +<p>"They've struck," said Miss Race, turning to the other teachers with +consternation in her eyes, while they looked back at her soberly. "I +wonder what Miss Walters will say."</p> + +<p>"We'll very soon find out what she'll say," Miss Cora Dill spoke up +grimly. "I sent a wire to Miss Walters this morning. She will surely be +back in a day or two."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, out on the road, the girls were trudging gamely on toward +town. The first thrill had gone from the adventure, and they were +beginning to wonder what made their grips so heavy.</p> + +<p>And the snow, which had begun in a light flurry, was coming down heavily +now, covering the woods and the road before them with a white fleecy +blanket.</p> + +<p>The wind had risen, too, and they were forced to stop time and time +again to straighten hats and shake the clinging snow from their skirts.</p> + +<p>And because of the wind they did not hear the sound of voices. So that +Chet and Teddy, coming back from their errand to town, were almost upon +them before they knew it.</p> + +<p>And then something happened that made the girls drop their bags and +stare in stupid amazement.</p> + +<p>Out from the bushes straight in front of them sprang the figure of a +man. And at the same moment Chet and Teddy rounded the curve of the +road.</p> + +<p>The man straightened and looked wildly from one group to the other, and +then made as though to double on his tracks and dive into the woods +again.</p> + +<p>"Stop that man!" shouted Teddy. "He robbed our Academy! That's right, +girls—head him off!"</p> + +<p>For Billie, with a gasp of astonishment, had recognized the Codfish, and +seeing what he was about to do had darted forward straight in his path. +A score of the other girls followed her example, and so quickly was the +move made that the man found his escape cut off entirely.</p> + +<p>Wildly he looked about him, started in the other direction, but found +his path blocked there also.</p> + +<p>With a snarl of rage he flung himself forward, resolved to break his way +through by force, but Teddy and Chet were too quick for him.</p> + +<p>Not for nothing had they won medals on the track team, and now, as the +thief made his last attempt, his arms were caught in a strong grip and +were twisted behind him so suddenly that he cried out with the pain of +it.</p> + +<p>It was Teddy who had caught him, and now as the man struggled to free +himself he called out a sharp order to Chet.</p> + +<p>"Give me your skate strap, quick," he cried. "This chap's as slippery as +an eel. What are you doing?"</p> + +<p>For Chet, seeing that the Codfish was struggling to get his imprisoned +hands down to a suspicious bulge over his right hip, sprang forward and +drew the hidden revolver from its holster.</p> + +<p>"The game's up, old man," he crowed exultantly. Then, turning, he handed +the pistol to Billie. "Keep him covered, old girl," he said, "till I get +this strap loose and handcuff the gentleman. That's the girl! Steady, +Mr. Codfish—we've got you now."</p> + +<p>The Codfish made as though to spring upon Billie, revolver and all, but +Billie kept her head. Several of the girls screamed, but she was not one +of them.</p> + +<p>She stepped back a few steps and waved the revolver threateningly. She +was "horribly afraid of the old thing," but not for the world would she +have let any one suspect it.</p> + +<p>"If you don't stand still I'll shoot," she said, a quaver in her voice +despite all her efforts to speak calmly. "I've got this thing aimed at +just about where your heart is, I guess."</p> + +<p>The Codfish glared at her wildly, hesitated just a minute, but that +hesitation cost him his chance. Chet had at last got his skate strap +loose, and had bound it tightly about the man's wrists, while Teddy +still held his arms tight to prevent a sudden dash into the woods.</p> + +<p>"Now I guess we've got you," cried Teddy jubilantly. "You will rob our +Academy, will you, and expect to get away with it? Now I guess the next +thing is to hand you over to the first policeman we meet. Come on now, +forward march."</p> + +<p>"But did he really rob your Academy?" asked Laura eagerly, as the girls +picked up their grips where they had dropped them in the road and they +all started on together.</p> + +<p>"I'll say he did!" said Chet indignantly. "And he got away with a pretty +haul, too. That's what we were going to tell you girls about this +morning. But say——" he broke off and looked at them with a funny +expression on his face, "we've been so busy catching the crook that we +never thought! Say, where are you going with your suitcases and +everything? And—and how did Billie get loose? The last we heard of her, +she was locked up."</p> + +<p>"Yes, what is it—a walkout?" asked Teddy, looking in bewilderment from +Billie to the other girls. But suddenly Rose gave a sharp cry of +warning.</p> + +<p>"The Codfish," she cried. "Look out!"</p> + +<p>For Teddy, in his bewilderment, had loosened his grip of the thief's +arm, and the latter had taken this chance to make a dash for liberty.</p> + +<p>With a kangaroo leap Teddy was upon him, and Chet, snatching the pistol +from Billie's hand, pointed it threateningly.</p> + +<p>"None of that, old chap!" he cried. "You'd better be a good little boy +or you'll get a taste of something worse than prison. Now, then, forward +march, and mind your Ps and Qs."</p> + +<p>The Codfish shot a glance at Chet that made the girls shiver, but he +went ahead, nevertheless.</p> + +<p>"We ought to meet the sheriff and his hick policemen pretty soon," said +Chet, keeping his eyes and his pistol fixed unwaveringly on the +captive's back, while Teddy gripped his arm with both hands and the +girls crowded close behind. "He pulled off this stunt last night, and +Captain Shelling, the owner of our school, sent us to town to notify the +police."</p> + +<p>"Oh," said Billie thoughtfully. "So that was where you were going this +morning when you stopped at the Hall. What's that?" she added as the +sound of voices, somewhat muffled by the storm, reached them.</p> + +<p>"I hope it's the sheriff," said Teddy, hurrying his captive forward +through the snow. "Say, I'm glad we caught this fellow now before he had +a chance to make off with what he stole. We may have a chance of getting +it back."</p> + +<p>They turned a curve in the road and saw a party of half a dozen men +coming toward them on a run.</p> + +<p>"The sheriff!" yelled Teddy. "Here's some more luck."</p> + +<p>But the sheriff's party seemed almost more surprised at sight of the +hundred-odd girls from Three Towers Hall than they were delighted to see +the boys and their captive.</p> + +<p>They were more interested in the Codfish, however, and promptly took him +into custody, exchanging real handcuffs for the strap the boys had used.</p> + +<p>The boys eagerly told the story of his capture, giving the girls more +credit for their part of it than they deserved, or so the latter +protested, and the sheriff and his party listened with delighted grins.</p> + +<p>"Pretty good work," said one of them approvingly. "You couldn't have +done any better if you'd planned it. Well, good day to you, and thanks. +We'll soon put this rascal where he won't do more stealing of other +people's goods. Get up there, will you?" and he gave the sullen Codfish +a push that sent him staggering up the road in front of them.</p> + +<p>Before the party disappeared the sheriff turned once more to look back +curiously at the girls and boys who were still standing in the road, +staring after them.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll be jiggered, but that is curious," he said, shaking his head +doubtfully. "Looks as if all of Three Towers Hall had turned out for an +outing."</p> + +<p>"Humph, funny kind of weather for an outing," replied another one. "They +didn't have a teacher with 'em, either. Pretty queer, I call it."</p> + +<p>"Well," said another, philosophically chewing a huge cud of tobacco, "I +call it lucky. If those girls hadn't happened along just when they did +we wouldn't have got hold of this bird so slick. And who am I, to be +quarreling with fate?"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV</h2> + +<h3>HAPPY AGAIN</h3> + + +<p>"Gee, that was some slick work!" crowed Teddy Jordon exultantly. "Who'd +ever think we would catch the old Codfish. But say——" he broke off, +his face growing sober as he looked at the girls. "You haven't told us +yet just why you're taking this tramp in the snow. What's the idea—a +health cure or something?"</p> + +<p>"No, it isn't a health cure," explained Billie, a trifle wearily, for +now that the excitement of catching the Codfish was over the girls were +beginning to feel cold and hungry and rather forlorn. "We're just +leaving Three Towers, that's all."</p> + +<p>"Leaving Three Towers!" the boys repeated incredulously. And Teddy +added, seeing in a flash the real state of affairs: "Now I get the idea. +You're striking, aren't you?"</p> + +<p>Billie nodded.</p> + +<p>"Say, that reminds me," said Chet. "We sent a telegram to Miss Walters +asking her to come back at once. We sent it for you even before we told +the police about the Codfish."</p> + +<p>The girls brightened, and Billie darted forward eagerly and caught Chet +by the sleeve.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Chet, what did you tell her?" she cried. "Did you ask her to come +back right away?"</p> + +<p>Chet nodded importantly. "I told her enough to bring her back on the +run, I guess," he said, adding with a grin: "I made up the telegram and +Teddy paid for it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you darling!" cried Billie, hugging both the boys to the great +delight of Teddy, who made the girls giggle by asking if there was not +another telegram he could send.</p> + +<p>"Come on, girls," cried Billie, forgetting, in the hope of seeing Miss +Walters again before long, that she was tired and hungry. "If we hurry +we can get to town before the snow gets too deep."</p> + +<p>"But, say," cried Teddy, as the girls started on their way, "aren't you +even going to say good-bye to us? That's gratitude for you!"</p> + +<p>The girls stopped short and looked surprised.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you going to the town with us?" asked Vi.</p> + +<p>"You needn't think that because you're on strike that we are, too," said +Chet reproachfully. "Captain Shelling didn't give us the whole day off, +you know."</p> + +<p>"You deserve it just the same," said Connie Danvers. "He'll probably +give you a week off and a medal when he learns how you caught the +thief."</p> + +<p>"But we couldn't have caught him if you girls hadn't come along," +protested Teddy modestly. "If we get a holiday we'll see that you get +one, too."</p> + +<p>"We're taking ours now," laughed Billie. "Good-bye, boys; and thanks +awfully for sending the telegram."</p> + +<p>Teddy and Chet stood watching the girls as they trudged through the +clinging snow, and when they turned away their faces were unusually +sober.</p> + +<p>"That's a plucky thing to do," said Teddy admiringly. "But I bet they +would never have had the nerve to do it if Billie hadn't set them up to +it."</p> + +<p>"Billie's some class, isn't she?" Chet took him up eagerly. "Just look +how she jumped in front of the Codfish. She might have been shot, but +she never even thought of it. Say," he added, his chest swelling visibly +with pride, "I've always thought I'd like a brother; but Billie's as +good as a brother, any day."</p> + +<p>"She's a sight better," Teddy contradicted fervently.</p> + +<p>Tired but hopeful, the girls trudged the remaining distance to town and +started up the main street toward the one big hotel in Molata. They +strung down the street in what seemed an endless line, and people +passing stared wonderingly and turned around for another look when the +girls had passed them.</p> + +<p>People gathered at the windows and in the door-ways to look at the +strange procession, but the girls were too tired and hungry to notice +them.</p> + +<p>When they filed into the big summer hotel lobby, how the clerk at the +desk and the few men gathered about did stare! A hundred girls, all +pretty and daintily dressed, but seeming, by their suitcases and their +clothes which were powdered thick with clinging wet snow, to have walked +a good distance, were sure to create a sensation.</p> + +<p>The girls hung back, realizing for the first time how they must appear +to strangers and not quite certain just what to do next. But, as usual, +Billie took the lead.</p> + +<p>She went toward the clerk with an uncertain, apologetic little smile +that would have softened a much harder heart than his and said that she +would like to engage rooms for herself and her friends.</p> + +<p>Be it said to the credit of the clerk, who was rather a nice looking boy +with sand colored hair and eyes to match, that he did not even smile.</p> + +<p>Soberly he asked Billie how many rooms she would need, and Billie turned +to the girls rather helplessly. Then it was Caroline Brant who came to +her aid.</p> + +<p>"We can sleep three in a room," she said, regarding the clerk gravely +through her horn-rimmed spectacles. "So you can figure out just how many +we'll need."</p> + +<p>"If we could have cots put in the rooms," Billie ventured, "we could +get more than three in one room."</p> + +<p>"All right," the clerk answered, still unsmiling, while several people +had gathered around and were looking on with interest. "If you don't +mind cots I guess I can fix you up all right. It's lucky that it's +winter," he added, a little twinkle creeping into his nice eyes, "and +that the hotel isn't crowded, or we might have to turn somebody out."</p> + +<p>He watched the girls go up the stairway to the rooms above—for they had +decided they would rather walk than wait for the elevator—then turned +to one of the men lounging near with a chuckle.</p> + +<p>"Nice kids," he said, regarding the signatures in the big book before +him written in unmistakably girlish hands. "If they weren't dressed so +well, I'd say it was an orphan asylum out for an airing."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the girls had decided that they were more hungry than they +were tired, and so merely stopped to drop their bags in their rooms and +brush a little of the clinging snow from their clothing before setting +forth in search of food.</p> + +<p>They had decided to separate into groups and to eat in different places +so as not to attract too much attention, and they were gathered on the +sidewalk in front of the hotel wondering just what to do next when +suddenly one of the girls gave a startled cry.</p> + +<p>"Girls—no, it isn't—yes, it is!" she cried, clutching the girl beside +her hysterically. "Look! There's Miss Walters!"</p> + +<p>"Where?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, it can't be!"</p> + +<p>"Are you sure?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, there she is! There she is!"</p> + +<p>And Miss Walters—for it was indeed she—attracted by the hubbub as were +some other passersby, looked at the girls first curiously, then in +astounded amazement. To her startled vision it seemed as if all the +girls in the world were gathered there on the sidewalk in front of the +hotel. And they were her girls—the girls of Three Towers Hall!</p> + +<p>She hurried forward, feeling that the next moment she must wake up and +find it all a dream, and the girls surged around her in an eager flood.</p> + +<p>They were so wildly surprised and joyful at the unexpected meeting that +they were almost ready to get down on their knees and thank the fates +who had sent her to them just when they needed her most.</p> + +<p>They all started to talk at once, but Miss Walters, having recovered a +little from her first surprise and seeing that a curious crowd was +beginning to gather, spoke to them authoritatively.</p> + +<p>"Come inside," she said. "I can't imagine what has brought you here like +this, but we certainly can't talk about it in the street."</p> + +<p>She led the way through the doorway and into the hotel lobby, which was +fortunately deserted. Then she sank down upon a couch and the girls +gathered eagerly around her.</p> + +<p>"Now suppose one of you tell me the meaning of all this," said Miss +Walters, her blue eyes a little hard and accusing. She had no idea what +had happened, but she knew that if the girls were responsible for this +unheard of proceeding it would go hard with them. Miss Walters was fair +and just, and because she was just she could be sternness itself where +any disobedience on the part of the girls was concerned.</p> + +<p>As for the girls themselves, all their old fears of expulsion came back +at this attitude of their president, and they looked rather helplessly +at each other.</p> + +<p>Then Connie Danvers nudged Billie and whispered something in her ear. +And Billie bravely did as she was asked, although, as she afterward +said, her knees were trembling under her.</p> + +<p>"Miss Walters," she began hesitatingly, as Miss Walters turned a steady +gaze upon her, "I can explain why we are here and everything that has +happened since you left—if you will let me," she finished rather +timidly.</p> + +<p>"That is just what I want you to do," said Miss Walters gravely.</p> + +<p>As Billie told her story Miss Walters' expression changed, became less +stern, and she leaned forward in amazement.</p> + +<p>"You say that some of the girls were faint and sick from lack of food?" +she asked once incredulously. "Why, it's—it's incredible. But go on," +she interrupted herself impatiently. "What happened then?"</p> + +<p>When Billie told of the raid, her imprisonment in the little room, her +escape, and finally the decision of the girls to leave Three Towers and +come to the hotel until Miss Walters' return, the latter jumped to her +feet, her face flushing angrily.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad I came just when I did," she said. "I was tempted to stay +longer, but something told me that I might be needed, and that something +was right. Come, girls, we'll hire all the taxis in town if we have to, +and private automobiles, too, and get back to Three Towers immediately."</p> + +<p>"We'll have to get our baggage," Billie suggested timidly.</p> + +<p>"Your baggage?" queried Miss Walters absently, her mind on what she +would do when she reached Three Towers.</p> + +<p>"Yes, we left our bags in our rooms upstairs."</p> + +<p>"Your rooms?" Miss Walters asked, then added with a compassionate smile +that made her seem more beautiful than ever to the adoring girls: "Why, +of course, you poor children! I forgot that you expected to stay over +night. All right, run up and get your bags while I see the room clerk +and about getting us back to Three Towers."</p> + +<p>The girls never forgot that triumphant ride back to Three Towers through +the snow. Nor did they forget what happened afterward.</p> + +<p>Miss Ada and Miss Cora Dill and the other teachers saw them coming, and +Miss Cora's lips tightened grimly. She was the first to greet Miss +Walters at the door.</p> + +<p>"Go up to your dormitories, girls," said Miss Walters, hardly glancing +at the teachers. "We will have lunch in half an hour—a real lunch. Just +a minute," she called, as the girls started jubilantly off. "I'd like to +speak to Beatrice Bradley in my private office immediately."</p> + +<p>Billie came back, wondering just what was going to happen next, while +Laura picked up the suitcase she had dropped and hurriedly followed the +other girls.</p> + +<p>Then Miss Walters turned to the teachers.</p> + +<p>"Will you all come with me into my office?" she asked. "There is a very +important matter which I must attend to before I do anything else."</p> + +<p>She walked down the corridor to her office and opened the door. Then she +motioned them inside, stepped in after them and closed the door +decidedly.</p> + +<p>"Sit down, please," she said, and when they were all seated she sat down +at her desk and regarded them gravely. "As you know," she said, "an +unheard-of thing happened this morning, and I must have the testimony +of every one before I can decide one way or the other."</p> + +<p>Then very quietly she told of her meeting with the girls that morning +and repeated almost word for word the story of what had happened during +her absence as told by Billie and supported by the other girls.</p> + +<p>The faces of Miss Ada and Miss Cora had been growing redder and redder, +and now as Miss Walters finished and looked about her Miss Cora burst +out angrily.</p> + +<p>"I hardly expected that you would listen to the girls' account of it, +Miss Walters," she said. "What they have said is not true."</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, Miss Walters," Miss Race broke in, and they all turned to +her, "but I can testify that everything that Beatrice Bradley has told +you is absolute fact. I don't think that Miss Cora will deny," she +turned to Miss Cora, who was white with fury, "that I have time and time +again remonstrated with her and Miss Ada for their treatment of the +girls."</p> + +<p>"Is that so, Miss Cora—and Miss Ada?" asked Miss Walters, turning to +the sisters, whose anger was slowly beginning to change to fear.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Miss Walters," said Miss Cora at last, "it is true that Miss Race +was continually interfering in our government of the girls during your +absence. But," she added, while her mouth set in a grim line, "I still +maintain that we did nothing during your absence that you yourself would +not have done."</p> + +<p>There was deep silence in the room for a minute while Miss Walters' eyes +wandered from one intent face to another and then dropped to the blotter +on her desk.</p> + +<p>Billie's heart was beating so hard she was afraid it could be heard in +the room.</p> + +<p>Then Miss Walters' voice came to them, cool, incisive.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry," she was saying, looking from Miss Ada to Miss Cora and back +again, "but I can't agree with you. Surely while I have had charge of +Three Towers the girls have not gone hungry or become faint and sick +from lack of nourishment. Neither have they raided pantries and +storerooms and deserted Three Towers <i>en masse</i>, Miss Cora." She paused, +and one could have heard a pin drop in the room. "I am very sorry, but I +think that after Monday Three Towers will have no further need of your +services, nor of those of Miss Ada. That is all, I think."</p> + +<p>She rose by way of dismissal, and the other teachers rose also. Billie, +who was nearest the door, slipped out quietly and ran swiftly up the +stairs toward her dormitory. Her head was in a whirl, and all she wanted +to do was to get with the girls again and tell them the marvelous thing +that had happened.</p> + +<p>The other girls were waiting for her, and as she burst in upon them they +carried her off, seated her royally on top of a dresser, and gathered +around eagerly, all talking at once and demanding to know what had +happened.</p> + +<p>Somehow, she made them see the scene in Miss Walters' office as if they +had been there themselves, the scene in which the girls had won the +great victory and the "Dill Pickles" had been dismissed.</p> + +<p>They were just at the height of their rejoicing when the bell rang for +lunch, and with one accord they stampeded for the dining room.</p> + +<p>And it was a real lunch, as Miss Walters had promised—a lunch that +disappeared as if by magic, and when it was over the students of Three +Towers were really comfortable for the first time in over a week.</p> + +<p>And everybody was happy, except Miss Ada Dill and Miss Cora; and Amanda +Peabody and Eliza Dilks, perhaps. However, even though her attempt had +failed this time, Amanda was by no means discouraged. There would be +other chances—and then she would get even with Billie Bradley!</p> + +<p>Rose Belser was happier than she had been since she had first become +jealous of Billie. She was happy because she had done her best to set +Billie right again, and could look at her pretty reflection in the glass +once more without feeling ashamed.</p> + +<p>It was some time later, and Billie, Vi and Laura were stretched out in +comfortable attitudes on Billie's bed in dormitory "C"—for Miss Walters +had declared it a half holiday. And, indeed, after lunch was over there +was scarcely any of the day left, anyway.</p> + +<p>"I feel almost sorry for Miss Ada and Miss Cora," Billie was saying, +when suddenly the door opened and Connie Danvers flew in upon them.</p> + +<p>"Girls," she cried, plumping herself down between Laura and Vi on the +bed, narrowly missing the latter's feet, "I've just got a letter—there +are some for you girls down in the box, too—and what do you think the +folks are going to do this summer?"</p> + +<p>The girls said they could not possibly guess, and before any of them +would have had a chance to, anyway, she rattled on again:</p> + +<p>"Mother and Dad are going to open our cottage at Lighthouse Island +again—we haven't been there for several summers. My old Uncle Tom runs +the lighthouse there, and he's a perfect darling. But this is the real +thing," she paused and regarded them with sparkling eyes. "Mother says +there will be plenty of room in the cottage for two or three of my +school chums if I'd like to have them. Think of that—if I'd like to +have them!"</p> + +<p>The girls sat up and regarded Connie doubtfully. "What do you mean?" +stammered Billie.</p> + +<p>"What do I mean, you little goose?" said Connie impatiently. "Don't you +know I'm asking you and Laura and Vi to go with me?"</p> + +<p>"A summer on an island with a lighthouse!" Billie murmured, while Laura +and Vi looked as if they could not believe their ears. "Now I know I'm +going to just die of it."</p> + +<p>"What?" asked Connie curiously.</p> + +<p>"Joy," said Billie.</p> + +<p>And whether she did actually die of joy or not—somehow one is rather +certain that she did not—will be told in the next book of Billie's +adventures, entitled, "Billie Bradley on Lighthouse Island; or, The +Mystery of the Wreck."</p> + +<p>Lighthouse Island was certainly a queer spot, and the girls had any +number of unusual adventures there.</p> + +<p>"We mustn't forget our own letters!" cried Billie suddenly, and then +there was a rush to get the epistles. And here let us say good-bye to +the girls of Three Towers Hall.</p> + +<p>THE END</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Other_Books_Published_by_GEORGE_SULLY_COMPANY" id="Other_Books_Published_by_GEORGE_SULLY_COMPANY"></a>Other Books Published by GEORGE SULLY & COMPANY</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>BILLIE BRADLEY SERIES</h3> + +<h3>BY JANET D. WHEELER</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Billie Bradley and Her Inheritance<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or The Queer Homestead at Cherry Corners</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Billie Bradley at Three Towers Hall<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or Leading a Needed Rebellion</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Billie Bradley on Lighthouse Island<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or The Mystery of the Wreck</span><br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>Four Little Blossoms Series</h3> + +<h4><i>For children 5 to 9 years of age</i></h4> + +<h3>By MABEL C. HAWLEY</h3> + + +<p><b>Four Little Blossoms at Brookside Farm</b></p> + +<p>Mother called them her Four Little Blossoms but Daddy Blossom called +them Bobby, Meg and the twins. The twins, Twaddles and Dot, were a +comical pair and always getting into mischief. The children had heaps of +fun around the big farm, and had several real adventures in the bargain.</p> + + +<p><b>Four Little Blossoms at Oak Hill School</b></p> + +<p>In the Fall, Bobby and Meg had to go to school. It was good fun for Miss +Mason was a kind teacher. Then the twins insisted on going to school +too, and their appearance quite upset the class. And in school something +very odd happened and all the boys and girls wondered what it meant.</p> + + +<p><b>Four Little Blossoms and Their Winter Fun</b></p> + +<p>Winter came and with it lots of ice and snow, and oh! what fun the +Blossoms had skating and sledding. And once Bobby and Meg went on an +errand and got lost in a sudden snowstorm. And once Twaddles slipped +through a hole in the ice, but the others went quickly to the rescue.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>The "Do Something" Series</h3> + +<h3>By HELEN BEECHER LONG</h3> + + +<p>A series of books for girls which have been uniformly successful. Janice +Day, the "Do Something" girl, is a character that will live long in +juvenile fiction. Every volume is full of inspiration. There are an +abundance of humor, quaint situations, and worth-while effort, and +likewise plenty of plot and mystery.</p> + +<h3>An ideal series for girls from nine to sixteen.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Janice Day, the Young Homemaker.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Janice Day at Poketown.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Testing of Janice Day.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How Janice Day Won.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Mission of Janice Day.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>The Lucile Series</h3> + +<h3>By ELIZABETH M. DUFFIELD</h3> + +<h3>"These books should interest every girl who loves the open."—<i>Chicago +Evening Post.</i></h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Lucile, The Torch Bearer.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lucile Triumphant.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lucile, Bringer of Joy.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lucile on the Heights.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Out of door" stories for girls, of vital interest and compelling charm. +The wholesome spirit and beautiful aims of the "Campfire Girls" have +never been more attractively described, and the fun and merriment of the +outings will prove fascinating to every live girl. The heroine, Lucile, +is a most spirited and striking character and one will not wonder at the +almost adoring affection in which she is held by her companions.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>The Nan Sherwood Series</h3> + +<h3>By ANNIE ROE CARR</h3> + + +<p>In Annie Roe Carr we have found a young woman of wide experience among +girls—in schoolroom, in camp and while traveling. She knows girls of +to-day thoroughly—their likes and dislikes—and knows that they demand +almost as much action as do the boys. And she knows humor—good, clean +fun and plenty of it.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Nan Sherwood at Pine Camp,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">or The Old Lumberman's Secret.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Nan Sherwood at Lake View Hall,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">or The Mystery of the Haunted Boathouse.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Nan Sherwood's Winter Holidays,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">or Rescuing the Runaways.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Nan Sherwood at Rose Ranch,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">or The Old Mexican's Treasure.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Nan Sherwood at Palm Beach,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">or Strange Adventures Among the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Orange Groves.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BILLIE BRADLEY AT THREE TOWERS HALL***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 23894-h.txt or 23894-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/8/9/23894">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/8/9/23894</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/23894-h/images/cover.jpg b/23894-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..975cc4f --- /dev/null +++ b/23894-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/23894-h/images/frontis.jpg b/23894-h/images/frontis.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d787f2a --- /dev/null +++ b/23894-h/images/frontis.jpg diff --git a/23894.txt b/23894.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0b34ee4 --- /dev/null +++ b/23894.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6177 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Billie Bradley at Three Towers Hall, by Janet +D. Wheeler + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Billie Bradley at Three Towers Hall + or, Leading a Needed Rebellion + + +Author: Janet D. Wheeler + + + +Release Date: December 18, 2007 [eBook #23894] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BILLIE BRADLEY AT THREE TOWERS +HALL*** + + +E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 23894-h.htm or 23894-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/8/9/23894/23894-h/23894-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/8/9/23894/23894-h.zip) + + + + + +BILLIE BRADLEY AT THREE TOWERS HALL + +Or, Leading a Needed Rebellion + +by + +JANET D. WHEELER +Author of "Billie Bradley and Her Inheritance," "Billie Bradley on +Lighthouse Island," Etc. + +Illustrated + + + + + + + +New York +George Sully & Company +Publishers + +Copyright, 1920, by +George Sully & Company + + + + +[Illustration: The girls swept past them, and ran down the steps of the +school.] + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I ALMOST A FORTUNE + + II THE WRECK + + III RECOVERED TREASURE + + IV THE "CODFISH" + + V AMANDA SURPRISES + + VI OFF FOR THREE TOWERS HALL + + VII MISS WALTERS + + VIII THE DILL PICKLES + + IX A NEW ACQUAINTANCE + + X LAKE MOLATA + + XI LIGHTS OUT + + XII TOO MUCH TO EAT + + XIII FOUR ENEMIES + + XIV BILLIE SNORES SUCCESSFULLY + + XV A PLOT FAILS + + XVI MYSTERY + + XVII THE QUARREL + + XVIII THE "CODFISH" AGAIN + + XIX ROBBED! + + XX CHET PLAYS THE HERO + + XXI RAIDING THE PANTRY + + XXII A CHALLENGE + + XXIII A PRISONER OF WAR + + XXIV THE CAPTURE + + XXV HAPPY AGAIN + + + + +BILLIE BRADLEY AT THREE TOWERS HALL + + + + +CHAPTER I + +ALMOST A FORTUNE + + +"Oh, Dad, I can't believe it's true!" + +In the rather dim light of the gloomy old room the boys and girls looked +queer--almost ghostly. They were gathered about a shabby old trunk, and +beside this trunk a man was kneeling. As Billie Bradley spoke, the man, +who was her father, rose to his feet and thoughtfully brushed the dust +from his clothes. Then he stood looking down at the hundreds and +hundreds of postage stamps and old coins that filled the queer old +trunk. + +"Is it really true, Dad?" Billie continued, shaking her father's arm +impatiently while the other young folks looked eagerly up at him. + +Mr. Bradley nodded slowly. + +"Yes, you really have made a find this time, Billie," he said. "Of +course I'm not an expert, but I'm sure the coins in that old trunk are +worth three thousand dollars, and the postage stamps ought to bring at +least two thousand more----" + +"At least two thousand more!" broke in Chet Bradley, excitedly. "Does +that mean that Billie may get more for the postage stamps?" + +"I shouldn't wonder," replied Mr. Bradley, nodding his head. "However," +he added, smiling round at the girls and boys, "you'd better not count +on anything over five thousand." + +"But five thousand dollars!" interrupted Laura Jordon, in an awed voice. +"Just think of it, Billie! And because your Aunt Beatrice left you this +house and everything in it, every last cent of that five thousand +belongs to you." + +"Yes," said Teddy Jordon, turning to Billie with a chuckle. "I suppose +you won't look at any of us now you've got this money. How does it feel, +Billie?" + +"I--I don't know, yet," stammered Billie, still staring at the wonderful +trunk. "You'll just have to give me time to get used to it, that's all." + +As those readers who have read the first book of this series, entitled +"Billie Bradley and Her Inheritance," will probably have gathered, the +girls, Billie Bradley, Laura Jordon and Violet Farrington, and their boy +relatives and chums, Chet Bradley, Ferd Stowing and Teddy Jordon, were +still at the old homestead at Cherry Corners where so many weird and +mysterious experiences had befallen them. + +For the benefit of those who are meeting the girls and boys for the +first time, what had happened up to the time of this story will be +sketched over briefly. + +The young folks had grown up in North Bend, a town of perhaps twenty +thousand people, and about forty miles by rail from New York City. The +girls had seen the great metropolis several times, though their visits +had been all too short to satisfy their eager curiosity. + +Billie Bradley was called the most popular girl in North Bend, and, +indeed, after one had been with Billie five minutes, one would never +again wonder where she got the title. + +Whether it was her sparkling brown eyes with the imp of mischief always +lurking in them, or her merry laugh that made every one want to laugh +with her, or the adventurous spirit that made her eager to embark on any +kind of lark, it would be hard to tell--perhaps her popularity arose +from a combination of all of these. But the fact remains that everybody +loved her and she had not an enemy, except, perhaps, Amanda Peabody--but +more of _her_ later! + +Then there was Laura Jordon, Billie's best chum, blue-eyed and +golden-haired, who, despite the fact that her father was very wealthy +and owned the thriving jewelry factory in North Bend, was not the +slightest bit spoiled or conceited. She adored Billie, and although the +two would sometimes enter into rather heated discussions, it was usually +Laura who gave in to Billie in the end. + +The last of the trio, but decidedly not the least, was Violet +Farrington, who, tall and dark and less hasty and impetuous than the +other two, often found the doubtfully blessed office of peacemaker +thrust upon her. And though her slowness and tendency to hang back +sometimes exasperated her chums, they nevertheless were very fond of +her--and showed it. + +Chetwood Bradley, known as Chet to his friends, was Billie's +brother--and very proud of it. He was a splendid, fine looking, rather +thoughtful boy whom everybody liked. + +Ferd Stowing was a comical, jolly, all-around good fellow, who, though +he was not related to any of the girls, had been drawn into the group +through his friendship for the boys, Chet and Teddy. + +And--Teddy! Teddy, who was the handsomest and gayest of all the boys, +had been Billie's friend and playmate ever since they could remember. +Either of them would have felt lost without the friendship of the other. +Teddy was Laura's brother and had starred in almost all the sports in +which the lads of North Bend had taken part--a fact which did not make +Billie like him any the less. + +Just the summer before this story opens, Billie, going back with Violet +and Laura to the grammar school from which they had just graduated, had, +in a moment of thoughtless skylarking, broken a handsome and expensive +statue that belonged to her English teacher--Miss Martha Beggs. + +The accident was nothing short of a tragedy to Billie, for her father, +Martin Bradley, a real estate and insurance agent in North Bend, having +most of his capital tied up in property and being at the time engaged in +fighting a rather losing fight with the high cost of living was in no +position to pay a hundred dollars--which was what the statue was worth. + +Billie's worry was deepened by the fact that she would not be able to go +with Laura and Violet to Three Towers Hall, a boarding school to which +she had wanted to go all her life. The high school in North Bend was +notoriously poor and inefficient, and the girls had set their hearts on +attending Three Towers in the fall. And now, because of the broken +statue, Billie could not go. + +Then had come news of Beatrice Powerson's death. Beatrice Powerson was +an aunt of Billie's mother for whom Billie had been named. Then came the +strange inheritance which the queer old lady, who had spent her life +traveling, had left to Billie--the old homestead at Cherry Corners which +dated back to revolutionary times and had been the scene of more than +one Indian attack. + +Readers of the first book of this series will remember how the girls and +boys had decided to spend their vacation there, the many queer and +spooky experiences they had had, and finally the shabby old trunk which +Billie had found stowed away in a corner of the attic--a shabby old +trunk that contained riches; at least, so it now seemed to the boys and +girls. Five thousand dollars in the shape of old coins and postage +stamps. + +Billie had sent the wonderful news post-haste to her family, and Mr. +Bradley had hurried out to the old house to see if Billie's discovery +was really worth anything. + +And now he had just given the result of his investigation to six pairs +of ears. To be exact it had better be made seven, for Mrs. Maria +Gilligan, Mrs. Jordon's housekeeper and the girls' chaperone on this +expedition, was looking on with interest from the doorway. + +Five thousand dollars, perhaps more. This almost certainly meant that +not only could Billie go to Three Towers Hall, but Chet would be able to +go with the other boys to a military academy which was only a little +over a mile from Three Towers. + +"Oh, Daddy, I'm so glad you came!" + +Billie squeezed her father's arm ecstatically. + +"I'll say we are," said Ferd Stowing, staring down at the queer little +trunk as though he already could see it full to the brim with shining +new gold pieces from the mint instead of the old coins and rare postage +stamps that were its present contents. + +"How soon," he asked, turning to Mr. Bradley, "will you be able to get +real money for these?" + +"Probably almost as soon as we can get the trunk to North Bend," said +Mr. Bradley. "The bank----" But Billie would not let him finish. + +"Oh, Daddy, let's hurry!" she cried; then as her chums stared at her in +surprise she rushed over to the trunk and slammed the lid shut. "What +are you waiting for?" she cried, stamping her foot impatiently as she +turned to face them. "If _you_ want to stand around looking foolish, all +right. But _I'm_ going home." + +"Say! wait a minute," cried Teddy, stopping her as she started from the +room. "Perhaps your father----" + +"I was going to suggest," said Mr. Bradley, looking at his watch, "that +we catch the eight o'clock train for North Bend. Is that at all +possible, Mrs. Gilligan?" he asked, turning apologetically to Mrs. +Gilligan. + +However, before Mrs. Gilligan could reply, his daughter answered for +her. + +"Of course it is," she cried. "We girls were beginning to pack anyway. +Come on, girls, what we need is action," and without giving them a +chance to protest she fell upon the girls and dragged them from the +room. + +The boys looked after them with laughing eyes, and Mr. Bradley remarked +with a smile: "My young daughter seems to be unusually happy about +something." + +"No wonder," said Chet, shaking his head ruefully. "I'd be happy, too, +if anybody thought enough of me to give me five thousand dollars." + +The rest of that afternoon was one wild scramble for the girls and boys, +but at the end they made their train with, as the train was late, a few +minutes to spare. + +The boy who had driven them and their luggage to town was the same who +had taken the girls and their chaperone to the old homestead at Cherry +Corners upon their arrival over a month before. + +As he turned away and went back to his antiquated wagon, he shook his +head soberly. + +"Gosh," he said, "I do be sorry to see 'em go. When they first came it +sure did turn my heart cold to see three girls an' a woman goin' into +that there haunted house. At night it was, too! But it seems they've +come out all right, after all. Guess they must 'a' scared the ghosts +away. Well, you've sure got to hand it to 'em." And he shook his head +sagely as the springs of the old wagon creaked under him. "Giddap, +Napoleon!" And a few minutes later wagon and driver were enveloped in +the gray mist of the evening. + +"If we only get the train!" Such had been Billie's thought throughout +the drive to the station. Her mind was on getting home and turning the +precious old coins and postage stamps into real money. Then she could +arrange about going to Three Towers Hall and about sending her brother +to Boxton Military Academy. + +Fortunately the train was only ten minutes late, and presently they were +safely aboard and on the way to North Bend. + +Half an hour passed. Boys and girls were chatting gaily, the others +congratulating Billie over and over again on her good fortune. + +"Just like a page out of the Arabian Nights----" Teddy was saying when +his words were cut short most unexpectedly. + +There was a jar and a crash, a shock and another crash, and then the +lights in the car went out, leaving the passengers in darkness. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE WRECK + + +What followed was like a terrible nightmare. Shaken and jolted badly, +but not seriously hurt, it took the girls a horrible minute or two to +realize what had happened. There had been an accident--a terrible +accident. Then hands went out in the blackness and the girls called to +each other in strangled whispers that could not be heard above the din +and uproar outside. + +They heard Mr. Bradley shouting above the noise, asking if any one of +them was hurt and reassuring them. Gradually they managed to grope their +way to his side, guided by his voice, and with an agony of relief in his +heart he gathered the three girls to him and heard the voices of Mrs. +Gilligan and the boys at his elbow. + +"Let's get out of this," he cried, and began feeling his way cautiously +toward what had been the front of the car. + +He soon found the aisle blocked by what appeared to be the wreck of the +forward end of the car and was forced to turn back and feel his way +toward the rear platform. + +Fortunately the train had not been crowded. There had been only three or +four passengers in that car besides themselves, and so there was little +danger of being trampled in the dark. + +Fearfully, holding on to one another, the girls followed Mr. Bradley and +the boys, stepping gingerly over broken glass and other debris and +shivering with fear and excitement. + +"I wonder if anybody was hurt," Laura cried into Billie's ear. + +"Oh, I hope not," said Billie, her voice almost lost in the uproar. "I +guess it must have been the forward cars that caught the worst of it. We +just escaped." She shuddered and clasped Laura's hand more tightly. + +It seemed ages before they finally reached the platform of the car. +However, even nightmares come to an end, and they were suddenly startled +by having a red light flashed in their faces. And then a friendly Irish +voice accosted them in unmistakable brogue. + +"So it's here you are!" cried the voice, the speaker swinging the +lantern high so as to get a good look at them. "And it's glad Oi am to +be seein' ye. Be there any more in the car wid yez?" + +"I don't think so," replied Mr. Bradley, surprised to find that his +voice was trembling and that the hand he raised to wipe his forehead +shook like a leaf. If it had been himself alone who had been in +danger--but the young folks! + +As they descended to the platform the girls looked about them with wide, +frightened eyes, while their hearts pounded suffocatingly. + +The faces of the boys were white, but they plunged immediately into the +work of rescue. Men came running from the farms about. All who could get +lanterns had them, and the lights were seen swinging down the roadside +or in the ruined cars, searching for any one who might be pinned under +the wreckage. + +Most of the passengers had already been accounted for, but there were +one or two who must still be found. Mr. Bradley picked his way through +the debris to the front of the train, while Mrs. Gilligan and the girls +followed him slowly. + +"I wonder how it happened," said Violet, and it was the first time she +had spoken since the accident. "Oh, girls, I'm frightened to death!" + +"I wonder if anybody was hurt," said Laura, her eyes dark with +excitement. + +"I don't think so," Billie answered. "The damage seems to be mostly at +the front of the train. We may have run into another train. Oh, look!" +she cried suddenly, pointing with trembling finger to the wreck of the +car in front of them. "Fire, girls! The car's on fire!" + +With horrified eyes the girls followed her pointing finger and saw a +malignant tongue of flame shoot out--then another--and another. + +"It's the baggage car!" screamed Laura, as men, attracted by the blaze, +came running from all directions. "Billie, your trunk!" + +"My trunk! my trunk!" wailed Billie distractedly. "Oh, it will be burnt +up! All my money and everything!" + +"Say, Chet, look! The baggage car's on fire!" + +It was Teddy's voice, and Billie looked up to see him beside her staring +unbelievingly at the burning car. + +"Oh, Teddy," she cried, clutching his arm desperately, "my trunk's +burning up! Can't you do something--can't you?" + +Teddy gave a low whistle and kept on staring while Chet and Ferd came +rushing up and joined him. + +"The trunk----" Chet began, but Teddy clutched his arm excitedly. + +"Look!" he cried. "It's the front end of the car that's on fire. If we +climbed through the side door we'd have a chance to----" + +He never finished the sentence, for the boys had caught the idea and +were racing headlong for the burning car. Mr. Bradley, meeting them half +way, literally had to drag them back. + +"Don't be idiots!" he shouted to them. "Do you want to get burned up?" + +"Let go, Dad!" gasped Chet, struggling to free himself. "Billie's +trunk!" + +"Billie's trunk will have to take its chance," Mr. Bradley yelled back +at him. Then he added in a changed voice that made the boys stop +struggling for a moment and follow the direction of his gaze. "Here come +the fire engines. Maybe we'll save that trunk after all." + +With a yell the boys dashed off down the platform to meet the engines, +whether with a vague idea of helping the horses pull or just on general +principles, no one will ever know. + +The fire department was a country one, and there was not enough force of +water; in fact, there seemed not to be enough of anything. + +They did at last succeed in putting out the fire, however, while the +girls stood by in an agony of suspense, and finally some of the train +hands were allowed to climb into the sodden train and find what luggage, +if any, could be saved. + +Wildly hoping that their own particular little trunk with its precious +contents would be among the saved, the girls and boys would have +followed, but a guard politely but firmly held them back. + +"Claim your baggage at the next town, please," he said, and, his hard +heart softened perhaps by the sight of Billie's anxious face, added by +way of explanation: "All the baggage will be sent to the next town to be +claimed in the morning." + +"In the morning!" gasped Billie in consternation. "Have we got to wait +all night?" + +"There won't be another train through till to-morrow," the guard +explained, still patiently. "And it will save confusion to wait until +morning to identify the baggage." + +"How far is it to the next town?" inquired Mr. Bradley, and the guard +turned to him with an air of relief that said as plainly as words, +"Thank heaven, here's a man to talk to." + +"Three miles, sir," he said. "I reckon you'll have to walk it, as they +haven't taxi service around here." He grinned, but Mr. Bradley's face +was sober. He was wondering how he was going to get his charges to the +next town. + +However, even while he was wondering, the difficulty was being solved +for him by some of the good-natured farmers who generously put their +wagons at the disposal of the survivors of the wreck. + +When they reached the village fate chose at last to smile upon them--a +very little. They found a comfortable little cottage presided over by a +comfortable little farmer's wife who first gave them supper and then led +them to the best rooms in her house and tucked the girls in bed as if +she had been their own mother. + +Mrs. Jenkins, the farmer's wife, was as pretty and comely as a shining +red apple--and just as neat. She said that her husband had gone to a +neighboring town to sell some of their stock and would not be back for a +week or two. She was so lonely that her guests were as welcome to her as +she and her hospitality were welcome to them. + +Yet in spite of comfortable beds and snowy sheets, the girls slept +little. All night long they tossed and turned, and when occasionally, +worn out, they would drop into an uncomfortable doze, they would always +wake up with a start and a frightened cry. + +Visions of crushed cars with flames shooting from the windows tormented +them all night until at last, when it seemed they could stand it no +longer, they opened their eyes upon the dawn. + +"Oh, girls, it's morning!" cried Billie, jumping out of bed and +beginning to drag her clothes on hastily. + +"What are you going to do?" asked Violet, opening one sleepy eye. + +"Do?" cried Billie, turning upon her like a little whirlwind. "What do +you suppose I'm going to do? I'm going to find that trunk!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +RECOVERED TREASURE + + +To her great surprise Billie found that not only her father but the boys +were up and had for the past half hour been busily engaged in eating a +breakfast prepared for them by the rosy and good-natured farmer's wife. + +They greeted the unexpected apparition of Billie with enthusiasm, and +their impromptu hostess turned cheerfully back to the frying pan to fry +another egg for the new arrival. + +"I bet I know why you got up," said Ferd, his mouth full of biscuit and +jam. "Come on over, Billie, and after you've daintily pecked at some +food we're all going to look for your trunk." + +"But I'm not hungry," protested Billie, as Teddy dragged a chair up to +the table for her. "Don't you think we'd better get started right away?" + +"Not before you've had some breakfast," said her father, and so she +hurriedly ate--it might be said "gobbled," if it were not so +unladylike--the breakfast that Mrs. Jenkins placed before her. + +If it had not been for the real cause of her excitement the boys might +have found amusing her effort to gulp down her whole breakfast in the +time one usually takes to drink a cup of coffee. As it was, they +sympathized, and once when she choked and became painfully red in the +face, Ferd gravely handed her a glass of water and Teddy gallantly +offered to pat her on the back. + +When, contrary to everybody's expectations, the meal came to an end +without any further mishap, Billie crumpled her napkin into a ball and +threw it on the table. + +"I won't eat another bite for anybody," she said, adding, as she started +for the hall: "I'll put on my hat and be right with you." + +In the bedroom she found that Laura and Violet had turned over for a nap +and she stood for half a minute looking down at them reflectively and a +little scornfully. + +"Go ahead--sleep," she said under her breath. "It isn't your five +thousand dollars." This was hardly fair, seeing that that five thousand +dollars meant almost as much to Laura and Violet as to Billie herself in +the happiness it would bring. + +With one last disgusted look she fled from the room and joined the boys +and Mr. Bradley in the hall. Mrs. Jenkins had directed them to the +station, and, anxious to waste no further time, they set off at once. + +"Daddy, do you suppose we'll find it?" asked Billie, her breath coming +fast. "There were a good many trunks destroyed in the baggage car, +weren't there?" + +"It was hard to tell the extent of the damage," said Mr. Bradley, +anxious to reassure her, yet afraid to raise her hopes too high. +"However," he said, quickening his step a little, "there's the station +right before us, so we ought to find out before long." + +Early as they were, there was already a line of people on the rickety +station platform and Billie was seized with a fresh spasm of dismay. + +"Goodness! they couldn't possibly have saved trunks enough to go round," +she cried, and Teddy, though he was feeling very anxious himself, +laughed at her. + +"There were two baggage cars, both loaded, you know," he reminded her. +"And one of them wasn't touched by the fire. We'll hope yours was in +that one." + +"Oh, Teddy, you're such a comfort!" she cried, and squeezed his arm +gratefully, at which Teddy flushed happily. + +"Have we got to stand in line?" Billie whispered nervously to her father +a minute later. "I know I can't stand still and behave myself, Daddy. +Couldn't we go up and have a look around?" + +"That wouldn't do any good," said her father, glancing at the piled-up +baggage. "It would only make more confusion. And still----" He thought +for a moment and then suddenly he strode off down the station and toward +the guard who had been friendly the night before. + +Billie could hear nothing, but she saw enough to make her heart beat +faster. Mr. Bradley whispered a few words to the man who was at first +inclined to be impatient and made a quick gesture as if to wave Mr. +Bradley back to his place in the line. + +However, Billie could see that whatever her father was saying was making +an impression, for suddenly the guard straightened up and began to look +interested. + +"I wonder what Dad's handing him," said Chet slangily in her ear. + +"Look!" cried Billie, clutching his arm. "They're going to look for +something--probably our trunk. No, they're not. Look how excited he is! +And Daddy, too! Oh, Chet, what in the world----" the last words were a +wail, and Chet squeezed her hand warningly. + +"Come on, let's find out," he said. "It looks as if something was up." + +The four young people came within earshot just in time to hear the last +part of Mr. Bradley's sentence. + +"If it was only a few minutes ago, he hasn't had time to get far," her +father was saying with a grim light in his eyes. + +Billie could stand the suspense no longer, and she rushed forward, +grasping her father's arm. The earnest conversation between the guard +and Mr. Bradley and their evident excitement had already attracted the +attention of the line of people, and now they watched Billie curiously. + +"Daddy, what do you mean?" Billie cried in a voice tense with +excitement. "Is the trunk safe? Have you found it?" + +"Yes. But only to lose it again," said her father, and then went on +hurriedly to explain. "The guard says he saw a trunk here only a little +while ago that answers our description, but now it's gone. He remembers +seeing a suspicious looking man hanging around, and it's barely possible +that the man may have stolen it. He also remembers seeing this fellow +drive off in a Ford car just a few minutes ago." + +"O-oh!" cried Billie incredulously. "The trunk has been stolen!" Then +she whirled around and faced the guard. "Are you sure it was our trunk? +Could you describe it?" + +"Yes," the guard answered, excited himself by this time. "I took special +notice of it because it was so odd and shabby." + +"That trunk was worth five thousand dollars!" wailed Billie, thereby +causing another ripple of surprise among the onlookers. Then she turned +pleadingly to her father. + +"Daddy, we must find the trunk, we must!" she cried. "Just think what it +means." She was on the verge of tears, and her father came suddenly to a +decision. He turned quickly to the guard. + +"Is it possible to get a machine around here--a fast one?" he asked. + +"I don't know. But here's the man who keeps the livery stable." + +Suddenly a well-dressed man, who had been watching the proceedings with +lively interest, stepped forward and addressed Mr. Bradley courteously. + +"I have my car here," he said, adding with a smile of pride: "And she's +guaranteed to overtake anything that runs on four wheels. She's at your +disposal, if you can run her. My man went on an errand." + +"That's kind of you, sir," cried Mr. Bradley heartily. "If you will show +me----" + +"I'll say so," said the stranger boyishly, and led the way around the +station to a car which, even in this minute of excitement, the boys eyed +delightedly. + +"I'll drive," announced Teddy; and before any one could have interfered +if they had wanted to, he had jumped into the driver's seat and had +thrown in the clutch. Teddy was young, but he knew all about cars. + +Mr. Bradley took the seat beside him and the two boys and Billie +scrambled into the tonneau. Mr. Bradley motioned to the owner of the +car. + +"Will you come?" he asked, but the man shook his head. + +"No, thanks," he answered, "I'd rather stay here and watch for some +other missing baggage. Good luck!" and he waved to them as the big car +glided forward under Teddy's touch and shot around a turn in the road. + +The wind roared in Billie's ears and whipped little strands of hair +across her eyes, but she pushed them back impatiently and fixed her eyes +upon the flying ribbon of road ahead. + +"Faster, Teddy, faster!" she kept urging until even that young +scatterbrain began to wonder at her. + +"Can't be done, Billie!" he yelled back finally. "We're going about +sixty now, and if we meet anything on the road, we'll have a smash-up." + +"Be careful, Teddy," cautioned Mr. Bradley. "We don't want an accident." + +"Oh, but we've got to catch that thief!" wailed Billie, hoping each time +they rounded a bend in the road to see their quarry just ahead. "He may +have got too much of a start----" + +"Don't worry," Teddy shouted back. "No start will help a flivver against +a car like this. Say, but she's a beauty! Just listen to that engine!" +But Billie was in no mood to listen to anything except the jingle of +queer old coins in a shabby old trunk. Then suddenly there came a yell +from Teddy and an exclamation from Mr. Bradley. + +"There he is!" cried Teddy, leaning down over the wheel as though he +would force even more speed out of the flying car. "See him, Billie? +Didn't I tell you a flivver didn't have a chance?" + +Even as Teddy spoke, the man in the machine ahead of them looked back. +Then abruptly, and to the great surprise of Billie and the boys, he +stopped his car and began groping wildly in the bottom of it for +something. + +Then, while every second brought them nearer, the man did an astonishing +thing. He lifted a small object, which Billie excitedly recognized as +the trunk, and with an effort succeeded in getting it over the side of +the car. + +Then he dropped it in the road and turned for a swift moment to look at +his pursuers before he started his car again. It was only a moment, but +those in the car behind were near enough to get a good look at his face. + +It was a repulsive face topped with a mass of vivid red hair. But what +the boys and Billie most noticed was his unusually wide, loose-lipped +mouth. + +So busy was Teddy in looking at the thief that, if it had not been for +Billie, he would surely have run over the precious trunk in the road. + +She stood up waving her arms excitedly. + +"Teddy, look out! If you run over my trunk----" and Teddy swerved so +suddenly that she was nearly thrown from the car. However, Chet caught +her and put her safely back in the seat; and in another minute Teddy had +brought the big car to a sliding standstill. + +They tumbled to the roadside, and Billie, rushing over to the trunk, +sank to her knees regardless of three inches of dust in the road, and +encircled the shabby old thing with her arms. + +And Teddy, watching her, said with a grin: + +"Gosh! who wouldn't be a trunk?" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE "CODFISH" + + +A few minutes later a very exultant crowd of young folks were starting +back over the road they had just traveled so fast. + +In the bottom of the tonneau,--Billie and the two boys were using it as +a foot rest,--was safely stowed the shabby, but, oh! so precious old +trunk, and on Billie's face was the "smile that wouldn't come off;" or +at least that is what Ferd called it. + +Teddy was the only member of the party who was not fully satisfied with +the expedition. + +"We should have followed and caught the thief," he was saying for the +eleventh time--Billie had counted them. "It would have been like taking +candy from a kid to have caught up with his old flivver, and then we +could have landed him in jail, where he belongs." + +"But we wouldn't have time, Teddy," Billie reminded him. "You know the +train guard said there would be a train through about eleven o'clock. +And we can't miss it. Besides," and she shifted her feet happily on her +five thousand dollar footstool, "what do we care about that old man now +that we've got the trunk?" + +"Isn't that just like a girl," cried Teddy, almost running them into a +ditch in his indignation. "I suppose you would be willing to let all the +thieves in the world go free if you could only get back what they +stole." + +"I certainly would if we had a train to catch," agreed Billie, and Ferd +chuckled. + +"Good for you, Billie!" he cried approvingly. "Stick to your guns. I +don't see any use of following up that old chap now that we've got the +goods." + +"He wasn't very handsome, was he?" asked Billie, remembering that one +glimpse she had had of him. + +"Maybe that's why you didn't want to follow him," chuckled Ferd, and +Teddy scowled blackly at the wind shield. + +"But wasn't he ugly?" Billie persisted. "I don't think I ever saw such +red hair. And his mouth--ugh!" She paused reflectively. + +"Yes, it looked just like the mouth of a codfish," said Chet. + +"The poor fish," remarked Ferd jocularly, but be it said to their credit +that no one laughed at this feeble attempt at a joke. They only stared. + +As the car swept into the village again Billie had a sudden and rather +conscience-stricken memory of her chums. For the first time in her life +she had forgotten them completely. But then one doesn't lose five +thousand dollars and recover it every day! + +As the car stopped at the station it was surrounded by an eager crowd of +people, among whom was the owner of the car. But for his generosity they +would never have been able to recover the trunk. + +"Did you get it?" + +"Did you bring back the thief?" + +"Say, you must have done some speeding!" + +These and other like remarks greeted the adventurers as they climbed +from the car, and under cover of the confusion Billie made her escape. + +Teddy, looking around for her a moment later, missed her and started in +pursuit. + +"You're always running away," he protested plaintively, when he overtook +her just a little way from the cottage, the owner of which had shown +them such generous hospitality. + +Billie wrinkled up her nose in surprise. + +"Running away?" she repeated wonderingly. "Why, Teddy, sometimes I +almost think you're foolish." + +"That's what Mother says, only she's sure of it," said Teddy, with a wry +little grimace that made Billie laugh. + +"Well, she ought to know better than I," she said demurely. "She's known +you longer." + +"Not very much," Teddy retorted, opening the gate of the little picket +fence for her. "And, anyway, you haven't answered my question. What did +you run away for?" + +"I didn't run away. I escaped," she explained, making a face at the +memory of the crowd. "I wonder what makes people so curious. I do +believe all a person would have to do to collect a crowd would be to +stand on a soap box and say, 'Isn't this beautiful weather?'" + +"You bet. Especially if that person were you," said Teddy, and Billie +looked at him reproachfully. + +As the two entered the hall they met the girls just coming down stairs. + +They all went to the kitchen, where they found Mrs. Jenkins just +finishing a batch of golden brown crullers. She greeted the girls with a +beaming smile and insisted that Laura and Violet sit down while she got +them some breakfast. + +"Why, you must be nearly starved," she said. + +The girls protested that they were making her too much trouble, but she +gave them a cruller--"to stop their mouths," she said--and then set +cheerily to work to fry some more bacon and eggs, putting in a word now +and then and listening with a smile to the girls' merry chatter. + +"You mustn't scold me when you're hungry," Billie said, and the gladness +in her voice made the girls look at her eagerly. "No, I'm not going to +tell you a word," she said firmly as they started to ply her with +questions. "Not till you've had some breakfast, anyway. Eat, pretty +creatures, eat." + +Billie looked up at pretty Mrs. Jenkins and invitingly patted the empty +chair beside her. + +"Sit down here, please," she coaxed. "I want you to hear this too." + +"Now tell us," Laura commanded impatiently. "Why did you leave us asleep +and go out? And, oh, Billie! have you found your trunk?" + +So Billie told the story while the girls listened open-eyed and +open-mouthed, completely forgetting their breakfast, which lay untouched +before them. + +Mrs. Jenkins seemed almost as excited as they did, and leaned over the +table, one hand clutching the bread knife, while her rosy face fairly +beamed. Here was adventure such as rarely came to the village. + +Billie had just come to the part where the thief dropped the trunk in +the road when Mr. Bradley and the two other boys burst in upon them with +the news that the train was due in about fifteen minutes. + +Laura and Violet left their almost untouched breakfast, mumbled an +excuse to Mrs. Jenkins, and rushed with Billie up to the bedroom they +had occupied the night before to gather up their things and put on their +hats and coats. + +"Laura, you have my comb," said Violet accusingly, as Laura was stuffing +that article hastily into her hand bag. + +"Well, take your old comb," replied Laura, throwing it over to her. "It +isn't as good as mine, anyway. It has a tooth out." + +"Somebody will have more than one tooth out if she doesn't hurry," +threatened Billie. "Girls, we mustn't lose that train. Listen! There's +the whistle." + +Thereupon the girls forgot to quarrel and combined forces for a rush to +the train. + +They rushed down the stairs, falling over their suitcases and each +other, and found Mrs. Jenkins waiting for them at the bottom of the +stairs. + +Mr. Bradley had insisted upon paying her for her hospitality, but she +had stubbornly refused to take a cent. + +"No, sir," she had said, shaking her head decidedly. "Do you think I'm +going to let you pay me for having a good time? I love the girls and +boys, bless 'em, and I hate to see 'em go. Pay me--well, I guess not!" + +So Mr. Bradley had shaken her hand and thanked her heartily, which was +the best that he could do. + +And now the girls even risked missing the train to give her the only +kind of pay she wanted. Billie dropped her bag and impulsively threw her +arms about the comely woman. + +"You've just been sweet to us," she said, "and we'll never, never, +_never_ forget how kind you've been. I--I'd like to kiss you, if you +don't mind." + +Shyly she kissed Mrs. Jenkins' rosy cheek, and Violet and Laura followed +suit. The boys and Mr. Bradley shook hands with her heartily, and then +they picked up their belongings and fairly ran down the steps and out at +the little white gate. + +They turned to wave to Mrs. Jenkins, and she waved back at them until +they disappeared around the corner; and when she started to go into the +house she was surprised to find that there were tears in her eyes. + +"The precious lambs," she said. "The precious little lambs! They kissed +me, too, bless 'em!" and she put her hand up gently to her face. + +Meanwhile the train that was to carry the North Bend party back home had +thundered into the station, and all the passengers who had been stranded +in the place overnight were crowding on board. + +As Billie was being hurried up the steps, she suddenly paused and looked +back at her father. + +"Where's the trunk?" she asked nervously. + +"In the baggage car," Mr. Bradley assured her. "We'll get it safely to +North Bend--unless we have another wreck." + +As soon as he had made the speech he regretted it. Billie's face went +white and Laura and Violet looked back at him with startled eyes, then +went on more slowly into the car. + +The luggage had been stowed away in the racks overhead and the girls +were removing their hats when the train moved slowly from the station. + +"You know, I'm terribly afraid," Violet confided in a whisper to Billie. +"I--I won't feel safe for a minute until we reach North Bend." + +Billie looked a little uncertain herself, but suddenly there floated +across her vision a shabby, odd, little trunk, filled to the brim with +old coins and postage stamps. Then she laughed. + +"After this morning," she said, "I'm not afraid of anything. The luck's +all on our side!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +AMANDA'S SURPRISE + + +Billie was right about their luck, for they reached home without further +mishap. And it was with great relief the boys and girls later saw the +precious trunk safely deposited in Billie's attic. + +The next few days were mostly spent in telling wondering and interested +home folks about the ghostly happenings at the old homestead that was +Billie's inheritance and in recounting in detail the circumstances that +led to the discovery of the treasure trunk. + +And then one night Mr. Bradley came home with the wonderful news that he +had sold most of the contents of the old trunk and had realized four +thousand three hundred and fifty dollars--and every cent for Billie! + +"Did you sell them all, Dad?" Billie inquired, her eyes shining. + +"No, I kept out a few coins and stamps that were especially rare and +I'll take them to another dealer. I think," and he looked at Billie +thoughtfully, "they ought to bring in quite a little pile more." + +"Oh, Daddy, it's like a fairy tale!" Billie cried, and then added, +edging around to where her father stood and looking up at him +appealingly: "You and Mother haven't really said it, Dad, but Chet and I +will be able to go to boarding school, won't we?" + +"I should think so--on four thousand dollars," her father answered +dryly, and so Billie's cup of happiness was filled to the brim. + +But Billie, young as she was, was beginning to learn that no matter how +perfect a thing seems, there is almost sure to be a fly in the ointment +somewhere; and it was not long before she discovered the fly in the +present case. + +It was one beautiful bright day, the kind that only early autumn knows, +and the chums were walking down the main street of North Bend eagerly +discussing plans and talking of the fun they would have at Three Towers +Hall when suddenly Billie espied Miss Beggs, the English teacher whose +statue she had broken, coming out of a drug store. + +With a great wave of happiness that now she could pay for the statue, or +at least replace the one she had broken, she hurried forward and spoke +to the English teacher as she was about to enter another store. + +"Why, how-do-you-do!" cried the latter, evidently surprised and very +much pleased at the meeting. "I didn't know you were back yet." + +"We left Cherry Corners on Monday," Billie replied, then added eagerly +as Laura and Violet came hurrying up: "I'd like to tell you what +happened to us there; that is, if you have time enough." + +"Indeed I have," replied Miss Beggs heartily, and after she had greeted +the other girls they all walked down the street together while Billie +launched into the wonderful tale of her good fortune. + +"Over four thousand dollars!" cried the teacher when Billie stopped for +lack of breath. "Why, Billie, isn't that marvelous? It sounds like a +story. What," she added, smiling down into the eager face, "do you +intend to do with all that wealth?" + +"Buy a statue for you, first of all," said Billie promptly, and Miss +Beggs flushed. + +"I had forgotten all about that statue," she said. "I told you it had +already been broken, anyway." + +"I know you did. But since you had mended it so it looked all right, it +was almost as good as new, wasn't it? You mustn't say 'no,'" she added +quickly, as she saw Miss Beggs was about to interrupt, "for it won't do +the slightest bit of good. I'm not going to buy anything for myself till +I replace that statue." + +Miss Beggs gave a little helpless shrug of her shoulders. + +"I can see that nobody has a chance to change your mind, Billie Bradley, +when it's once made up," she said with a smile, then added as the girls +turned toward home: "I know what I shall name my new statue. Her name +shall be 'Billie.'" + +"She's lovely, isn't she?" asked Violet, referring to Miss Beggs. "I +wish she were going to be one of the instructors at Three Towers." + +"I hope they're nice, for it's awful to live with people who aren't," +sighed Laura. + +"Well, we won't know very much about them till we get there." + +"And then it may be too late," put in Violet dolefully. + +"But Daddy says," Billie went on, "that Miss Walters, the head of the +school, is just splendid." + +"Well, that ought to help some," said Laura, adding with a quick change +of tone that made the girls look up suddenly: "There's Amanda Peabody. +Can't we hide or something?" + +"I don't see where, and, besides, she won't bite you," said Billie. + +Amanda Peabody was probably the most unpopular girl in North Bend. The +girls disliked her as real girls always dislike a sneak and tattle-tale. +Amanda was always spying around, minding everybody's business but her +own, and making a general nuisance of herself. + +And because Billie was so popular, Amanda seemed to have an especial +grudge against her and was always trying to get her into trouble. + +As Amanda came toward them on this beautiful afternoon she seemed more +unpleasant than usual and there was a mean little smile at the corners +of her thin-lipped mouth. + +"Hello!" she accosted the girls, then turned to Billie with a more +pronounced grin. "I've heard all about the money you found in that awful +old house. You must feel like a regular Captain Kidd, don't you?" + +"Since I never was sure how Captain Kidd felt, I don't know," said +Billie coolly, although she could feel the blood slowly mounting into +her face. Oh, if she could only do what she wanted to, Amanda Peabody +wouldn't be smiling very long! + +The girls made as if to go on, but with characteristic ill breeding, +Amanda planted herself directly in front of Billie, still with that +maddening grin on her face. + +"I suppose now you'll be going to Three Towers Hall and your brother to +Boxton Academy." + +Billie did not say anything--she just looked. But that look must have +been enough, for suddenly with a flirt of her dress and a toss of her +head and an insolent look Amanda flung past them. + +"Just the same you needn't think you're the only pebble on the beach," +she called back. "I'm going to Three Towers, too." + +For a minute the chums could not believe their ears. Then they looked at +each other with horror written on their faces. + +"Did you hear what I heard?" gasped Billie, when she could find her +voice. + +"Yes, I heard," said Laura faintly. "Girls, do you think she could have +been telling the truth?" + +"I don't see why she should want to fib about it," said Vi, feeling +rather bewildered. "She'd know we would soon find it out." + +"Oh, but it's too awful!" burst out Billie suddenly. "Why, girls, it's +apt to spoil our whole year! Just think of having that sneak around, +prying into all our affairs and reporting every little thing we do." + +"I guess the only way out of that is not to do anything she can report," +said Violet ruefully, and Laura caught her up quickly. + +"There you go taking all the fun out of it before we start," she said, +and in spite of their consternation the girls had to laugh. + +"Why, you actually sound as if you intended to break the rules," said +Billie, drolly adding, with a prim little pucker of her mouth: "Laura, +I'm surprised at you." + +"Listen to the good little girl talking," gibed Laura. "I never knew you +to get into any mischief, Billie,--oh, no!" + +"Well, I won't quarrel with you about it," said Billie, calmly adding +with a little chuckle: "If we try to have any midnight feast at Three +Towers with sweet Amanda wandering round loose we will have to appoint a +guard to stand outside the door and warn us." + +"I suppose that will be my job," said Violet plaintively. "It will be +lots of fun standing out in a drafty hall looking for Amanda while you +girls are having a feast." + +"No, we'll fix it so it will be perfectly fair," said Billie soothingly. +"We'll draw lots or something." + +"But I don't know what good a guard would do anyway," said Laura +dolefully. "There's something creepy about the way Amanda finds out +things. You think she's miles away and the next day she tells you more +about what you did than you know yourself." + +"Maybe she has an accomplice," said Billie dramatically, and the girls +giggled. + +"Anybody'd think Amanda was a criminal or something," said Laura, but +Billie shook her head decidedly. + +"Uh-uh," she said. "I might like a good honest criminal but I'll be +jiggered--scuse me, ladies--if I can like Amanda Peabody! She's too +sly!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +OFF FOR THREE TOWERS HALL + + +It was just two weeks to the time when the girls were to leave for Three +Towers Hall. + +It seemed to them they would never get done all the things that they had +to do, and they sewed and packed and planned until it seemed they must +stop because of sheer exhaustion. + +However, their parents sent them to bed early--and not without +difficulty was this feat accomplished--on the night before the great +day, and the morning found them refreshed and wildly eager for this new +adventure. + +As, in her own little room, Billie regarded her flushed reflection in +the mirror it seemed impossible to make herself realize that she was +really going to Three Towers Hall at last--Three Towers which had been +the height of her ambition from the time she had entered the grammar +school. + +She was beginning to feel quite grown up--which was perhaps the reason +she regarded her new and very pretty brown hat with a critical eye and +smoothed down her new and very pretty brown dress with hands that +trembled with excitement. + +"Well, I think I'm all ready now," she said at last, and gave a little, +half-frightened glance around the familiar room. She wondered how it +would seem to sleep in a strange place with no mother or father near by. + +Then she shook herself impatiently and picked up her bag--for was she +not grown-up now? + +However, she did not feel very grown-up when a moment later she met her +mother in the hall and saw traces of tears on her face. For Mother had +no new scenes to go to and the departure of her two noisy children would +leave the house strangely quiet and subdued. + +Billie flung herself upon her mother and hugged her tight. + +"Mumsey, you've been crying!" she said to her accusingly. "And you know +you mustn't." + +Then to her great surprise she felt a peculiar lump in her own throat, +and two tears forced themselves to her eyes. + +She had never dreamt of crying, and for the first time she realized that +leaving one's mother--even for Three Towers--was not easy, after all! + +But it was Mrs. Bradley who came to the rescue and prevented a break +down by asking: + +"Isn't that Laura coming down the street? And the boy with her must be +Teddy." + +With a quick movement, Billie brushed her hand across her eyes, kissed +her mother hard, and straightened the new brown hat. + +"You're coming to the station, M--mother?" she asked, and Mrs. Bradley +nodded. + +After that Chet came in, wrestled with the same troublesome lump in his +throat, told his mother, "Not to worry, Mumsey, he'd write every day, +and she mustn't forget to write for he was going to miss her awfully," +and then Mr. Bradley joined them and they all started for the station. + +Mr. and Mrs. Jordon were with Teddy and Laura. Teddy said that Ferd was +on his way, but had told them not to wait for him, he'd catch up to them +later. + +A little farther on they picked up Violet and Mr. and Mrs. Farrington, +and after that there was no more time to think of being homesick. + +There was something in the sunshine, the crisp air, the brilliant, +changing colors of the leaves on the trees that went to Billie's head +and made her feel as though she were walking on air. + +"Do you suppose Ferd will catch up to us?" she asked of Teddy. Teddy was +looking unusually handsome this morning--at least so Billie thought--and +she was surprised to find that he was walking beside her. "It would be +awful if he made us miss the train." + +"You don't think we'd _wait_ for him do you?" asked Teddy scornfully. +"If Ferd's late he'll be the only one to miss the train!" + +Both Teddy and Billie had always agreed that if you talked of an angel +he or she was sure to turn up, and in this case their faith was +justified. + +For just as they reached the station platform a figure that looked very +familiar turned the corner and came rushing down toward them as if bent +on running a Marathon. + +"There's Ferd--and here's the train," announced Teddy, as a shrill +whistle made them jump and look eagerly down the track. "Not much time +to waste at that." + +The young folks were so taken up in the leave taking that they failed to +notice two girls who got on the train just after them. Even if they had +not been able to see the faces of these newcomers, an overheard sentence +or two would have given them the clue to their identity. + +"Isn't it just like them, the stuck up things," one of the girls said to +the other, "to bring all their relations to see them off?" + +"Never mind," said the other with a malicious grin. "I guess I gave them +rather a jolt the other day when I told them I was going to Three Towers +too. I guess they thought they owned the place and ought to have it all +to themselves." + +However, the boys and girls were perfectly unaware of this conversation +concerning themselves; although it probably would not have bothered them +very greatly if they had heard it. + +They were still leaning out of the window, calling to those left on the +platform and answering injunctions "not to get killed" from their +mothers and to "please be careful and not get into any more scrapes than +they could help" from their fathers, when the guard shouted a warning +and the train started off. + +They waved until the station and the people on it were out of sight, +then settled back in their seats "to view the prospect o'er," Chet said. + +For a moment they all felt a little lost and queer, though nothing in +the world could have made them confess to the feeling. But the little +wave of homesickness soon passed off, swallowed up by the vision of the +amazing adventure ahead of them. + +Before the little party had stowed away their baggage and taken off +their wraps, several boys and girls they had known at school came over +to greet them and talk things over, and Billie, leaning over to rescue a +box of chocolates that had fallen at her feet, suddenly looked up and +right into the beaming face of Nellie Bane. + +Nellie was a friend of the chums who had rather expected to go to Three +Towers Hall with them at first. But Mr. and Mrs. Bane had suddenly +decided to go to Europe and take Nellie with them, which had rather +upset Nellie's plans. And now here she was on the train with them. + +"Why, Nellie!" Billie cried, almost dropping the chocolates again in her +surprise and delight. "How did you get here----" + +"Through the window," mocked Nellie, and dropped into a vacant seat +beside Laura. + +"But," stammered the latter, her eyes round and wide with wonder, "the +last we heard of you you were going to England." + +"Yes. But an aunt of Daddy's died and he decided we'd better postpone +the voyage until next summer." + +"Are you glad or sorry?" demanded Billie breathlessly. + +"Glad," said Nellie without a moment's hesitation. "I want to go to +Europe, of course. But I can go there any old time, and I was simply +wild to go to Three Towers with you girls. You'll never know how jealous +I was," she ended with a sigh. + +"Isn't it funny?" marveled Violet. "And here we were envying you!" + +They laughed, and thereupon entered into a spirited conversation that +lasted until Ferd interrupted to inquire what they were keeping the +chocolates to themselves for, anyway. Did they think they had a corner +on the chocolate market? To this Billie answered by holding out the +whole box, showing that they had been too busy talking even to open it. + +This interruption led to others, however, and they found that nearly the +whole car was occupied by girls and boys from North Bend who were going +to Three Towers or the Boxton Military Academy. + +At last, wearied with excitement and visiting, Billie sank into her own +seat. A moment later Teddy came and sat down beside her. + +"I see we have your friend with us," he said, handing over the candy +box. + +"My friend?" repeated Billie, bewildered. + +"Amanda Peabody," he explained. "She is sitting with another girl who +looks as if she might be a second edition of Amanda. There! Away at the +end of the car! You surely missed a lot by not seeing them." + +"Another girl," Billie repeated, looking worried. "Then there are two of +them." + +"Yes. But don't let it hurt your appetite. Have some more candy." + +"Do you know her name--the other one?" asked Billie, ignoring the +offered candy box. + +"No, I didn't stop long enough to inquire. In fact," he chuckled and bit +into a chocolate, "I gave them one look and beat it." + +Billie dimpled, but the next moment her face was grave again. + +"That's all right for you," she said. "But what would you do if you +couldn't 'beat it'?" + +It was Teddy's turn to be puzzled. + +"What do you mean?" he asked. + +"Only," said Billie, speaking very slowly and distinctly, "that Amanda +and most likely that other girl, whoever she is, are both going to Three +Towers Hall with us." + +Teddy emitted a long whistle and looked sympathetic. + +"Say, I'm sorry. That's tough luck." + +"It's worse than that," wailed Billie. "It's--it's ruinous! I just know +that Amanda Peabody will do her best to spoil the term for us girls!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +MISS WALTERS + + +In spite of their eagerness to reach their destination, the ride seemed +all too short to the boys and girls. They started when the guard called +out, "Molata, next stop!" + +Hardly knowing what she was doing, Billie found her hat and coat, put +them on, and then sat on the very edge of her seat with her gladstone +bag grasped tightly in one hand. Then she looked around at Laura who was +sitting in the seat beside her. + +It was then she got her surprise. For Laura was sitting in almost the +same position as herself, perched on the edge of the seat, bag tightly +gripped in one hand, pocketbook in the other and--this was the fact that +made Billie chuckle--Laura's hat was very much over one eye. + +Laura looked up at the sound of the chuckle and giggled as her eyes met +Billie's. + +"I'm so excited," she whispered in Billie's ear, "that my knees are +trembling. I'm afraid I'll never be able to walk out." + +"Well, you needn't expect me to carry you," said Billie, reaching up and +putting Laura's hat on straight. "Because I'm going to have all I can do +to manage myself. Goodness, what's that?" + +It was merely the train stopping, but by the tone of Billie's voice one +might have thought it was the end of the world. + +"Say, are you girls all ready?" asked Ferd, leaning over the back of +their seats. + +The girls nodded nervously. + +"Well, then let's go," Teddy chimed in, grabbing his suitcase and cap. +"Come on, pick up your hats, girls, and don't forget your feet." + +"Oh, isn't he funny?" gibed Laura making a face at him. Then she grabbed +wildly at her bag as one of the excited girls seemed bent upon carrying +it off with her. "Say, come back with that," she cried. "Isn't one +enough for you?" + +However, they did succeed at last in getting themselves safely on the +station platform. It was a pretty station, and this being their first +glimpse of the place where they were going to spend so much time, they +looked about them with interest. + +Molata was the nearest town to Three Towers Hall and Boxton Military +Academy. Both of these schools were situated on Lake Molata, for which +the town had been named. Most of the inhabitants of Molata were wealthy, +and the estates in and about the town were magnificent. There was also +a large hotel, filled during the summer season. + +Even the station was in keeping with the general air of prosperity. In +the minute the girls had to look about them, they saw a stone-built +waiting room with a red-tiled roof. A beautiful green velvety lawn +completely surrounded the station on three sides, while on one side a +beautiful fountain sent its sparkling spray high into the clear air. And +further back through the trees they caught glimpses of beautiful +estates. + +They found themselves being hustled toward the other end of the station +where two conveyances, one from Three Towers Hall and the other from +Boxton Military Academy, were waiting to take the girls and boys to +their destination. + +Two attendants tended to the trunks and deposited the luggage inside the +cabs, while the girls and boys said excited good-byes to each other on +the platform. + +"We'll be only a little over a mile away from you," Chet called out. +"And when we get an afternoon off we'll row down the lake and get you +girls." + +"Oh, won't that be fun!" cried Vi, her eyes dancing. "I'm just crazy to +get out on the lake." + +"Goodness, we haven't even seen it yet," Laura reminded her. + +"Yes, and if we're going to," Billie added, "I guess we'd better get +started. Come on, girls. Everybody's in but us. Good-bye, Chet! +Good-bye, Ferd and Teddy! Please be good and don't get sent home the +first week--we wouldn't have anybody to give us that row, you know. +Good-bye--good-bye----" + +Laura and Vi had already clambered into the long, car-like machine with +_Three Towers Hall_ painted in gold letters on the outside and were +impatiently commanding Billie to follow them. + +As soon as she was inside the boys rushed to the car with _Boxton +Military Academy_ painted in gold letters on the outside, and the +good-byes were over. + +As they left the station and swung into a wide smooth road on their way +to Three Towers Hall the girls relaxed with a sigh of happiness. + +"Isn't this a wonderful road?" said Billie, screwing her head around so +that she could look out the window. The machine had two long seats on +either side, running from the front to the back of it so that, in +turning, Billie accidentally stuck her elbow into the girl next to her. + +She had not noticed the girl, but now, when the latter spoke, Billie +turned around quickly. The girl was Eliza Dilks, Amanda Peabody's chum, +and beside her sat Amanda herself looking on with her usual sneering +grin. + +"Say, if you haven't got room enough," Eliza said in a thin high voice, +"I can move over to the other side of the car." + +For a minute Billie just stared, while several girls about them paused +in their own conversations to listen. Vi was aghast and Laura was +furious. + +"Well," said Billie at last, letting her gaze travel from Eliza's mean +face to her ill-fitting shoes--somewhere Billie had heard that people +hate to have you look at their feet--"maybe you'd better move. There's +lots more room on the other side." + +The girls chuckled. Laura said: "Good for you, Billie," under her +breath, and Eliza flushed angrily. She seemed about to speak, but as +Billie was still gazing steadily at her feet she looked down at them +herself and thereby lost the battle. + +However, the incident had made them miss some of the prettiest scenery +in Molata, and it was almost with a feeling of regret that the girls saw +the majestic three towers of Three Towers Hall rise before them. + +Their regret did not last long, however; and when the car started up the +broad driveway the girls strained their eyes for a better view. + +It was a beautiful place. The hall itself was built of rough, +greenish-gray stone, and over the whole front of it, twining round the +windows, hanging over the doors, grew clinging, bright green ivy. + +A smooth velvety lawn sloped down straight to the water, and the girls +cried out at this, their first glimpse of Lake Molata. Through the +trees, the water of the lake glistened and shimmered and danced while +the soft rippling sound of tiny wavelets lapping at the bank seemed to +call to them invitingly. + +"Oh, g-girls, it's lovelier even than we pictured it!" cried Laura, +stammering in her eagerness. "Aren't you just c-crazy to get out on that +water?" + +"Yes. But look!" cried Billie, grasping her arm and pointing to the +front door of Three Towers Hall. "There's the president, I suppose, +waiting to welcome us." + +For in the doorway was standing a slender figure in white, evidently +waiting, as Billie had said, to welcome the girls to Three Towers Hall. + +Other girls had noticed her, too, and as the attendant came around and +opened the door, they all scrambled down in a flurry of excitement. + +"It's Miss Walters," the whisper went around, and Billie felt a thrill +of excitement. + +"Miss Walters!" Always she had seemed to Billie a person to be looked up +to--a sort of goddess set apart from ordinary mortals. For Miss Sara +Walters had been head of Three Towers Hall for a number of +years--always, it seemed to Billie. And now Billie was actually going to +see her, talk to her, perhaps even make her take notice of her, Billie, +above the others! + +As she rather breathlessly ascended the steps to the entrance of Three +Towers with the other girls she studied this slim, straight woman who +had been the heroine of so many of her day dreams. + +And what she saw satisfied even Billie. + +Miss Walters was only thirty-five, but her hair was snow white and +framed her face in thick wavy masses. Her complexion was pink and white, +and her dark violet eyes looked almost black under their dark lashes. +And her figure was that of a girl of twenty. + +"Isn't she wonderful?" Vi whispered in her ear; but Billie squeezed her +arm warningly. + +"Sh-h," she said. "She might hear us." + +"I wouldn't care if she did," said Violet with unusual spirit, and in +her heart Billie could not blame her. + +A moment more and Miss Walters was speaking to them, saying a few words +to each of them, welcoming them to Three Towers Hall. + +Then she turned and led the way into the building, the girls crowding +after her eagerly. + +"And her voice," said Billie, adoringly in Laura's ear, "is the very +sweetest part of her!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE DILL PICKLES + + +Miss Walters took the girls into her office, looked up the cards she had +made out for them--for of course their names had been sent in some time +before as prospective students at Three Towers Hall--and then called in +another teacher, Miss Ada Dill, who had part charge of the dormitories. + +Miss Dill was tall and thin with sharp black eyes and white hair drawn +severely back from her forehead. She smiled when Miss Walters introduced +her to the girls, but her smile reminded Billie of the smile on the face +of a Chinese idol which she and her chums had come upon among the +antiques of the old homestead at Cherry Corners. It was merely a crack +in her face and the beady black eyes remained unsmiling. + +"Miss Dill," Miss Walters told the girls, "will show you your places in +the dormitories and will give you the hours for meals and such other +information as you will need at first. Lunch will be served in half an +hour, and after that you may have the rest of the day to yourselves to +become acquainted with Three Towers Hall." + +Then she dismissed them, and Billie and the other new arrivals found +themselves following the stiff back of Miss Dill through the corridor +and up a broad flight of steps. + +They met several girls on their way to the dormitory, and the latter +looked at them curiously. The girls learned a little later that these +students had spent the summer at Three Towers, although most of the +girls had gone home to relatives and friends and would not be back until +the next day. + +It was a rule at Three Towers Hall that the new students should report +the day before the year formally opened for the purpose of becoming +acquainted with the rules and regulations of the school. + +"Wasn't that a pretty girl?" Vi whispered to Billie, as Miss Ada Dill +opened the dormitory door and a lovely girl with very pink cheeks and +very black hair stopped for a word with the teacher and then hurried +past the girls on her way downstairs. "I wonder who she is." + +"If she's as nice as she is pretty," Billie whispered back, "she'll be +all right." + +Then they stepped into the long, many-windowed room and looked about +them curiously. There were beds, beds, beds and more beds. Everywhere +the girls looked they seemed to see nothing but beds. As a matter of +fact there were only ten of them, but the girls could have sworn there +were at least twice that number. + +"We can put five of you girls in here," Miss Dill said in a crisp, dry +tone, almost as if she resented having to say it at all. "Are there any +of you who would particularly like to be together?" + +Of course Billie spoke up for herself and Laura and Vi, and after +regarding her severely through her glasses for a moment, Miss Dill +finally assigned three beds at the further end of the room to the chums. + +"Then there is room for two more," Miss Dill said, and to the horror of +the chums Amanda Peabody came forward, holding Eliza Dilks by the hand. + +Laura uttered a little exclamation and seemed about to protest when +Billie pinched her arm and made her say "ouch" instead. + +"There's no use in saying anything," Billie whispered fiercely. "It +wouldn't do any good, and we'd only make more of an enemy of that--those +girls." + +They were relieved a little when they saw that "those girls" were +assigned to beds half way down the room so there would at least be a few +neutral girls in the beds between. + +"So if the rest of you will come with me," said Miss Dill, "I will give +you places in the other dormitories." + +Then she and the other girls went out into the hall, the door was shut, +and the chums were left alone in the big room with Amanda Peabody and +Eliza Dilks. + +The girls sank down upon their beds and looked about them curiously. +There was a little wash basin and a towel rack beside each snowy white +bed and on the towel rack hung several small towels with blue and white +borders. + +The beds were set at regular intervals down the long room, and the +spaces in between them were fitted out in such a manner as almost to +make a separate little room for each girl. + +Beside the wash basins, there was a dresser set at the foot of each +white bed and under each bed was a hamper for soiled clothes. Each girl +had a little table with a chair to match. + +The woodwork had been painted white and the walls were a grayish blue +color with several pretty pictures scattered about them to break the +bareness. + +"Why, the room's all blue and white," Billie suddenly discovered +delightedly. "Isn't that a lovely blue they've painted the wall? And the +snowy white woodwork! Oh, it's delicious!" + +"And just look at the view from this window!" cried Vi, beckoning to +them eagerly. As the girls looked over her shoulder they fairly gasped +with delight. + +Below them stretched the velvety lawn dotted with the darker green of +shrubbery, while away through the trees glimmered and gleamed the water +of Lake Molata. The day was warm for autumn, and a gentle breeze played +among the leaves of the great trees bordering the lake, coming to the +girls in a soft, rustling whisper. The picture was almost too perfect to +be true. + +"And she said," Billie murmured at last with a sigh of content, "that we +could have all the afternoon to become acquainted with Three Towers." + +"Yes," said Laura, turning from the window, "but I guess she meant only +the inside of Three Towers. I don't believe they will allow us off the +grounds so soon." + +At that moment the door opened and the pretty girl that had passed them +in the hall entered and shut the door softly behind her. In the bright +light of the room she seemed even prettier than she had in the hall, but +there was something about her--Billie could hardly have told what, +perhaps it was the expression of her mouth--that made Billie +instinctively dislike her. + +The strange girl's eyes rested on Amanda and Eliza where they sat in +their corner, talking in whispers, and her lips curled disdainfully. +Then she came over to where Billie and her friends were standing. + +"Hello!" she said with a quick smile. "You're the new girls, I suppose, +and we might as well get acquainted right away. My name is Rose Belser, +and I'm from Brighting," mentioning a town several miles the other side +of North Bend. + +"We're awfully glad to know you," Billie answered, with her own +particular friendly smile. "I'm Beatrice Bradley, and these are my two +chums, Violet Farrington and Laura Jordon. We're from North Bend." + +"Glad to know you," said Rose Belser with a quick little nod of her +black head. Then she curled herself on the foot of Billie's bed and +proceeded to make herself at home. + +"I've been staying here for the summer," she told them. "It's an awful +place to spend the summer, you know. First time I ever did it, and I +never was so lonesome in my life." + +"Why, I'd love to spend the summer here," said Vi, thinking of the +beautiful country they had glimpsed and the lovely lake where one might +row or canoe to his heart's content. "The country's so pretty, and you +have the lake----" + +"Oh, the lake!" the girl interrupted impatiently. "And the country! I'm +tired to death of the lake and the country. I want to go to the city +where you can wear pretty clothes and go to parties and things." + +"But I should think you could wear pretty clothes here," said Billie, +wondering. "And as to parties--I thought you always could have parties +at boarding school----" + +"Maybe you can at some boarding schools," the girl interrupted again +with that same impatient toss of her head. "But those schools don't have +Dill Pickles for guardian angels." + +The girls looked at her as though she had gone crazy, and indeed for a +moment they thought she had. But Rose Belser gave a short little laugh +and went on to explain. + +"The Dill Pickles are two old-maid sisters. One of them brought you up +here----" + +"Miss Dill!" cried Billie, beginning to see light. "Oh, has she a +sister?" + +"Yes. And the sister is worse," said the girl, with a little grimace. +"They are Miss Ada and Miss Cora, and Miss Cora is the terror of the +Hall. If it weren't for Miss Walters----But say, you'd better hurry," +she interrupted herself suddenly and jumped to her feet. "It's almost +time for the lunch gong to ring, and if you're late for lunch, Miss Cora +will be furious. She has charge of the dining hall, you know. You'd +better wash and straighten your hair. Miss Cora looks you through with a +gimlet eye." + +She ran over to her wash basin, which happened to be the next one to +Billie's, and began to wash her hands vigorously. + +"Oh, dear, we forgot all about lunch, and we must be a sight!" cried +Vi, pulling off her hat and excitedly patting her hair. "Girls, we +haven't any combs--our trunks haven't come up yet. Give me a comb, +somebody! Oh, here's one in my grip." + +"How strange," mocked Billie, dashing cold water on her face till it +shone rosily. "It almost seems to me I have one in mine also." + +"Well, you'd better get busy and use it," Violet retorted, drawing her +own comb through her heavy hair, "or you'll get in bad the very first +day. Oh, dear! there's the gong." She stopped with her comb in the air +and gazed in horror at the girls. As for Billie and Laura, they stood as +if they had suddenly become paralyzed. + +"If you'd start in time you'd be ready in time," said a nasal voice from +the other end of the room, and the girls glanced around quickly. They +had been so absorbed in their new experience that for a time they had +completely forgotten Amanda and Eliza. But now they turned just in time +to see the two girls leaving the room. As she shut the door behind her +Amanda gave it a defiant little slam. + +"Say, who's your friend?" asked Rose Belser, looking in astonishment at +the closed door. "She's pleasant, isn't she?" + +"They're neither of them friends of ours," said Billie, jerking her hair +angrily as though she wished it had been Amanda's hair instead. "They +just happen to come from the same town, that's all." + +"Never mind about Amanda, Billie," pleaded Violet, looking uneasily at +the door. "We're late----" + +"Oh, don't worry," interrupted Rose, giving a final pat to her black +hair. "That was only the first gong. The second one rings five minutes +later. There it goes now. Are you ready?" + +The girls were ready, and with quickly beating hearts they stepped out +into the corridor. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A NEW ACQUAINTANCE + + +"This way," said their new acquaintance, turning to the right and +starting for the stairs. "Now for the second of the Dill Pickles. Long +may she wave!" she added gaily. + +It was a new experience for Billie Bradley and for Laura and +Violet--that hour in the dining hall. The hall itself was an immense +room and seemed at first glance to be made up almost entirely of +windows. As Rose Belser afterward remarked to the girls, there was one +thing that no one at Three Towers Hall had to complain of, and that was +lack of light. + +Three tables stretched almost the entire length of the hall, and +although they all bore snowy cloths there was only one of them that was +really "set for action," as Laura said. + +Most of the girls had already assembled when the chums reached the +dining hall. They were standing around in little groups of two or three, +talking excitedly, and while the girls were hesitating which group to +join Miss Cora Dill swept into the room. + +"Now you'd better mind your Ps and Qs," Rose whispered to them, and the +girls regarded with interest the second of the Dill twin sisters who had +been called by the disrespectful name of the "Twin Dill Pickles." + +Miss Cora Dill was indeed Miss Ada's counter-part. There was the same +thin figure and straight back, the same black eyes and thin-lipped +mouth, the only difference being that where Miss Ada's hair was white, +Miss Cora's hair still retained some traces of its original brown color. + +"Goodness, I'm glad there's some way we can tell them apart," said +Billie to Laura in an under-tone. "If they were just exactly alike we'd +have to do with them the way they do with twin babies--tie a blue ribbon +on one and a pink ribbon on the other." + +The idea of tying a pink ribbon or any other kind of ribbon on the "Twin +Dill Pickles" was so ridiculous that the girls giggled aloud, thereby +causing Vi to nudge Billie sharply. + +"Sh-h," she whispered. "Her Highness is about to speak." + +Miss Cora carried some cards in her hands, and as the girls gathered +about her she asked them to answer when she called out their names. + +Although there were a hundred students in Three Towers Hall, there were +only half a dozen who, like pretty Rose Belser, had spent the summer at +the school. + +The rest of the girls were almost all from North Bend and the other +surrounding towns, although a few had come from a distance. + +When the girls had all reported present, Miss Cora gave them their seats +at the table and took her own place at the head of it. + +At first the girls were not at all sure whether they were supposed to +talk or not, for the presence of thin-lipped Miss Cora at the head of +the table threw rather a damper on both their enthusiasm and their +appetites. + +However, when Rose Belser leaned across several girls to say something +to Billie the rest of the girls took courage and a little murmur of +conversation traveled around the table. + +The lunch was a satisfying one, and the girls, beginning to recover from +their excitement and being really hungry from the long train trip, ate +heartily. + +But every once in a while, when the talk and laughter about the table +threatened to become too hilarious, the girls were conscious of Miss +Cora's voice reminding them that the table was the "place for +decorum--not for rioting." + +Billie and her chums were half way down the table, a fact for which they +were very thankful. Placed only two or three seats away from Miss Cora, +at the head of the table, was Nellie Bane. Nellie seemed to have struck +up a sudden friendship with one of the half dozen girls who had spent +the summer at the school, and the two were evidently having an +interesting conversation. + +Billie, catching Nellie's eye, telegraphed to her by means of the sign +language the wish to see her some time after lunch, and Nellie, in the +same language, agreed. + +At last lunch was over and the girls reluctantly left the table. But as +they were about to leave the room Miss Cora called them together again, +saying that she had something important to say to them. + +"You will each find a set of rules on your dresser," she said. "And +before you do anything else it will be well for each girl to become +thoroughly acquainted with them and the penalties for breaking them. +After to-day any departure from the rules will meet with the proper +punishment." + +"Anybody would think we were three years old," grumbled Laura, when they +were on their way back to the dormitories. "Goodness, I wonder who ever +let her in, anyway." + +"Oh, you'll soon get used to her," Rose assured them. She seemed to have +attached herself definitely to the girls, who, although they found her +amusing and interesting, would rather have been left to themselves on +this first day. "Everybody dislikes her at first--and Miss Ada, +too--but they only laugh at them after awhile. You see," she finished as +if the girls must understand, "we have Miss Walters." + +"Well, all I have to say," said Laura, whose temper had been +considerably ruffled by this second of the "Twin Dill Pickles," "is that +it's lucky Miss Walters and not Miss Cora is at the head of things." + +When the girls reached the dormitory they looked for the rules, found +them, and sat down eagerly to read them over together. First of all they +found that the dormitories, eleven in all, were lettered. The letter of +their dormitory was "C." + +There were the usual rules about late hours, going outside the grounds +without leave, neglecting to wear rubbers in the rain, all with the +usual penalties attached. But the one that most interested the girls was +the punishment given for keeping lights on after hours. + +"Three days without recreation and isolation in the dormitory for the +duration of that period," read Billie indignantly. "Goodness! I wonder +if all that happens to you if you keep your light on five minutes after +hours." + +"It does if Miss Cora or Miss Ada catches you," drawled Rose, from where +she was curled up again on the foot of the bed watching the girls with +lazy interest. "Some of the teachers are all right. There's Miss Harris, +and Miss Race the math teacher. If they catch you just a few minutes +over time they'll give you a lecture and let you off without reporting +it to Miss Walters. But if it's any of the others--look out, that's +all." + +A few minutes later Nellie Bane came in, bringing her new friend with +her, and for a little while the girls forgot all about rules and "Twin +Dill Pickles" and everything else and just had a good time. + +Nellie's new acquaintance was a small fluffy little blonde whom the +girls liked right away. Her name was Constance Danvers, called "Connie" +for short, and the name seemed to suit her exactly. Of course, she and +Rose Belser, having spent the preceding year together, knew each other +well, but Billie noticed that the two girls did not seem over friendly. + +"I don't know," she thought to herself, "but I'm going to like Connie +better than Rose." + +A little while later Rose suggested that she and Connie show the girls +about the Hall, to which the newcomers eagerly agreed. + +"I wonder," said Vi suddenly, as they were about to leave the room, +"what has become of Amanda and Eliza Dilks. They haven't been up here +since lunch." + +"Well, why should we care?" sang out Billie happily. "I only hope they +stay away." + +"Probably up to some mean tricks," said Laura gloomily. + +Connie and Rose were eager to hear more of Eliza and her friend, but the +chums could not be made to tell tales. The girls would have to find out +what Amanda was for themselves. + +"Only," thought Billie to herself, as they ran down the stairs, "I would +like to know where those two sneaks are and why they didn't come back to +the dormitory. I know they'll _try_ to spoil all our fun, even if they +can't _do_ it." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +LAKE MOLATA + + +How the girls did enjoy the rest of that afternoon! Connie and Rose +showed them the classrooms and lecture rooms, told them little stories +about the different teachers and recounted funny incidents of school +life that made the girls bubble with laughter. + +All the rooms were high-ceilinged, many-windowed and cheerful, but it +was the lecture hall and gymnasium that the girls thought the most +attractive of all. + +The lecture room was on the third floor and was arranged in the shape of +a Roman circus, the seats in tiers all around the room with the lecture +platform in the center. + +"My, I won't even mind being lectured to in a room like this," said Vi, +in an awed little voice. "Do you have many lectures?" + +"Too many," drawled Rose, sinking down in one of the seats and spreading +out her ruffled dress carefully. The girls had been too excited to +notice the dress before, but now they saw it was much more elaborate +than any they had brought with them, except one or two apiece for party +wear. + +"I wonder if all the girls dress like that for every day," thought +Billie in a sort of panic, looking down at the pretty little brown cloth +dress she had thought so wonderful at home. She wondered if Vi and Laura +felt the same way. + +A little later they wandered downstairs to the gymnasium, and then all +thought of clothes was put in the background. + +Around the gymnasium were all sorts of swinging ladders and standing +ladders. There were punching bags and medicine balls; in fact, +everything calculated to make strong healthy women of the girls who came +to Three Towers Hall. + +There was a swimming pool, also, and over this the girls went into +raptures. They had had scarcely any opportunity to learn to swim in +North Bend, and although on their visits to New York they had never +failed--that is, in the summer time--to take a dip, or several of them, +in the Atlantic Ocean, they had never learned to swim more than a few +strokes at a time. + +"A swimming pool!" cried Billie. "I suppose we might have known we would +have one here. Now we can really learn to swim. I wonder," and so +interested had she been with her own affairs that this was the first +time she had even given the boys a thought, "if Chet and Teddy and Ferd +have a swimming pool at Boxton Academy." + +"Boxton Academy?" Rose took her up quickly, suddenly looking interested. +"Do you know any one who goes there?" + +"I should say we do," put in Laura proudly. "Billie's----" + +"Billie?" Connie interrupted, looking puzzled. + +"I'm 'Billie,'" Billie explained, with a laugh. "They call me 'Billie' +for short." + +"Never mind about that," Rose put in impatiently. "What were you saying +about the boys?" + +The girls looked at pretty, black-haired, pink-cheeked Rose, and Billie +realized suddenly why it was she had not altogether liked the girl. + +"She'll be friendly to almost any girl if she happens to like her +brother," she thought, and instinctively she glanced at Laura. The +latter must have had almost the same thought, for she gave Billie a +meaning glance. + +"You said they were at Boxton Academy," Rose insisted. + +"Tell us about them," said Connie. She was interested, but in an +entirely different sort of way. + +"Well, there's Billie's brother and mine and a chum of theirs, Ferd +Stowing. They came with us as far as Molata. Then they left us for the +Academy and we came on here. And we were having such a good time we +never thought about them," she finished penitently. + +The girls were eager to look about the grounds of Three Towers after +that, but Rose would not let them go till she had found out all about +the boys and their "life history," as Billie resentfully said later. +After that the girls noticed that she was even more friendly than she +had been before. + +"Oh, well," said Billie to herself, feeling strangely comforted by the +thought, "she won't have much of a chance to see the boys, anyway, +because we can only leave the grounds on special permission and they +won't be able to get away from the Academy to come here very often. I +suppose I'm an awful cat," she finished ruefully, "but I'm not going to +let her meet any of our boys if I can help it." + +A little later she forgot all about her irritation in the delight of +walking about the beautifully kept grounds of Three Towers and examining +the outside of the picturesque old building itself. + +The latter was even more beautiful than they had thought in their first +glimpse of it, with its rugged, ivy-grown walls and its +three-battlemented towers rising above the trees. + +"It looks almost like an old castle," cried Billie. "The kind you read +about in 'The Days of Chivalry.' All it needs is a----" + +"Moat," finished Laura excitedly. "I was just thinking that, Billie." + +"Yes, a moat would make it just perfect," sighed Violet, adding, with a +laugh: "Anyway, even if we haven't the moat, we have a lake." + +"Yes, let's go down and look at it," proposed Connie. "We've had +wonderful times on it all summer." + +"Doing what?" asked Laura eagerly. "Do they let you row on it--all by +yourselves?" + +"I should say not," answered Rose, with a little toss of her head. "You +have to learn to swim in the pool first so that if you upset your boat +you won't get drowned. It's their great boast that no girl has ever been +drowned at Three Towers." + +"Well, we don't want to start anything," said Billie, with a little +grimace, and the girls laughed. + +"Then," Rose went on, "after you learn to swim you have to take an +instructor out in the rowboat or canoe with you until she thinks you +know how to handle it like an expert." + +"What do you mean by an instructor?" asked Vi. "One of the teachers?" + +"Sometimes it's a teacher," Connie spoke up. "But as a rule it's one of +the older girls in the first grade who teaches the younger ones. Miss +Walters said," and her fair face flushed with pleasure, "that perhaps +next semester I shall be appointed as instructor." + +"Oh, isn't that great?" cried Billie heartily, for she was beginning to +like Connie Danvers with all her heart. Then, too, she had noticed with +a feeling of relief that Connie was not dressed like Rose Belser. She +had on a pretty cloth dress very much like Billie's own. "And she didn't +seem crazy to know all about the boys," she added, with an added warmth +around her heart. + +"I wonder," she said aloud, "how long it will take us girls to learn to +become instructors." + +"Well, I don't know about the rest of us," spoke up Nellie Bane; "but I +know it won't take you very long, Billie. You were always the very first +to pick up anything." + +As with most of the rest of Billie's friends, Nellie shared the +conviction that Billie could do everything she tried to do just a little +bit better than any one else. + +"I should say so," Laura added loyally. "There's nothing that you can't +do, Billie." + +Billie flushed with pleasure and Rose Belser looked at her with new +interest. For if Rose was not the most popular girl at Three Towers she +certainly thought she was and the praise of Billie's friends started her +thinking. Could it be possible that here was a rival? But she shook her +dark head impatiently. If this Billie Bradley thought she could start +anything, why, she, Rose, would show her, that was all! + +And all the time Billie, who had no thought of what was going on in the +other girl's mind, was having the time of her life. + +"Look at all the canoes!" she cried. "And they actually have racks for +them." + +They had come down to a little dock that jutted out into the lake and +had been hidden from their view, or at least partly so, by the trees. +Now, as they came out upon it, they stood astonished and delighted by +the sight that met their eyes. + +There were half a dozen racks on the dock, each one constructed so as to +contain three canoes, one above the other, and every rack was full. + +The canoes were each neatly covered with a tarpaulin, but the tarpaulin, +drawn tight, revealed the long graceful outline of each beautiful little +boat, and the girls fairly ached to launch one of them upon the water. + +"And there are rowboats, too," cried Vi, making another discovery. "Lots +and lots of them! Look! Here they are--tied to the dock." + +Sure enough, there were fully a dozen gaily painted rowboats swaying +gently in the water on either side of the dock, sometimes straining a +little at the ropes that held them. + +"But who would row when they could canoe?" cried Billie, for in Billie +was a passion for canoes which Chet had always declared must have come +from her Indian ancestors. "I think rowboats are horribly clumsy." + +"Hardly anybody really likes to row," Connie answered, "but we have to +do it for the exercise, Miss Walters says there's no better exercise in +the world than rowing." + +"Yes," said Billie, with a little laugh. "And no harder work, either." + +"Do you do much swimming in the lake?" asked Nellie, gazing down at her +reflection in the still water. + +"Oh, we can," Rose answered. "But no one likes it very much. They'd +rather do their swimming in the swimming pool. There's a mud bottom to +the lake, and the water, though it looks mighty nice, isn't good to +drink." + +While they were speaking two girls whom the chums remembered having seen +in the dining hall but did not know came down to the dock, and, after +waving to Rose and Connie, went to a rack and started to take down one +of the canoes. + +The girls watched rather wistfully while they slipped it from the rack, +removed the cover, and slid it into the smooth water. + +One girl with a skill born of experience jumped into the front seat of +the canoe, lifted one of the paddles and waited while her companion +settled herself in the stern seat. Then they glided from the dock +softly, almost silently but for the dip of the paddles in the water, and +drifted out toward the middle of the lake. + +"Oh, if we could only do that," sighed Billie, "I think I'd die happy." + +"Those girls are instructors," Connie explained. "They are in the first +grade and expect to graduate in the spring." + +"It's funny, I suppose," said Billie, dreamily gazing up at the blood +red sun that was slowly sinking in the western sky, "but I'm really +sorry for them." + +"Why?" they asked, surprised. + +"Because," said Billie soberly, "they have to graduate and leave Three +Towers!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +LIGHTS OUT + + +The girls sat up till the very last minute that night, discussing the +absorbing happenings of the day. Rose left them to talk to some of the +other girls--a fact for which they were thankful--and Nellie and Connie +Danvers went to their dormitory, leaving the three chums alone at last. + +They had had supper, a meal not as good as lunch, for the meat had been +too crisp, almost burned in fact, and then they had come up to the +dormitory for a good time together. + +They were rather disgruntled to find that Amanda Peabody and Eliza Dilks +were there before them, but even that fact could not bother them +much--not to-night! + +"I tell you what let's do," said Billie, patting her brown curls into +place before her mirror and noticing with surprise how flushed her face +was and how her eyes sparkled. How could she know, being modest, that +not only her friends, but almost all the girls that had seen them +together, thought her even prettier than Rose Belser. + +"What?" asked Vi, sinking down on the edge of her bed with a sigh of +content. "I don't feel as if I wanted to do any more for years but just +sit here and talk things over." + +"Well, that's just what I was going to say," Billie answered, turning +away from the mirror and flinging herself on the bed beside her. "Only I +thought it would be more comfortable if we got into our nighties. It's +been a pretty warm day----" + +"Billie, you're a wonder," cried Laura, jumping up and fishing in her +bag for her nightgown. "When it comes to thinking you have it all over +us like a tent--as Teddy says," she added apologetically, and the girls +laughed at her. + +"Oh, but there are our trunks!" cried Billie, suddenly remembering. +"Miss Walters said that we were to unpack our clothes and get everything +in shape before to-morrow, don't you remember?" + +"Oh, yes, we remember," groaned Violet. "I don't think much of your idea +this time, Billie. Oh, well, I suppose if we must we've got to." + +So they opened the trunks, which had been brought up while they were out +in the afternoon, and in a very short time had their clothes all hung up +neatly in the wardrobes. + +Then, with a sigh of mingled content and weariness, they brought out +their nightgowns and began to undress, talking all the while. + +"Isn't Miss Walters lovely?" asked Billie, when she was at last curled +up happily on the foot of the bed with Vi at the head of it and Laura +stretched out full length with a pillow tucked beneath her head. + +"Yes, but aren't the 'Dill Pickles' horrid?" cried Laura. "It's lucky +they aren't at the head of things or I guess we'd have a mighty hard +time of it." + +"Well, maybe they aren't as bad as they look," said Violet. + +"Who was that other teacher that Connie said the girls all loved so?" +asked Billie. "I thought I'd remember her name. It was something like +Pace----" + +"Wasn't it Race?" asked Laura, and Billie clapped her hands. + +"Yes, that's it. And Connie said the girls adored her next to Miss +Walters." + +"She's the math teacher, isn't she?" asked Violet, adding as the girls +nodded: "It's lucky for me she's nice, because I'm so awful in math a +mean one wouldn't have me in class more than a week." + +"Oh, but it's all perfectly glorious," said Billie softly. "Just think, +girls, if we hadn't found that darling old trunk we wouldn't have been +here--at least I wouldn't." + +"And if that man--What was it you and the boys called him?" Laura +paused and looked inquiringly at Billie. + +"The 'Codfish?'" asked Billie, guessing at what she meant. + +"Yes. And if the 'Codfish' hadn't got scared and dropped the trunk in +the middle of the road you would have lost it after all." + +"Yes," sighed Vi, "and that would have been worse than not finding it at +all." + +"The only thing that bothers me," said Billie, with a little frown, "is +that we didn't go after that man and get him. He may be a regular thief +for all we know, and if he is he ought to be in prison where he belongs. +Every once in a while," her voice lowered and she looked over her +shoulder nervously, "I dream about him, and when I do he always has a +mask or something over his eyes, but his codfish mouth is always there +sort of grinning at me----" + +"Billie!" cried Laura and Vi in the same voice, and Laura got up +suddenly, sat on her pillow, and regarded Billie with startled eyes. + +"But you never told us!" she said. "Have you--have you dreamed that +often?" + +"No, only once or twice," said Billie. "Just the same, I wish we could +have caught him. I always have a sort of feeling that if he robs anybody +else it will be our fault for not having had him arrested when we had +the chance. Of course, he may not be a regular thief at all. But, oh, +girls, he was an awful looking thing. And I feel sure some day I'll +meet him again." + +"You said he had red hair, didn't you?" asked Laura, a delicious little +thrill running up and down her spine. "And little eyes and that broad +codfishy mouth. Goodness! I wish I'd been with you when you chased him. +It must have been no end of fun." + +"Fun!" exclaimed Billie. "I should say it wasn't fun. Not when I was +afraid I was going to lose the trunk and everything. I was just scared +stiff." + +"But do you really think you'd know the man again if you saw him?" Laura +insisted. + +"Why, of course I would," said Billie. "Didn't I tell you I've dreamed +of him a couple of times--just as he is? I couldn't miss him." + +"Wouldn't it be fun," cried Laura eagerly, "if he should try to rob the +Hall or something and we caught him?" + +"Laura!" they cried, and Billie added with a shiver: "It might be your +idea of a good time, but it wouldn't be mine. I hope I'll never have to +see his old codfish mouth again." + +"Oh, I don't know," said Laura, putting the pillow under her head and +lying down again. "Sometimes when I'm very brave I wish something really +exciting would happen--you know, a burglary or something. I'd just like +to see what I'd do." + +"Well, I know what I'd do----" Vi was beginning, when the "lights-out" +gong sounded through the hall and the girls scurried wildly for their +beds. + +Amanda and Eliza were already in theirs, and Rose, coming in at the last +minute, fairly flew into her nightgown and then scurried over to put out +the one remaining light. + +The room had been in silence and darkness for nearly five minutes when +suddenly Laura leaned over and whispered to Vi. + +"What would you do if a burglar got in?" she asked. + +"I'd just get under the covers," said Vi, "and die off fright!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +TOO MUCH TO EAT + + +If any one had told the three girls that the second day would hold more +of excitement and pleasure than the first, they would not have believed +it. But so it was. + +Billie woke early that morning and found the sun shining gloriously +through the window. It took her a minute or two to realize just where +she was. Then she sat up in bed and looked across at her two sleeping +chums. + +Laura lay on her side, hugging her pillow, and Violet was flat on her +back, blissfully unconscious of the ray of sunshine that fell across her +face. + +Billie's glance traveled from them to Rose Belser, who looked as pretty +asleep as she did awake, and from her to Amanda Peabody and Eliza Dilks. + +She made a little grimace as she looked at them, for their straight, +stringy hair and pinched, freckled faces were a striking contrast to +Rose's prettiness. + +"Oh, I wish everybody'd get up," she thought. "It must be nearly seven +o'clock." + +Even as she spoke the first bell rang, and the sudden sharp noise +through the still Hall made her start up in bed. It roused the other +girls, and they yawned and stretched sleepily. + +"Goodness, is it time to get up already?" asked Laura, glaring at Billie +as if it were all her fault. "Why, I just this very minute got to +sleep." + +"You'd better stop talking and get up," Rose called to them, flinging +back her black hair and jumping to her feet. "We have only half an hour +to get ready for breakfast, and if you're late and haven't any +excuse--well, don't expect any sympathy from Miss Cora, that's all." + +The girls did not need any second hint to make them hurry, and full ten +minutes before the breakfast gong rang they were ready and waiting. + +There was great excitement in the dining hall, for this was the day when +the old students of Three Towers Hall were expected, and the girls who +had remained at the school for the summer vacation were eager to renew +old friendships. + +It was about ten o'clock when the girls began to pour in, and from then +on excitement and confusion reigned. + +"It makes you feel kind of lonesome," said Laura, with a sigh. + +"And the older girls look awfully dressed up and--and--stuck up," said +Vi, snuggling up to Billie as if for comfort. "Do you suppose they +really are, Billie--stuck up, I mean?" + +"I'm sure I don't know," said Billie, feeling a little nervous herself. +"For all we know," she added, with a chuckle, "we may look stuck up +ourselves." + +"Well, maybe we are," Laura giggled. "That's what Amanda is always +calling us, you know." + +"Oh, look," whispered Vi suddenly. "There's Rose Belser with one of the +new girls. I wonder who she is." + +The new girl in question was a nice looking, rather serious girl who +wore glasses and looked to the girls--so they said later--as if she +might really like to study. She was carrying a grip and had evidently +just arrived. + +While the girls watched, she and Rose turned and started in their +direction. For a minute Billie could have sworn Rose did not mean to +stop. However, she did stop, and rather reluctantly introduced the +stranger to them. + +"This is Caroline Brant," she said, adding as she turned to the strange +girl with a queer little smile: "These are some of the new girls who are +in our dorm, Caroline. Billie Bradley, Violet Farrington and Laura +Jordon." + +Caroline Brant shook hands and smiled a grave smile that seemed "just +made to go with her glasses," Laura said afterward. When the girl had +passed on with Rose toward the stairway, the chums had a queer sense of +comfort--as though they had found at least one good friend at Three +Towers Hall. + +Lunch came and went, and so absorbed were the girls in the fun and +excitement of meeting new girls and listening to stories of good times +had during the summer that dinner caught them before they knew it and +they found that the day was gone. + +Everybody went to bed early that night, for Miss Walters had sent around +an order that all lights should be out by nine o'clock sharp. The next +day the real work of the term was to begin, and she wanted all her girls +bright and fresh for the start. + +The next week would have been perfect for the girls, but for one thing. +They liked their classrooms, which occupied all the second and third +floors, they liked their studies, and they loved most of their +teachers--especially Miss Race, the mathematics teacher. + +But they soon found that what Rose Belser and Connie Danvers had said +about Miss Cora and Miss Ada Dill--the "Twin Dill Pickles," when nobody +was around--was terribly and awfully true. + +The Dill twins never seemed to miss an opportunity to make the girls +feel bad. They were sarcastic in class, and seemed to take real delight +in hurting the feelings of their pupils whenever it was possible. + +It was only a few days after the opening of the school year when Billie +had her first little set-to with Miss Cora Dill. The latter had just +finished calling the roll and had pushed the book from her. Then she +looked sharply at Billie. + +"Your name is Beatrice, is it not?" she asked in a tone as acid as her +dill pickle nickname. + +"Yes, Miss Dill," answered Billie, wondering nervously if there were +anything wrong about her name and miserably conscious that the eyes of +all the girls were upon her. + +"But the girls call you 'Billie,' do they not?" asked Miss Cora. + +"Yes," said Billie again. + +"But 'Billie' is a boy's name," said Miss Cora tartly, boring Billie +through with her black eyes. "And it is extremely unladylike for a girl +to bear a boy's name. Extremely unladylike," she repeated, staring at +poor Billie, who was as red as a beet and filled with a wild desire to +run away and cry. + +She might have done it, too, at least the crying part, but a titter from +one of the girls in the back of the room saved her. She was no longer +afraid, only angry--horribly angry. + +So she just looked up in thin-lipped Miss Cora's face and said very +quietly: "I never thought about my name being unladylike, Miss Cora, and +I'm sure it hasn't made any difference with me. Mother says that it is +the way one acts that counts." + +"Well, see that you take care of your actions," retorted Miss Dill +tartly, and turning to one of the other girls called upon her for a +recitation. + +But it was Billie who had won the day. The girls knew it and Miss Cora +knew it, and this helped to make the latter feel in a still more +unkindly mood toward the girl with the "unladylike name." + +"I'll watch her," thought Miss Cora angrily. "She isn't the kind to be +trusted." + +Laura and Violet were furious, and when they returned to the dormitory +to prepare for lunch began to hatch all sorts of wild plans by which +they could "lay this one of the Dill Pickles low." + +"What's the excitement?" asked Rose, and Laura began heatedly to +describe what had happened in the schoolroom, while several of the other +girls gathered around. + +When she came to Billie's answer the girls looked pleased and one of +them clapped her hands. + +"Good for you, Billie Bradley!" cried a dark girl, joyfully. "You must +have given the Dill Pickle the surprise of her life." + +"She bearded the lion in his den, the Pickle in her Hall," quoted +another of the girls. "You know, I'd have given anything to have been +there." + +"And you a new girl, too," said another, looking at Billie with admiring +eyes. + +From that time on Billie became a noted figure among the hundred girls +at Three Towers Hall, and her fame and popularity grew in leaps and +bounds. + +Rose Belser viewed this new state of affairs calmly at first, then with +alarm, and later with dismay. That a new girl should come to Three +Towers and immediately begin to shoulder herself into the limelight was +unthinkable, impossible, it couldn't be done. And yet Billie Bradley was +doing it! + +After a while she began to draw away from Billie, look indifferent when +one of the girls spoke of her praisingly, slighted her in a hundred +little ways that Billie herself could hardy put her finger on. And yet +she felt it. + +Billie had one other constant enemy at Three Towers, and that was Miss +Cora. Miss Cora never missed a chance to humiliate her--or at least try +to humiliate her. But Billie was so happy and having such a wonderful +time that she never gave these attempts any more attention than she +would so many mosquito bites, thereby fanning Miss Cora's dislike of +her. + +Meanwhile the two Miss Dills grew more and more sour and crabbed until +the girls began to wonder "why they didn't die of it." Then one noon +time Laura came running into the dormitory, her eyes big and round with +excitement. + +"What do you think?" she cried, while the girls gathered round her. "I +heard Miss Cora and Miss Ada talking together. I was in the lab and they +were in the hall and they didn't know I was anywhere around." + +"Well?" asked the girls impatiently as she paused for breath. + +"They were talking about our meals," Laura went on. "They said we got +altogether too much to eat." + +"Too much to eat!" echoed the girls, looking at one another wonderingly. + +"Why, we don't get any more than we want," said Billie. + +"What else did they say, Laura?" urged Vi. + +"That was about all." Laura had gone over to the wash basin and was +washing her hands hard as though to get some of her dislike of the "Dill +Pickles" out of her system. "I was so surprised I couldn't help hearing +a couple of sentences. Then I coughed and came out of the lab and they +looked as if they'd like to kill me. 'The girls are getting altogether +too much to eat,' said Miss Ada." Laura mimicked her to perfection. +"'Yes,' said Miss Cora, 'we must give them less--a good deal less.'" + +"Well, I'd just like to see them try it, that's all," said Billie, +adding with a sigh: "Thank goodness, we still have Miss Walters, anyway. +She won't let us quite starve to death!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +FOUR ENEMIES + + +"Are we really going to have one, Billie Bradley? Oh, how wonderful!" + +Several weeks had passed, and this afternoon the five of them, Laura +Jordon, Vi, Nellie Bane, Connie Danvers and Billie, were sitting close +together at the very farthest end of Billie's dormitory talking over +some plans that made them feel delightfully like conspirators. + +"A real feast!" said Violet Farrington eagerly. "With sandwiches and +pickles and cake and--and--everything! Oh, Billie, who all are going to +be in the party?" + +"All the girls from Nellie's dorm, we four and Caroline Brant," Billie +said, in a voice scarcely above a whisper. + +"But I don't think Caroline will come," said Laura doubtfully. "You know +she would lots rather study than go to a party. That's her idea of a +good time." + +For although Caroline Brant had proved a good friend to the chums, +especially to Billie, they had tried in vain to draw her into their +little escapades. She was what the girls usually referred to scornfully +as "a grind," yet, strange to say, they all loved her. + +She willingly helped them with their lessons, had often coached some of +the more backward of them for tests, passing them when otherwise they +would have hopelessly flunked, and cheerfully helped them out of scrapes +when they needed help. + +So now it was not strange that Laura should expect her to refuse an +invitation to this new escapade--the most forbidden of all forbidden +escapades, the midnight feast. + +"Well, I'm going to ask her, anyway," Billie said in answer to Laura's +objection. "The worst she can do is to say she won't come." + +"But you're going to ask Rose, aren't you?" Connie broke in, adding, as +Billie frowned and looked doubtful: "She'd never in the world forgive +you if you didn't." + +"Yes, we'll ask Rose," said Billie, after a minute's hesitation. "Here +she comes now," she added, as the door opened and Rose entered. "Come on +over here," she called, "I want to ask you something." + +She was just about to tell Rose the plans and invite her to the party +when the door opened again and Amanda entered with Eliza Dilks. Amanda +was never seen without Eliza trailing along in the background, and for +this reason the girls had nicknamed the latter, "The Shadow." + +By this time the girls at Three Towers Hall had learned to dislike the +two sneaks as much as the girls of North Bend disliked Amanda. + +Wherever anything was going on, especially of a secret nature, Amanda +and "The Shadow" were sure to be prying about, saying mean little +things, forcing the girls to move over to some other place where they +could be private for a little while. + +And now here they were again! + +"What do you want?" asked Rose, not noticing the two who had come in +after her. Rose's voice was not very pleasant, for she was beginning to +show her growing dislike of Billie openly. + +"Nothing just now," Billie answered, looking behind Rose to where Amanda +and "The Shadow" stood, apparently talking together, yet listening to +every word that was being said. "I'll tell you later." + +Amanda looked up and her mean little eyes twinkled angrily. + +"Don't mind us," she said. "If we're in the way, of course we'll get +out. Come on, Eliza," and with their noses in the air she and "The +Shadow" sailed out of the room. + +"Some day I'm going to kill 'em," said Laura, glaring ferociously at the +closed door. + +"Go on. What were you going to tell me?" drawled Rose, turning to the +mirror and eyeing her pretty reflection with satisfaction. + +"You'd better not say anything, Billie," Nellie Bane warned her. +"They're probably listening at the keyhole or something." + +"It must be horrid to hate everybody and have everybody hate you," mused +Connie, smoothing back her pretty hair. + +"But they seem to hate Billie most of all," said Vi. "I'm sure I don't +know why. It's because she's so popular, I suppose." + +Then to Rose, still fussing with her hair before the mirror, came the +dawn of an idea. It would be hard to do anything to hurt Billie herself, +for, whatever her faults, Rose was not a sneak. But she might make use +of Amanda---- + +It was several days later--the day that had been set for the greatest of +all adventures, a midnight feast in the dormitory. + +It was Billie who had arranged it all, and although the feast itself was +by no means a new idea, she had thought up something to make it a little +more interesting and daring. + +Each girl had been instructed to learn some little piece or poem which +she was to recite on the great occasion. Some of the girls protested on +the ground that they were poor at memorizing, but Billie had been firm. + +"No recite, no eat," she had said; and so the girls, some joyfully, +some reluctantly, had set to work to learn their pieces. + +And Billie, full of energy and enthusiasm, had gone to work and got up a +regular program with the names of the girls and the recitations they +would give. Laura and Vi had helped her make duplicates of the program +so that there was one for each girl. + +And the strangest thing about the whole affair was that Caroline Brant, +junior student and grind, had agreed to make one of the party. + +Billie's chums called her a witch, for since Caroline Brant had come to +Three Towers Hall she had never been known to take a hand in one +adventure, no matter how harmless it may have been. And Rose, growing +more and more resentful as she saw even her most faithful followers +deserting her for Billie, became more sure that she would have to make +use of Amanda and "The Shadow." + +Neither Billie nor any of the other girls knew Caroline Brant's real +reason for accepting Billie's invitation. The fact was that Caroline had +fallen in love with Billie at first sight, perhaps because she was just +the opposite of Caroline herself, and had since become as fond of her as +if she had been her younger sister. + +But all the time, while she had seemed to be engrossed in her studies, +she had been keeping one eye on Billie, and with that one eye had seen +pretty nearly everything that had happened. + +She was as proud of Billie's growing popularity as if it had been +herself, but she knew Rose would never stand for the taking of her place +by any one. And that was what Billie was very surely doing. + +She knew that Amanda and Eliza disliked Billie and would do almost +anything to get her into trouble. + +And then there was that fourth enemy of Billie's, Miss Cora Dill. +Caroline knew that if Miss Cora were to catch Billie in any sort of +scrape she would never in the world give her the benefit of the doubt. + +And most of all, Caroline knew that Billie, with her imp of mischief, +would be the very last to try to keep out of a scrape, and that sooner +or later one of her four enemies would get just the proof she wanted to +take to Miss Walters. + +In that case, so great was her affection for Billie, Caroline had +desperately decided that she would go to Miss Walters herself and plead +for Billie. + +And all this, nobody seeing Caroline, quiet, reserved, studying +furiously for the mid-term examinations that were coming dangerously +near, would have guessed at. Nor would they have guessed that Caroline +was breaking her rule and going to Billie's party simply to keep Billie +from harm. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +BILLIE SNORES SUCCESSFULLY + + +It was a wonder any of the girls could keep their minds on their lessons +that morning. As a matter of fact, they recited so poorly for Miss Ada +and Miss Cora that the two "Dill Pickles" turned sourer than ever and +threatened to report them to Miss Walters. + +But what did they care? The night was before them! + +Seven o'clock came, then eight o'clock, and then nine. The gong rang for +"lights out," and every girl was in bed and, apparently, sound asleep. + +But underneath the bed of each and every girl who was to be in the party +was a box or a basket filled to the brim with smuggled dainties. + +These containers held cold meat and pickles from the delicatessen shop +near by. There was jelly. Olives and biscuits and fancy cakes with +foolish icing on top were there--everything in fact that goes to the +making of a first class midnight feast. + +Miss Ada Dill, making her evening round of the dormitories to see that +all was well and every girl in her place, found nothing to arouse her +suspicions until she came to Billie's dormitory. Then she paused, +started to close the door, opened it again and stood still, intently +listening. + +And it was Billie who, in her eagerness not to be discovered, almost +gave the thing away. For Billie was snoring, gently but decidedly +snoring, and to Miss Ada's trained ear, the snore did not sound natural. + +So in she came, and Billie, watching out of the corner of one eye, felt +a panicky desire to pull the covers over her head and hide. + +Suppose Miss Ada should discover that five of the girls in dormitory "C" +were not undressed at all, but wore their nightgowns over their clothes? + +Suppose--but this was too awful even to imagine--Miss Ada should +discover those baskets under the beds. Billie shivered and almost gave +the thing away a second time. + +Miss Ada slowly made the rounds of the beds, scrutinizing each girl +sharply and passing them by one by one reluctantly until she came to +Billie's bed. + +Billie was still snoring gallantly--she did not know what else to do. If +she stopped now it would be a dead give away. And yet to keep on was +almost impossible. + +Poor little Billie! Afterward she could laugh at it, but at the time it +seemed nothing short of a nightmare. She knew that Laura and Vi and +Rose and Caroline were awake and waiting for the terrible moment when +Miss Ada should discover the conspiracy. + +If she could only keep on snoring for a minute longer! thought Billie +desperately. And then the unbelievable thing happened. Instead of +commanding her in no uncertain tones to get out of bed, Miss Ada +turned--slowly but surely turned--and marched out of the room. + +Not until the door was shut could Billie believe that she was really +safe. And not until she heard Miss Ada's footsteps die off down the hall +did she dare to stop snoring. + +Then she drew a long breath and stretched out arms cramped by lying so +long in the same position. And in the dark stillness of the dormitory +she heard four more sighs--distinct and very plaintive. + +For a full five minutes the girls lay still, hardly daring to breathe, +afraid that Miss Ada would change her mind and come back again. + +But as the minutes passed and nothing happened, their courage returned +and Billie began to feel jubilant. She must be a good actress indeed to +fool Miss Ada! + +And then---- + +Five ghostly figures sat up in bed, pushed back the bed clothes, and +slid silently to the floor. Once on their feet they shed their +nightgowns and their dark dresses only made a blurr in the blackness of +the room. + +Still noiseless as mice, they drew out the precious baskets from under +the beds and crept over to where Billie was waiting for them. + +"Where do we go from here, girls?" said Laura in a hysterical whisper. +"Goodness, but I'm scared to death." + +"Keep quiet or you'll have something to be scared about," Billie +directed in a fierce little whisper. "Come on--I think the road's +clear." + +They tiptoed to the door, and Billie opened it cautiously and peeped +out. There was no one in sight, and she stepped out into the hall +quickly, motioning to the girls to follow her. + +Caroline, the last to leave the dormitory, stopped for a moment and +looked about at the sleeping girls. Then, satisfied that they were +really asleep and that none of them suspected the prank, she followed +the other girls out into the hall and closed the door carefully behind +her. + +They found their fellow conspirators in dormitory "F" already up and +stirring. The lights were lit, hampers were out on the table ready to be +opened, and the real fun of the party was commencing when the five +arrived. + +They were greeted with subdued enthusiasm, for no one dared to speak +above a whisper, and Connie demanded to know why Billie was late. + +"We couldn't do a thing without you," she said. "You had the program and +everything----" + +"And besides," finished Nellie, "we'd promised not to start anything +until you came." + +"We thought you'd been caught," Connie added reproachfully. + +"We were just about to put out the lights and get into bed ourselves," +chimed in another girl, "because we thought if you were caught, Miss Ada +would come over here and catch us too." + +"But what made you late?" asked Connie again. + +"If you'll stop talking and listen a minute," said Billie, her eyes +shining with excitement, "I'll tell you what a narrow escape we had." + +The girls gathered around eagerly while she told her story, and when she +had finished they gazed at her with horrified eyes. + +"Billie, what ever made you do such a thing?" cried Nellie. "Why, if you +had just kept still she probably would never have suspected a thing." + +"I know that now," said Billie ruefully. "It was a crazy thing to do, +but when I'd once started it I didn't dare stop." + +"Well, I think you deserve a gold medal," said Laura loyally. "If it had +been me----" this wasn't correct English, but Laura was too excited to +notice it--"I'd have giggled or something and given the whole thing +away." + +"Goodness! wouldn't Miss Ada be happy if she could really catch us at +something," said Nellie, but the girls would not listen to her. + +There wasn't a bit of danger. Weren't they going to have somebody at the +door to mount guard and to warn them of the slightest noise downstairs? + +They had decided to draw lots to see who should be chosen for this very +disagreeable position of guard and now they set to work at once to "get +the agony over with" as Rose Belser said. + +Rose had been very quiet, for her, and there was a queer expression in +her eyes when she looked at Billie that would have made the latter +wonder if she had had time to notice it. However, there was one girl who +did notice it, and that was Caroline Brant. + +Strangely enough, it was Rose who drew the blank that made her "guardian +of the portal" for the first twenty minutes. At the end of that time the +girls would draw again and let another poor unfortunate take her place. + +Rose was inclined to grumble at her hard luck at first, for she wanted +to be in the fun as much as any of the girls. But suddenly there came to +her an idea--a way that she might punish Billie for daring to become so +popular at Three Towers Hall. + +Of course, she could not hurt Billie without hurting all the rest of the +girls but--her lips shut tight and her eyes narrowed to slits--goodness +knew they deserved it. It was they who had helped to make Billie so +popular. + +The plan she had thought of was very easy. All she had to do was to slip +from dormitory "F" into her own, leaving both doors open a little so +that the light from one could shine into the other. + +Then, as she passed Amanda Peabody's cot, just a little jostling to +awaken her and the thing would be as good as done. Amanda, seeing the +light, would be sure to investigate, and, while she was gone, she, Rose, +could undress quickly, put on her gown, and slip into bed. Then when the +discovery came--and Rose knew Amanda well enough to be sure there would +be a discovery--she would be safe in bed and unsuspected. That is, +unless the girls should tell. + +She looked over her shoulder at the happy scene in dormitory "F," and +for a minute she felt guilty. Then one of the girls came over and put an +arm about Billie and her lips tightened again. + +Of course if the girls knew that she had been the one to give them away, +no one would have anything to do with her. She would probably have to +leave Three Towers Hall. + +But how would they know? She could tell them that she had slipped into +dormitory "C" to get a handkerchief--or something else, she could think +that up later--and while she was gone, Amanda had slipped out and given +the alarm. It was all very simple. + +She looked back into the room where the fun was in full swing and once +more her heart forsook her. It would be a dreadful thing for the girls. +They would probably be expelled from Three Towers. + +But here was her chance, if she was going to do it--and it might be her +only one. One of the girls was giving a whispered and funny recitation, +and the girls were doubled up with laughter, fairly holding on to +themselves to keep from making a noise. + +The look in Rose's eyes hardened. She forsook her post + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A PLOT FAILS + + +Caroline Brant had been watching from behind a pair of horn-rimmed +spectacles, although nobody, not even Rose, could have told it. + +She had seen Rose glance into the room, had noticed how queerly she had +looked at Billie, and now, as Rose started across the corridor, Caroline +was at her heels, quick as a cat. + +It was not till Rose's hand was on the knob of the door across the hall +that Caroline spoke. + +All she said was, "Where are you going?" in a quiet little whisper, but +Rose whirled upon her fiercely. + +"You're following me," she cried, almost forgetting to whisper in her +fury. "What do you mean?" + +"You'd better not make so much noise," said Caroline calmly. "We'll have +Miss Ada or Miss Cora down upon us if you're not careful." + +"Miss Ada or Miss Cora," mimicked Rose, actually trembling with fear and +rage at being caught. "What do I care for Miss Ada or Miss Cora!" + +"Well, I care a lot, if you don't," retorted Caroline, urging the +excited girl back toward the lighted dormitory. "I don't know what +you're so mad about anyway," she added, as Rose glared at her. "Your +time for playing guard was up, and when I came over to tell you about it +I found you were gone." + +Caroline was fibbing--or, at least, partly so--but Rose had no way of +knowing that. What she did know was that she had made a goose of herself +for nothing, and all at once she hated Caroline more than she hated +Billie or any one else on earth. + +But she did not dare show it. The only thing for her to do was to try to +pass the thing off the best she could. So when they reached the door she +looked up at Caroline with the best smile she could manage and tried +hard to keep her voice steady. + +"I'm sorry I spoke as I did," she said. "I was just going to slip into +the dorm and get a bottle of olives that fell under the bed. And when +you spoke to me so suddenly it frightened me--that's all." + +"It seems a pretty big chance to take--for a bottle of olives," said +Caroline gravely, and in spite of herself Rose flushed. Oh, how she +hated "grinds" that wore horn-rimmed spectacles! + +The two were greeted joyfully by the rest of the girls, who would never +know just how near they had been to discovery. + +"I guess the time's up for your watch, Rose," said Billie. "Come on, +let's draw lots and see who's the next." + +Laura made a dash for the glass bowl that served as a lottery but +Caroline interrupted her. + +"I'll stand watch for a while," she said, adding as the girls started to +protest: "It's hot in here and it's cool in the hall, and I need cooling +off. Will somebody hand me a sandwich once in a while?" + +"I'll say we will," they cried, and immediately began plying her with so +many sandwiches and pickles and biscuits that she laughingly protested. + +"And don't make too much noise," she said, as she started for the door. +"You know Miss Ada may be a little suspicious that there's something up +and come snooping around again." + +"Well, you know the signal," Billie whispered after her. "Scratch twice +on the door." + +Caroline nodded, glanced at Rose, and went out to her post, sandwiches, +pickles, biscuits and all. + +The rest of that evening was not very pleasant for either Caroline or +Rose. Caroline was wondering whether she ought to tell Billie and the +other girls that she had found Rose sneaking, yes, actually sneaking, +into the room across the hall when she should have been at her post. + +"Of course, I don't know that she was going to do anything wrong," she +kept telling herself, yet in her heart she knew that Rose had been up to +some mischief. "But it isn't fair to Billie not to say anything," she +worried. "I know Rose, and she's sure to try to get even some time, and +Billie ought to be told to look out." And all the time she was thinking, +her ears were strained for the slightest noise below stairs. + +As for Rose, she would have pleaded a headache, for by that time she +really had one, and gone to bed, if she had not been afraid of being +laughed at by the girls. + +And so she stayed on and on, trying to act as if nothing were the +matter, laughing and joking with the other girls, eating sandwiches and +cake till she was sick of the very sight of them, while all the time she +was wondering, wondering, what Caroline was going to do. + +"She can't really tell anything," she worried, while her head ached +harder and harder. "I didn't really _do_ anything." + +But all the time she knew that just leaving her post at the door when so +much depended upon the girls not being discovered was a terrible thing +and one that the girls would find it hard to forgive should they find +her out. + +"If only Caroline doesn't say anything," she thought, adding spitefully: +"And now I suppose I've got to be nice to the old thing, whether I want +to or not." + +Meanwhile, the rest of the girls were having a gay time. Never had a +forbidden feast gone off so beautifully before, and they were in +hilarious spirits. + +As the hour hand of the little clock on Nellie's dresser crept near to +midnight the girls packed up the fragments of the feast, and, after they +had pushed the baskets out of sight under the beds, drew their chairs +together to form a semi-circle and began joyfully to tell the most +blood-curdling ghost stories they knew. + +Each girl had to tell some story she had read or heard, or if she was so +unfortunate as never to have read or heard any, was forced to make one +up "out of her own head." + +The fun waxed fast and furious, each story being more hair-raising than +the last until it came to Billie's turn. + +"But I don't know any ghost stories, and I'm no good at making them up," +she protested when the girls looked at her expectantly. "I like +adventure stories about treasure hunting and robbers and murderers and +things----" + +"Well, that'll do," said Laura joyfully, while the other girls shivered +delightedly and drew close together. "Tell us a murder story, Billie." + +Billie was about to open her mouth in protest when Vi suddenly made a +suggestion. + +"I've got the very thing," she cried. "Tell the girls about the +'Codfish,' Billie." + +"'The codfish'?" they repeated, looking puzzled, while Rose added with a +little yawn: "Yes, do tell us about the codfish, Billie--it sounds so +interesting." + +The tone more than the words made Billie angry, but before she had time +to retort the girls broke in, eagerly demanding the story of the +"Codfish." + +"We caught one one time on a family fishing trip," said one of the +girls, taking it for granted that this particular codfish was of the +swimming variety, "and we had fried codfish steaks for a week +afterward." + +Billie chuckled while Vi and Laura openly giggled. + +"But this wasn't that kind of a fish," said Billie. "It was a man." + +This was almost too much for the girls, who were beginning to think that +Billie and Laura and Vi had suddenly gone crazy, but Billie hurried on +to explain about the "Codfish," growing more and more interested in her +story as she went on. + +As for the girls, well, they simply hung on her words, and when she came +to the part where the thief had dropped her precious trunk in the +roadway they exclaimed so loudly that Caroline had to warn them to be +quiet. By this time the guard at the door had been removed, as there was +little danger of discovery at so late an hour. + +"Well," sighed Connie Danvers, when Billie had finished her story, "I +wish something like that would happen to me sometime. It sounds just +like a story book." + +"But you should have caught him," Nellie objected. Though Nellie had +heard of Billie's wonderful good fortune in finding the old trunk, she +had never heard the details of the part the "Codfish" had played in it +until to-night. "It gives me the shivers to think that an awful thing +like that, with red hair and a fishy mouth, should be wandering around +loose." + +"I'm sure I'll dream of him to-night," said one of the other girls +plaintively. + +"Speaking of dreams," said Billie, getting to her feet so quickly that +she almost upset the girl beside her, "don't you all think we'd better +get back to our dorm? It's after midnight, and--I'm awfully afraid of +Miss Ada." + +"Well, I'm not--not after to-night," said Laura. "You surely did fool +the Pickle with your snoring, Billie." + +"Yes. But next time somebody else will have to do the snoring," said +Billie, with a rueful little smile. + +There followed whispered good-nights interspersed with giggles, and +finally the five girls from dormitory "C" tiptoed across the hall, and, +silent as mice, crept into their own room. + +Quickly they undressed and slipped into their white nightgowns, +listening breathlessly every once in a while for some sound that might +tell of discovery. + +None came, however; the big house was as silent as a tomb and Billie was +just about to slip into bed when she happened to look out of the window. + +The moon was bright, bathing the smooth lawn of Three Towers in a light +almost as bright as day, so that Billie could not have been mistaken in +what she saw. + +A man ran quickly, furtively, across the lawn and disappeared in the +shadow of the trees bordering the lake. Billie's heart amazingly skipped +a beat and then stood still. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +MYSTERY + + +For several minutes Billie Bradley stood at the window straining her +eyes in the direction in which the man had disappeared, scarcely daring +to breathe. + +Then, when she was sure that whoever the fellow was he did not intend to +come back, she turned from the window with a little sigh of mingled +excitement and relief. + +It was only a sigh, but it sounded so loud in the stillness of the room +that it suddenly brought Billie to her senses. + +Shivering a little, she crept into bed and drew the covers up under her +chin. It would never do to be discovered by Miss Ada at this last +minute, and she certainly could not do any good by standing there +staring out of the window. + +Whoever the man was, he had gone now and would not return. But could she +be sure of that? Suppose he had been a thief--she shivered and drew the +covers over her head. In that case she should have roused Miss Ada and +told her the story. + +But then, Miss Ada's first question was sure to be, "How did you happen +to be standing by the window at twelve o'clock at night?" + +Then would come suspicion, a search, perhaps, and discovery. No, she +couldn't, she couldn't! But what had that man been doing? + +For more than an hour she lay, too excited to sleep, shivering at any +sudden sound, wondering--wondering. Toward morning she fell asleep, only +to dream of picnics where one did nothing but catch codfish and eat +them, of a strange man with a stooping figure, running across a lawn +bathed in moonlight. + +Luckily for the girls who had been at the party, there were other girls +in dormitory "C" who had gone to bed at the usual respectable +hour--Amanda Peabody and Eliza Dilks, for instance--and who, as usual, +heard the rising bell. If it had not been for them and the noise they +made Billie and the others of the five might have slept on till noon. + +As it was, they rose resentfully, finding it hard to get their eyes +open, looking for their clothes half-heartedly, grumbling at everything +and everybody. + +It was Billie, who had slept less than any of them, who whispered a +warning to them. She had seen Eliza and Amanda eyeing them suspiciously. +It would never do, after having managed the party so successfully, to +let the cat out of the bag after the affair was over. + +The argument appealed to the girls, and they woke up with a suddenness +almost more suspicious than their former sleepiness had been. + +It was not till noon that Billie found a chance to tell the girls what +she had seen from the dormitory window after the rest of them were in +bed. + +By that time the last evidence of last night's party had been cleared +away, and the girls were beginning to feel secure again. + +One by one they had run back to the dormitories between classes, made +the remnants of the feast into small paper bundles, and had smuggled +them down to the cellar and deposited them in the big box where all the +papers and other rubbish was kept until the man of all work about Three +Towers carted it off into the woods to be burnt up. + +So now, in hilarious spirits, they answered Billie's call and flung +themselves in various characteristic and joyful attitudes upon her bed. + +"Speak, woman, speak," Laura commanded her, stealing a chocolate from +Vi's sweater pocket. "What have you got to say for yourself?" + +"Yes, what do you mean by getting up such a disgraceful affair as +happened here last night?" added Nellie Bane in such an exact imitation +of Miss Ada's manner that the girls giggled delightedly. + +"Look out," cried Connie Danvers, in a whisper, for Amanda and the +"Shadow" had just come into the room. "If you are not careful our +wicked plot will yet be discovered." + +"What is it you wanted to say, Billie?" asked Caroline in her +matter-of-fact tone. "If it's anything very private, I guess we'd better +move." + +Caroline had been thinking about Rose and the happening of the night +before--thinking till her head ached--but she had not yet decided what +to do about it. As for Rose--her head ached, too--she knew what she was +going to do about it. Some way or other she was going to get even with +Billie! And Caroline, too, big snooping, spectacled thing! + +"It isn't a bit private," said Billie, looking so serious that the girls +suddenly became serious too. "It was about something I saw last night +after----" she was about to say "after the party," but as Amanda and her +"Shadow" had come dangerously near and were listening with all their +ears, she decided not to. + +"Well, what was it you saw?" the girls demanded impatiently, as she +hesitated. + +Billie lowered her voice and spoke hurriedly. + +"I saw him going across the lawn. He was running, and while I watched he +disappeared among the trees near the lake." + +"A man?" asked Vi while the others stared. + +"Of course," Billie nodded impatiently. "What did you think it was--a +grizzly bear?" + +"It might have bees from your description," Vi retorted, but right here +the girls broke in with a running fire of questions and Billie was kept +busy trying to answer them all at once. + +"But, Billie, why didn't you tell somebody?" Vi asked, but Laura crushed +her with a look. + +"Tell somebody?" she repeated scornfully. "How could she and give the +whole----" + +But this time it was Laura who suddenly came to a standstill, the reason +being a vicious little pinch from Billie in the fleshy part of her arm. + +"Hush!" she whispered fiercely while all the girls looked alarmed. +"Haven't you any sense at all?" + +And Laura, feeling very sheepish, did not even answer back. For Amanda +and the "Shadow" were still making excuses to hang around. + +"But, Billie, what are we going to do about it?" asked Connie nervously. + +"Yes, we don't want funny looking men wandering around our campus at +night," said Rose, lazily straightening a ruffle on her dress. + +"No, nor in the day time either," said Nellie, looking fierce. + +"Well, you all needn't look at me as if it were my fault," said Billie +plaintively. "I certainly didn't ask him to come and keep me awake all +the rest of the night." + +"But nobody's answered my question," Connie objected. "I want to know +what we're going to do about it." + +"Why, there's nothing to do about it," said Billie. "I suppose all we +can do is to wait till we see him again--if we do--and then tell Miss +Walters about it." + +At that moment the gong rang and hands flew to straightening hair and +belts and ruffles preparatory to starting the afternoon classes. + +"Well, all I have to say is," said Nellie as they turned toward the +door, "that I hope your strange man stays where he belongs, Billie, and +doesn't come back here." + +"So say we all of us," said Connie, adding with a shudder: "Ugh! Your +story about the 'Codfish' last night, Billie--and now this! It's enough +to scare a person to death." + +"There you go blaming me again," said Billie plaintively. + +In the weeks that followed the girls very nearly forgot about the +unknown man, who certainly had no business roaming around Three Towers +Hall after midnight. + +The only thing the chums did not like about the boarding school was the +Twin Dill Pickles. The latter were getting more and more +miserly--insisting that the girls were getting too much to eat and that +they should be allowed a great deal less liberty. In short, if the twin +teachers had had their way Three Towers might have been a prison instead +of a boarding school. + +"However," said Billie one day, after Miss Cora Dill had been unusually +unpleasant, "perhaps we need the Dill Pickles. If we didn't have them we +might be too happy." + +The girls from North Bend had now become fully settled at the school. +They had made a number of other friends, but so far their enemies seemed +to be confined to Amanda Peabody and her constant companion, Eliza +Dilks. Except Billie, that is, who added Miss Cora Dill and Rose Belser +to her enemy list. Amanda was becoming known as the sneak of the school, +but for this she did not seem to care. + +"I wouldn't want such a reputation as that," said Laura one day. + +"Nor I, either," answered Billie. + +The boys from Boxton Military Academy had been over to see the girls +several times. Rules were very strict at Three Towers Hall, and if the +lads had not been related the boys could probably never have been +admitted at all. But Chet and Teddy could come in, and once or twice +they managed to smuggle poor Ferd along. + +"I wish we could go out for a row on the lake," remarked Billie one +evening, as she gazed at the moonlight on the water. + +Her wish was gratified the very next day. The boys invited them out, +having first obtained Miss Walters' consent to let them go. + +Rose Belser had looked and smiled her prettiest--and that was a good +deal--the first time she happened to meet the boys and girls together. +But as the boys were too much interested in the fun they were going to +have to take much notice of her, she had merely tossed her pretty black +head and sauntered off in the opposite direction. + +"Somehow or other I can't get next to that girl Rose," remarked Chet to +his sister, when the whole crowd was out on the lake. + +"Well, Rose is rather peculiar in some respects," answered Billie, not +caring to say too much. + +"What do you say to a race?" cried Teddy, after they had been rowing +around for a while. + +"Don't upset!" exclaimed Vi warningly. + +"No upsetting to-day, thank you," put in Ferd, who was in the crowd. + +The girls were quite willing that the boys should race, and away they +went up the lake for half a mile or more. Teddy was carrying Billie, +and, of course, he exerted himself to the utmost to win the race. + +"Here is where we put it all over you!" cried Chet, who was carrying +Laura. + +"This race belongs to me," panted Ferd, who had Vi as a passenger. + +A number of the boys and girls on the lake shore were watching the +contest, and wondering who would win. In the crowd, more out of +curiosity than anything else, were Amanda and Eliza. + +"Huh! I wouldn't care to be on the lake with those boys," snapped +Amanda. "First thing they know they'll upset." + +"They must be splashing water all over each other," was Eliza's comment. + +At first it was almost an even race, but gradually Chet and Teddy drew +ahead. + +"Oh, I guess it's going to be a tie," murmured Billie. + +"Not much!" gasped Teddy, and put on an extra spurt which soon sent him +quite a distance ahead. + +"Hurrah! We win!" shouted Billie triumphantly. + +"All right, I guess you do!" flung out her brother. "I guess I ate too +much for dinner. That's the reason I couldn't row so well," he explained +lamely. + +"Oh, dear! I wish we got as much as that to eat," sighed Laura. + +The boat race had just come to a finish when those out on the lake heard +a cry from the shore. There seemed to be a great commotion among the +girls from Three Towers Hall. + +"We'll go back and see what's up," shouted Ferd, and those in the +rowboats lost no time in following the suggestion. + +They were still a hundred feet or more from the lake shore when they +saw what had happened. In their eagerness to see the finish of the race +Amanda Peabody and Eliza Dilks had ventured out on a soft bank, holding +to some low bushes for that purpose. Bushes and bank had given way +suddenly, and both girls had gone floundering into the water and mud up +to their waists. Now they had been pulled to safety, and their chums, +seeing that they were not hurt, set up a shout of laughter. + +"You are mean things, that's what you are!" cried Amanda, in vexation. + +"The meanest ever was!" echoed Eliza. + +And then the two dripping figures hurried for the friendly shelter of +the boarding school. + +"Gracious, what a happening!" was Vi's comment. And then she added +quickly: "But they deserved it." + +"They certainly did," responded Laura. "What a fine thing it would be if +they would leave this school." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE QUARREL + + +There was a secret club among the girls at Three Towers Hall, and only +the students who stood first in their classes could be admitted to the +chosen circle. + +Also the girls who were lucky enough to be elected to the "Ghost Club," +for that was what the society was called, must be popular among their +fellow students. There was an unwritten law that membership in the club +should not exceed fifteen. + +Rose Belser was president of the club, while Connie Danvers and several +of the other girls with whom Billie and her chums were on the best of +terms, were fellow members. Caroline Brant had been asked to join but +had refused on the ground that the club took too much time from her +studies. It was a compliment to Caroline that, in spite of her refusal, +the girls--all except Rose Belser--liked her just the same. + +Billie and her chums had not been in Three Towers a week before they had +heard of the secret club--no one but the members themselves even knew +the name of it--and had realized how much all the girls longed to be +members of it. + +So when one day Connie came to Billie and whispered something in her +ear, it was no wonder that Billie's heart beat a little faster. + +But all Connie had really said was: "We want to see you and Laura and Vi +outside near the old maple tree at ten to-night. It's very important. +Don't keep us waiting!" + +And Billie, in a voice she tried hard to keep natural, said that they +would not keep her waiting. And when she imparted the mysterious message +to Laura and Vi they gaped at her, then pulled her down on a bench--it +was noon and they had come out for a bit of sunshine and fresh air +before the afternoon lessons--and showered her with questions. + +"But, Billie, didn't she say why she wanted to see us?" cried Laura. + +"And who wanted to see us?" added Vi. + +"I've told you just exactly what she said," Billie answered a little +impatiently, while her eyes shone with excitement. "She said it was very +important and not to keep them waiting." + +"I bet I know what it is," said Laura, almost afraid to put her hope +into words. "It's the secret society, Billie." + +"The secret society!" Vi repeated in an awed voice, while two girls who +were passing paused and looked at them curiously. "Oh, Laura, it +couldn't be! Billie, do you think it is?" She looked eagerly at Billie. +Then her gaze traveled on to the two curious girls who were still +lingering within earshot, and she sat up so straight that Billie and +Laura looked at her in surprise. As usual the loiterers were Amanda and +her "Shadow" and as they saw Vi's eyes upon them they smiled +unpleasantly. + +"Hello," said Amanda coming over to the girls while the "Shadow" +lingered behind. The latter was not quite as bold as Amanda--nor quite +as mean. "I heard you say something about the secret society. Are you +invited?" The last words were said with such a sneer and the grin on her +face was so aggravating that the girls felt their blood begin to boil. + +Billie jumped to her feet and faced Amanda, both hands clenched at her +sides. + +"We've stood just about as much as we're going to from you, Amanda," she +said, her eyes blazing. "You've done nothing, you and Eliza, but spy +upon us ever since we came to Three Towers, and I'll tell you right now +we're tired of it." + +"Oh, you are!" said Amanda, her grin a little wider, while Laura and Vi, +alarmed at what they saw was going to be a real quarrel at last, got up +and stood beside Billie. Other girls who had come out on the campus +gathered around them curiously. "Well, what do you think you're going +to do about it?" + +"I don't know yet," said Billie, trembling with fury--for usually +good-natured, fun-loving Billie had a whirlwind of a temper when it was +roused. "But we'll make you stop your spying and mean tricks if we have +to try your stunt and go to Miss Walters about it." + +"What's this?" asked a cool pleasant voice behind them, and the girls +turned quickly to find Miss Walters looking on gravely. "What is it you +want to come to me about, Beatrice?" + +But Billie turned all colors of the rainbow and stood as if stricken +suddenly dumb. A minute before she had been furious. Now she was only +ashamed. + +How could she explain to Miss Walters without telling about Amanda? That +would be telling tales, and, in spite of her threat, that was the very +last thing Billie wanted or intended to do. Beneath Miss Walters' steady +gaze she hung her head. + +"Come, speak up, Beatrice," Miss Walters commanded, not unkindly, for, +like almost every one in Three Towers Hall, she had come to love +reckless, sweet-natured Billie, and even laughed at her pranks in +secret. "I've asked you a question, and my girls are in the habit of +answering me." + +"Please," said poor Billie without looking up, "I want to answer you, +Miss Walters, but I don't know how I can without t-telling tales." + +"Was there a quarrel?" questioned Miss Walters, her face still grave, +for she disliked that kind of thing. "If you can't tell me about it +without telling tales," here the faintest of smiles flitted across her +face, "I want you at least to tell me that you are no longer angry and +that a scene of this kind will never happen again. Here, Beatrice, shake +hands with Amanda and be friends again." + +Billie looked more startled at this than at anything that had happened +so far. Shake hands with Amanda? Pretend they were friends again? Why, +they never had been friends! Instinctively she put her hands behind her +back. Then she looked up at Miss Walters appealingly. + +"Please, Miss Walters," she said, "won't it be enough, if I tell you I'm +sorry I made a scene and that I'll never do it again? I won't, truly I +won't." + +"Yes, that will do," answered Miss Walters, her eyes really smiling now. +She was thinking that if she had had a daughter she would have liked her +to be like Billie. "Only remember, I have your word that it will never +happen again. Come now, it is almost time for afternoon class," and she +led the way back across the lawn. + +The girls followed in groups of two and three while Amanda and the +"Shadow" brought up the rear. There was a smile on Amanda's face, and +for the first time since she had come to Three Towers she was exultant. +She had succeeded in making Billie furious, had seen her called to +account--gently of course, altogether too gently, for "Billie was Miss +Walters' pet"--but called to account nevertheless and before a crowd of +her classmates. That ought to hold her for a while! + +As for Billie herself, and Laura and Vi, they were desperate. + +"You ought to have told Miss Walters about Amanda, Billie," Laura said +over and over again. "You shouldn't have let that little old sneak get +away with it. Did you see her smile when Miss Walters turned away? Oh, +if I could only give her what I want to give her!" Laura's hands clasped +and unclasped nervously as she talked and her eyes snapped. + +"Yes, that's just what she was waiting for," said Vi, hardly less +furious than Laura. "If you only hadn't answered her, Billie. Had just +looked at her with your nose in the air and turned away. That makes her +mad enough to murder you." + +"Oh, I know it, I know it," said Billie, still ashamed to look any one +in the face. She had broken one of the rules and had been reprimanded +for it by Miss Walters in public. There was no getting over that. If it +had been one of the "Dill Pickles" she would not have minded so much. +But Miss Walters! + +"Never mind," Vi whispered in her ear. "Miss Walters doesn't like Amanda +any more than we do, and she just scolded you because she had to. And I +know she liked the way you refused to tell tales. I saw it in the way +she looked at you." + +At this Billie brightened and glanced up hopefully. + +"Well, I'm glad if there's something she can like about me," she +answered, and just then the gong echoing through the hall, sent them +scurrying to their classes. + +In the excitement of the scene with Amanda the girls had almost +forgotten their mysterious engagement for ten o'clock that evening. But +when they did think of it again it had the effect of making them forget +everything else. + +The afternoon dragged on, evening came with supper, and then at last +they were in the dormitory, pretending to undress with the other girls, +while they really left most of their clothing on. + +When everything was dark and the whole place seemingly asleep, they got +out of bed quietly, stole softly down the stairs, and finally came out +into the moonlit night. + +The old maple tree where they were to meet Connie was a magnificent old +giant which the girls had always admired, set back a little way in the +woods. + +The place had probably been picked out because nobody, happening to +look from the windows of Three Towers, would be able to see anything but +shadows and waving branches. + +When the girls, moving softly over twigs and branches, so as to make no +noise, finally came to the meeting place they were surprised and a +little alarmed to find no one there. + +The woods were dark and silent, save for the soft murmuring of the wind +among the trees. + +"Nobody's here," said Vi, glancing nervously over her shoulder. + +"Suppose nobody comes," whispered Laura. "Maybe it's all a joke." + +"Well, if it is," said Billie with a rueful little smile, "the joke is +on us." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE "CODFISH" AGAIN + + +It seemed an age while Billie and Laura and Vi stood under the maple +tree before anything happened. It really was only about five minutes. +Then a sound was heard through the darkness. It was the cracking of a +twig. + +The girls started, and Billie, drawing some bushes aside, peered out in +the direction of the sound. What she saw made her draw in her breath +sharply and Laura and Vi drew closer, looking over her shoulder. + +Ten ghost-like figures were coming quickly toward them across the +moonlight-flooded lawn that surrounded Three Towers Hall. + +It looked as though each figure had draped itself from head to foot in a +flowing sheet with places for the eyes and nose and mouth rudely cut +out. The girls, watching in half-frightened silence, were reminded of +the "Ku-Klux Klan" of post Civil War days, which they had seen once or +twice in moving pictures. + +"Do you suppose it's the girls dressed up like that?" Laura whispered, +beginning to wish herself back in the security of her dormitory. + +"Of course. Who else could it be?" said Billie, trying to make her voice +sound natural when the skin on the back of her neck was beginning to +crawl. "For goodness sake, don't let them think you're scared, whatever +you do," she whispered fiercely, as the first of the white-draped +figures reached the woods. "That's probably just what they're trying to +do." + +The leader of the "ghosts," as they had already dubbed them in their +minds, came to a halt just a few feet in front of the chums, and her +followers drew up behind her. + +Then they stood there, motionless as the trees around them, looking at +Billie and Laura and Vi through those ghastly white masks until the +girls thought they must scream. + +They afterward found out that this was the "silence test," that unless +the girls passed this first test they were unworthy to belong to the +"Ghost Club." And passing the test consisted of doing what the girls +were doing now--although they did not know it--just standing still and +waiting for the head "ghost" to speak. + +And finally, when the girls felt that they could no longer stand it but +must dash out of the dark woods and away from the ghostly, motionless +figures, the "head ghost" spoke. + +"We have come," it said, "to ask you a question." + +There followed another silence, and Billie, not knowing just what was +expected of her, but wishing to be polite, said, rather weakly: "Yes, +ma'am." + +For a minute it looked as if the meeting would be broken up, for who +could be dignified and ghostly when addressed as "ma'am"? There was a +giggle from among the ghosts, and one or two of them began to double up +as if with silent laughter. But once again the head ghost lifted its +hand, or what looked more like a wing, under the sheet and her followers +straightened up. + +"And that question is," said the head ghost in a voice not quite so +solemn as before: "Do you believe in ghosts?" + +This was a poser. The girls never had believed in ghosts, but how could +they say so to this white-clad group. They had either to tell a fib or +offend their visitors. Billie, acting as spokesman, chose the fib. + +"We never used to," she said, and for the life of her she could not keep +the laughter out of her voice, "but I think we shall after to-night." + +"Ah," said the head ghost softly, and it seemed as if there were a +little stir in the group behind her. "Then come closer for I would ask +you yet one other question." + +Obediently the chums came closer,--although they would much rather have +stayed where they were--and the head ghost put her second question. + +"Listen," she said solemnly, lowering her voice at least two degrees +more. "Listen well, for it is a matter of great import. Would you be one +of us?" + +In the silence that followed the girls could almost hear their hearts +beat. This was the secret society to which every girl in Three Towers +longed to belong, and they, Billie, Laura, Vi, were being asked to join. +The last question of the head ghost could mean nothing else. + +They hesitated a moment, too dazed to answer, and the head ghost +repeated its request. + +"Would you be one of us?" it asked. "Answer quickly--yes or no?" + +Billie took a chance on her chums and took the plunge. + +"Yes!" she answered breathlessly. + +"Ah, 'tis well," came in solemn tones from the white mask of the leader. +Then she waved her arm toward the white-clad figures behind her and the +latter moved up till they were close to her. + +"You understand," said the leader then, "that one cannot change from a +human to a ghost in a minute. There are different stages to be gone +through. Spider!" She lifted her hand again and one of the girls +separated herself from the group and came forward. As she faced the +leader she shivered as if with a chill, raised her hands in the air, +and, still shivering horribly, lowered them to her sides again. + +The girls learned afterward that this was only a sort of salute which +every member of the "Ghost Club" was supposed to give its leader. + +But here at night, with the wind sighing through the trees, and weird +shadows all about, the thing looked so uncanny that once more the girls +had a wild desire to run away and hide. + +"What is it, your Ghostship?" asked the one addressed as Spider, and +although the voice was disguised the girls were sure it belonged to +Connie Danvers. They began to feel more at home. + +"Tell these humans," the head ghost ordered, "what they will have to go +through to be initiated into the Ghost Club. Come forward, one at a +time." + +"But would it not be better to show them?" asked Spider, and this time +the girls were sure it was Connie. + +"Show them, by all means," said the head ghost, and then the girls knew +they were in for it. + +They had heard of initiations before and what ridiculous things the +girls and boys who were lucky or unlucky enough to be initiated had to +go through with. But in every case they had heard of the clubs and +fraternities had been human ones. The initiation into a ghost club was +sure to be much worse. + +The leader of the ghost club raised her hand again, and three girls +sprang forward from the group behind her. Before the girls knew what was +happening to them they found their hands pinned behind them while huge +sheets were flung over their heads. + +The girls that were doing all this to them tied something that felt like +ropes around their waists, pulled the sheets into shape and the girls +found to their great relief that there were eye and nose and mouth holes +similar to those in the strange robes worn by the ghosts themselves. + +After that they went through strange and weird experiences that they +remembered in their dreams for a long time afterward. + +They were taught the "shiver salute," bandages were tied over their +eyes, or rather eye holes, and queer, slimy crawly things were pressed +into their hands. + +They were forced to swallow things that felt like particularly fat and +squirmy worms. It was no wonder that the stomachs of the girls +threatened to turn inside out. Several times they were on the point of +revolt, but always they choked back protests and did as they were told. +For to have come so near being members of the secret society of Three +Towers and then to lose out at the last minute because they had not +nerve enough to go through with the initiation, would have been real +tragedy. So they gritted their teeth and went ahead. + +At last it was over, the bandages were taken off their eyes, and they +were led before the head ghost to take the final oath of allegiance when +a strange thing happened. + +Billie, happening to glance through the trees to the bright patch of +lawn beyond, uttered a startled cry. For across that bright patch of +lawn a man was running, crouched and furtive. + +"Girls!" she cried, forgetting the club, forgetting everything but this +new and startling fact. "Look! Quick! Here, through the trees!" + +They crowded behind her, stirred by the note of excitement in her voice, +straining their eyes in the direction she had pointed out. + +The man was just about to enter the shelter of the woods when the +snapping of a twig under Laura's foot caused him to stop and look about +him, startled. + +In that brief second the moon shone full upon his face, and with a start +of sheer amazement Billie recognized him. + +"It's the 'Codfish'!" she cried. "Girls, it's the 'Codfish'!" + +"The Codfish?" they repeated in excitement, and Laura shook her arm +wildly. + +"Billie, are you sure?" she asked, then gave a gasp of amazement and +dismay. + +For Billie, forgetting how ridiculous she must look in her ghostly garb, +had started in pursuit. + +"She's crazy!" cried the "head ghost," speaking this time in the voice +of Rose Belser. "Some one go after her quick and get her back. Suppose +one of the Pickles should see her from the house!" + +But before she could finish Laura was racing like mad after her chum. + +Billie had stopped at the edge of the woods and was listening for some +sound that might tell her in what direction the man had disappeared. + +Laura grasped the sheet that enfolded Billie and tugged at it wildly. + +"Billie, come back, come back!" she cried. "We may be seen from the +house any minute." + +"But it was the 'Codfish,'" cried Billie wildly. "If I only had a--a +gun, or something!" + +"Yes, but you haven't, and he probably has." Laura was dancing with +impatience, glancing now over her shoulder at the dark woods, now toward +the house, standing out boldly in the moonlight. "Billie, for goodness +sake, don't be so crazy. We can't do anything!" + +So Billie at last allowed herself to be dragged away. They found the +"ghosts" talking excitedly about what had happened. And every once in a +while a girl would glance nervously over her shoulder into the dark +shadows of the woods. + +"Goodness, he must be a regular robber," Connie said in an excited +whisper. + +"And to think it's Billie's 'Codfish', the man who stole her trunk!" +said another. "I'm scared to death!" + +"D-don't you t-think we'd better go back?" asked Vi, her teeth +chattering. + +"I guess so," agreed Connie, looking fearfully about her. "He may be in +the woods now. He may even be listening to what we say!" + +This was enough for the girls. Without even a backward glance they +scurried across the lawn like so many little white phantoms and in at +the side door of Three Towers Hall. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +ROBBED! + + +For days the girls could think of little else than the initiation into +the "Ghost Club" and their startling meeting with the "Codfish." +Whenever they could get together between classes or at noon or before +they went to bed, these were the topics of conversation. And of these, +the "Codfish" held first place. + +"He must be a real burglar," Connie said during one of these gatherings. + +"Of course he was," said Rose, looking a little bored. "Respectable men +don't sneak around places at all hours of the night." + +"But what in the world did he want?" Laura asked wonderingly. "You +wouldn't think he'd come out from the woods at all--especially when +there's such a bright moon. He might be sure some one would see him." + +"Oh, I don't know," said Billie thoughtfully. "He probably knows the +rules of Three Towers and that the girls are all supposed to be in bed +before ten o'clock, and I suppose he felt safe enough. We _should_ have +been in bed, you know," she added, dimpling mischievously. + +"But I wonder what he was sneaking around Three Towers for," Laura went +on, unwilling to change the subject. For to Laura, mysteries were the +very breath of life. + +"Maybe he's waiting for a chance to rob us," said Vi in an awed little +voice, and the girls shuddered. + +"Well, I hope he changes his mind," said Nellie Bane anxiously. "I never +did like burglars very much." + +But as the days went by and nothing further happened, the mystery of the +"Codfish" was pushed a little into the background. + +In the first place, the chums were having the time of their lives in the +"Ghost Club," and proud as could be of having been chosen for +membership. + +The only one who was not particularly happy was Rose Belser. Of course +she had not wanted the girls in the club at first. But the rest of the +club did want them, and she was afraid that if she was the only one who +voted against them it would make her unpopular with the rest. + +Then, too, she reasoned with herself, if she hoped to get even with +Billie, the only thing was to have her around until she saw her chance. + +And all the time the "Twin Dill Pickles" were getting so obnoxious that +more than once the girls were upon the point of revolt. From day to day +it was only Miss Race, the mathematics teacher, who stood between them +and open rebellion. + +For Miss Race was a staunch friend of the girls, and in her heart +disliked Miss Ada and Miss Cora as much as they did. Whenever things got +a little bit too bad, Miss Race would have a secret conversation with +Miss Walters, who in her turn would have a little talk with the two Miss +Dills. Then for the space of a day or two the girls would have +comparative comfort. + +However, in spite of all efforts on the part of Miss Race, conditions +were steadily growing worse for the girls. + +Things went on very much the same, without much change one way or +another, while autumn merged into winter and the snow began to fly. + +There was a good deal of snow the early part of that winter, and +sledding parties became more and more frequent. There was a splendid +hill for coasting near Three Towers, and here the girls gathered almost +every afternoon after classes. + +Sometimes, very often in fact, there were boys, too, brothers and +friends of the girls, boys who attended Boxton Military Academy. It was +great sport, even more thrilling than rowing or canoeing had been, so +that when Lake Molata froze over the girls were joyful at the prospect +of more fun. There would be skating, and Billie Bradley and her two +especial friends were splendid skaters. + +Before long the lake was full of joyful, shouting boys and girls +whenever the weather was fine. And as for Chet and Teddy and Ferd, they +walked the mile from Boxton Academy almost every afternoon. + +"Let's have a race," Billie suggested one day, skating up to a group of +her chums. Her cheeks were rosy with wind and exercise, and her brown +hair had escaped in little curling strands about her ears. + +Teddy, looking up at her, thought that she looked like the picture of a +girl on a magazine cover that he had seen not so very long before. + +"All right," he said, doing a fancy step on the ice that almost landed +him on his nose. "Shall we take partners? Yes we shall. Billie, will you +be mine?" + +The rest of the girls giggled--all but Rose, who had taken a great +liking to handsome Teddy and did not at all fancy the way he always +singled out Billie, "the little cat"--and Billie made a face at Teddy. + +"I'll think about it," she teased, then drew the boys and girls around +her while she outlined the course of the race. "Now," she said, "we'll +skate straight ahead till we come to where the lake takes that sudden +bend. Then we'll double, and whoever passes the big maple tree first +will win. Who's going in this race?" + +It seemed that nearly everybody wanted to--everybody who could get a +partner, that is--and in a minute or two a score of merry young figures +were flying over the ice in a gallant effort to make the turn and get +back to the old maple first. + +It was a pretty scene, at least Caroline Brant thought so. But Rose +Belser, sitting close beside her, scraping her skates along the ice +until she made two ugly little ridges in it, did not agree with her. + +There was Billie, taking the center of the stage again as usual, and +there was Caroline looking after her with a smile. Well, Caroline could +smile. She had never been the most popular girl at Three Towers, +although most of the girls did like her, at that. Billie wasn't taking +_her_ place. And she dug still more viciously at the ice. + +"Better not do that," said Caroline, bringing her eyes back from the +flying figures and looking at the ugly ridges Rose had made. "Somebody's +apt to tumble over them and get hurt." + +"I wish they would," said Rose savagely, then added with a mean little +smile that suddenly reminded Caroline of Amanda Peabody: "I suppose +Billie would like to fall so that Teddy Jordon would have a chance to +pick her up." + +"Rose, stop saying such things!" Caroline said. But further speech was +prevented when a girl's voice hailed them excitedly. They turned to see +Nellie Bane running toward them at full speed. + +"Girls, the most awful thing has happened!" she panted when she came +within speaking distance. "Miss Race was coming home from town a few +minutes ago, and suddenly a man stepped out from the bushes near the +road and held her up." + +"Held her up!" they gasped, and Caroline added sharply: + +"Do you mean she was robbed?" + +"Yes," answered Nellie, still panting and with eyes wide with excitement +"And from what she said, I'm sure it was the 'Codfish.'" + +At that minute the skaters sped down upon them, Teddy and Billie winning +triumphantly by about a yard. Caroline skated over to them, calling her +story as she went. It was a minute or two before she could make them +understand. + +"You say one of the teachers was robbed?" asked Ferd. + +Then Caroline told the story all over again, while Nellie shouted to +them from the shore--for Nellie had on no skates and did not dare +venture out on the ice without them. Before she had finished the boys +were tearing wildly for the bank with the girls close behind them. + +There they sat down and tore their skates off, asking questions all the +while. + +"Did you say it was just the other side of the gate?" Chet asked. "Say, +if we hurry, fellows, we may have a chance to find him. Who would ever +have thought of that old Codfish turning up again?" + +"Don't talk--work," cried Teddy, getting rid of his skates and stamping +his numbed feet to get the blood back into them. "We missed that fellow +once before, and we're not going to miss him again if we can help it. +Ready, fellows?" + +"You bet!" Ferd and Chet cried, and the three were off on a run, the +first of the boys to start. Behind them the girls were still fumbling +with numbed fingers at their skates. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +CHET PLAYS THE HERO + + +The boys stopped at the gate of Three Towers Hall, not knowing just what +to do next. All they knew was that Miss Race had been held up and robbed +only a few hundred feet from the gate and that the robber had +disappeared in the bushes at the left-hand side of the road. + +"We'll have to spread out," Teddy said in an excited voice. "Probably +the fellow doesn't expect to be followed, because he thinks there are +only women and girls around Three Towers and he's probably around near +here somewhere counting over his loot. + +"There are five of us," he went on quickly, noticing that two more boys +had come up from the lake on a run. "And if we go in the woods one at a +time and circle about we ought to find the thief." + +"Don't you think we'd better get Miss Race?" asked Chet eagerly. "She'd +be able to show us just where the fellow disappeared, and everything." + +"But it will take too long," Ferd was objecting, when Miss Race +herself, with two or three of the other teachers and Miss Walters, came +hurrying toward them. + +"What are you going to do, boys?" asked Miss Walters, looking worried. + +The boys explained quickly, and Teddy, turning eagerly to Miss Race, +asked her to go with them as far as the woods and point out the place +where the thief had disappeared. + +Miss Race was still white from her fright. But she was angry, too, for +the pocketbook she had lost contained a good deal of money. + +"Yes, I'll go," she said, then added, turning quickly to her principal: +"That is, if you don't mind, Miss Walters." + +Miss Walters still looked troubled, but she shook her head slowly. + +"I think it will be all right," she said, adding as the boys started +eagerly off: "Only be careful, boys, and don't get hurt. The man may be +desperate if he finds himself cornered." + +The girls started to follow the boys, but Miss Walters checked them. + +"You can't help," she said when they looked at her reproachfully. "And +since I'm responsible for you, you will stay right here." + +Meanwhile, the boys and Miss Race were running down the road. Yes, even +Miss Race, who was never _very_ dignified, was running. + +Suddenly they came to a trampled place in the road, showing that some +struggle had taken place there. + +"It was right here," said Miss Race, her eyes black with excitement. +"And he ran across the road and disappeared in that thick mass of +bushes. Then he covered me with his gun and told me to 'beat it while +the beating was good.'" + +"The rat!" cried Chet indignantly. "Come on, fellows! I want to get my +hands on that rascal." + +Eagerly the boys started for the woods, but Teddy turned back suddenly +and called to Miss Race. + +"You'd better go back now," he said, and Miss Race's eyes twinkled at +his grown-up tone. "There isn't anything more you can do, and if there +are any bullets flying around we don't want you to get them. Please," he +added impatiently, as she did not move. + +"No, I'm going to stay right here," she answered him firmly, and when +Miss Race spoke in that tone everybody knew that she meant what she +said. "Go along, but don't take too many risks. Remember the man is +armed." + +So Teddy disappeared after his comrades and Miss Race waited nervously +in the road, expecting she hardly knew what. + +It seemed a long time that she stood there, dreading any moment to hear +a shot, blaming herself for sending the boys on such a hunt. + +"I'd rather lose a hundred pocketbooks," she scolded herself, "than have +a finger of one of those boys hurt. I wish I hadn't said anything about +it." + +As for the boys, they were beginning to despair of ever finding the +thief and were calling themselves all sorts of names for ever thinking +they would, when suddenly Chet walked out of the woods and almost upon +him. + +It was so sudden that the boy almost yelled in his surprise, but all he +really did was clap his hand over his mouth and stare. For he had come +so softly that the man had not even heard him. + +He was crouched over something that Chet could not see--probably the +stolen pocketbook. His revolver lay beside him on the ground, close to +his right hand. + +With his heart in his mouth--for after all, with all his courage, he was +only a boy and the robber was a man, and armed at that--Chet crept +forward, fearful each second of stepping on a twig and giving his +presence away. + +Nearer and nearer he crept, hardly daring to breathe, until he was right +behind the thief and the revolver was almost under his feet. + +Then with a motion as quick as a cat's, he stooped and caught tip the +revolver. The next moment he stepped quickly back and covered the thief +with it. + +"Hands up!" he cried. "Quick there, before I shoot!" + +So sudden, so noiseless, had been his action that the thief was taken +completely by surprise. With an exclamation he reached his hand out for +his revolver, then, not finding it, stumbled to his feet. + +"Hands up!" cried Chet sharply. "Quick, now. This blamed thing might go +off." + +The man's hands went up, but he still kept his back to Chet, his little +furtive eyes glancing about for a means of escape. + +"Turn around," Chet commanded, then as the man did not move he clicked +the trigger meaningly. "Say, I think you want to taste the lead in this +thing," he added, and there was something in his tone, boyish though it +was, that made the man turn quickly. + +Chet uttered a gasp of recognition. + +"So it _is_ you," he said. "I thought it was all the time, but I +couldn't be sure till I'd seen the color of your eyes. So you're really +the 'Codfish.' Please to meet you, old man." + +"Say, cut that out," snarled the "Codfish," making as though to spring +upon Chet, but the latter waved his pistol and the man evidently changed +his mind, for he stood where he was, hands above his head, eyes glaring. + +"And so there's the pocketbook and the nice fat roll of money you just +stole from the Three Towers teacher," Chet went on, his glance shifting +from the man to the pocketbook with the money stuffed hastily in it +where the man had left it on the ground. "You thought it was easy, +didn't you? Well, you didn't know you had me to reckon with." Chet was +boy enough to want to strut a little. Never before had he had a chance +to play the real hero. He probably never would have again, so he wanted +to make the most of this. + +"You little puppy!" the man spat out at him. "You think you can get the +best of me, don't you? Let me tell you, no kid can do that." + +He made a sudden lunge forward, and Chet, taken by surprise, stepped +backward, caught his foot in a root and stumbled a little. + +He recovered himself in a minute, but in that little space of time the +"Codfish" had gone, disappeared as if the earth had swallowed him up. + +Then Chet went mad. To have had the thief and then to lose him! He +started off wildly into the woods, but his foot struck against +something, and, looking down, he saw the pocketbook with the money still +in it. + +He picked it up, feeling that he had partly played the hero anyway, for +if he had not caught the thief, he had at least recovered the money. + +Then he started off on his hunt again, and this time almost stepped +into the arms of Ferd and Teddy. + +"Say, what's the row?" the former yelled at him. "We heard the talking, +and thought we'd have a look--say, stop pointing that thing at me, will +you?" + +"Then get out of my way," yelled Chet, his mind on only one thing. He +must catch the "Codfish." "I'm after the thief, I tell you! Get out of +my way!" + +"Say, has he gone crazy?" asked Teddy. Then his eyes fell on the +pocketbook that Chet was still holding tight in his hands. + +"He got the money! Say, Ferd, he got the money! Chet you're some hero. +Where's the thief?" + +By this time Chet knew he had no chance of catching the "Codfish," who, +now that he was discovered, was probably running into hiding as fast as +he could, so he turned back with the boys and began excitedly to tell +them what had happened. + +"And you really had him and you let him go again!" cried Ferd in +disgust. "Well, you poor old fish!" + +"I got the money, anyway, didn't I?" Chet defended himself, adding in a +superior tone: "It's more than any of you did, I guess." + +"You're some boy, Chet," Teddy repeated heartily. "Come on and let's +tell the good news to Miss Race. Make believe she won't be glad to see +her wealth again." + +"Where are the other fellows?" Chet asked, as they started back. + +"Oh, they'll be along soon," said Ferd indifferently. "When they can't +find old 'Codfish' they'll come wandering back again." + +"I wonder if Miss Race has waited," said Teddy, adding as he came near +the roadway: "Yes, there she is, looking pretty white and scared, too." + +As they clumped through the heavy bushes Ferd looked at Chet gloomily. + +"Say, make believe I don't envy you, you lucky dog," he said slangily. +"Gosh, all the girls will be wanting to skate with you and everything +now." + +"Sure! Well be left out in the cold," added Teddy mournfully. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +RAIDING THE PANTRY + + +As a matter of fact, Teddy and Ferd and all the other boys, too, were +left out in the cold more than even they had expected. + +Miss Race greeted rapturously the return of her money. And as for the +girls--well, they hung around Chet, showering him with questions and +praise until it was really a wonder they did not spoil him entirely. + +But when the first excitement was over, the boys had gone home, and +everything was quiet again, they could not help feeling sorry that Chet +had not kept the Codfish when he had him. And Miss Walters, though she +said nothing to the girls, was more worried than any of them. + +"Why, we'll be afraid to go out at all after dark," Billie said, +wide-eyed and excited. + +"And I'm sure I'll dream of him every night," Laura added with a +shudder. + +But as the days went by the girls found other things to worry about than +the Codfish. They were having more and more trouble with Miss Ada and +Miss Cora. Then one day there came news that brought the whole matter to +a head. + +Miss Walters had received a telegram calling her away suddenly and had +no way of knowing just when she would be back. + +And in the meantime--this part of the news the girls received in +horror-stricken silence--Miss Ada Dill and Miss Cora Dill were to be +left in entire charge of Three Towers Hall. + +It was nothing less than tragedy to the girls, for they knew that now at +last the "Dill Pickles" had their chance. And they knew, too, that Miss +Ada and Miss Cora would make the most of it. + +The day came when Miss Walters left, and the girls watched her go with +puckered brows and stormy eyes. + +"The meals have been bad enough, goodness knows," Laura grumbled, as +they gathered up their books for the first class. "But now I suppose we +won't get anything to eat." + +"We'll just be prisoners, that's all," said Billie, her eyes rebellious. +"I know Miss Cora's hated me from the very first, and now she'll be able +to do just about what she pleases to me. But if she gets too funny, +I'll--well, I don't know what I'll do," she ended rather helplessly. + +And during the next week the girls' worst fears were realized. All the +liberty that they had enjoyed under Miss Walters was taken away from +them, and, as Billie had predicted, they were practically prisoners. + +That they could have stood perhaps; at least until Miss Walters +returned. But that was by no means the worst of it. + +The two Miss Dills had always said that the girls could get along just +as well on far less to eat. In fact, Miss Ada was positive they could +study better if "they didn't cram themselves so full of food." And now +they set to work to prove their theory. + +The meals became skimpier and skimpier, until one day after the noon +meal the girls left the table feeling positively hungry. + +The afternoon seemed unbearably long, and for the life of them they +could not keep their minds on their books. All they could think of was +delicious juicy steaks, French-fried potatoes, chicken pie and +strawberry short cake. + +And when girl after girl failed in her recitations, Miss Cora and Miss +Ada scolded them so harshly and said such sarcastic things that it +brought the angry red to their faces. But, as the girls said later, they +were "almost too hungry to fight back." + +Two more days passed with conditions getting worse and worse until the +girls were becoming weak from lack of food. Two of the younger girls +became faint and sick. + +"We can't stand this much longer," said Billie. + +The girls were gathered in Billie's dormitory after supper, and one by +one girls from the other dormitories joined them. It was fast becoming a +mass meeting. + +"We simply can't stand it," Billie went on, her little fists clenched +angrily at her side. "It's all right if they want to take our liberty +away. We can stand that for a little while, until Miss Walters comes +back. But when they begin to starve us----" + +"But what are we going to do?" asked one girl, helplessly. + +"We could run 'em out, I suppose," said one of the older girls gloomily. +"But I suppose we'd be run out ourselves as soon as Miss Walters got +back." + +"I don't see why Miss Walters left 'The Pickles' in charge, anyway," +spoke up another of the girls fretfully. "She knew how horrid they were +and how they've all the time been picking on us girls." + +"Well, I don't see that it makes any difference why Miss Walters did +it," Billie broke in, and there was something in her tone that made the +girls stop talking and look at her expectantly. "The fact is, she has +left the 'Dill Pickles' in charge and they're trying to starve us to +death. Now what I want to know is this: Are we just going to stand +around and let them do it? Or are we going to fight?" + +"Fight!" they cried, their pale faces beginning to flush with hope. + +"What do you want us to do, Billie?" asked Laura eagerly. + +"Listen and I'll tell you." She leaned forward and one could almost have +heard a pin drop in the room. "There's only one way I know of that we +can get food that 'The Pickles' don't give to us." + +"And that?" + +"Is to raid the pantry and storeroom," said Billie, her eyes gleaming. +"We'll probably find plenty of cooked things in the pantry, and if we +don't, we'll go on into the storeroom and get canned sardines and +vegetables and soup. I know I don't care what I eat, as long as I get +enough of it." + +The girls were silent a minute, staring at Billie half hopefully, half +fearfully. To raid the pantry and storeroom? It had never been done in +all the history of Three Towers. It would be open rebellion! And yet +they were hungry--terribly hungry--two of them had been faint and sick +from lack of food. + +"Will you do it?" asked Billie, her eyes blazing at them. + +"We will!" they almost shouted, and then rose such a pandemonium that +Billie, trying to scream above the noise, found her voice drowned +completely. + +After a minute they quieted down a little--enough to listen to her, +anyway. + +"Please don't make so much noise," she begged. "We'll be likely to make +our raid a great deal easier if we wait until the cooks are gone and the +teachers are in bed. We don't care if we are caught, but we don't want +to be caught until after we've had something to eat." + +The girls realized the common sense in this, but it was all they could +do to be patient and wait. The thought of something to eat--all they +wanted to eat--after a week of starvation made them ravenous, furiously +impatient of delay. + +The time passed at last, however, and when the "lights out" gong sounded +through the hall the girls were apparently in bed and fast asleep. + +Hardly five minutes had passed before the doors of the different +dormitories opened, and the girls crept singly or in twos and threes +toward the farther end of the hall until all the hundred-odd girls of +Three Towers were gathered there except two. Two of them had stayed +behind, and so absorbed were the other girls that they never noticed the +absence of Amanda Peabody and Eliza Dilks. + +It may be that Rose noticed, for as she left the dormitory she looked +over at them and smiled a little. She had guessed at the truth. + +For Amanda and Eliza disliked Billie so bitterly that they would even go +hungry for the chance of getting even with her. Miss Ada and Miss Cora +would be very glad to know who had been the ring-leader in the +rebellion! + +In the meantime the girls, satisfied that every one was present, had +started softly down the back stairs which led them by the shortest way +to the kitchen. + +As Billie had said, they did not care if they were discovered, except +that if they were caught they would probably have a harder time getting +what they wanted. + +Billie was in the lead with Vi and Laura close behind her. They hardly +made any noise at all, and before they knew it they were facing the +closed door that led to the kitchen. + +Billie swung it open cautiously and looked inside. The kitchen was dark, +but she knew where the electric switch was, and the next minute the room +was flooded with light. + +The sudden glare rather frightened the girls, and they hesitated for a +moment--but only a moment. They were terribly hungry, and just across +the kitchen was the pantry, and back of that, the storeroom. + +"Come on, girls," Billie whispered. "Here's where we get the best of +'The Pickles.'" + +They found cold ham in the refrigerator, they found bread and butter and +crackers and jam. In the twinkling of an eye all these dainties had +disappeared, and they were looking around for more. + +Next they raided the storeroom. They found tiers upon tiers of canned +goods, and Billie, because she was the first to find a can-opener, was +pronounced "official can-opener," and opened cans till her arm ached. + +But how good that stolen food tasted! They ate ravenously. They ate with +knives and forks and spoons, and when these ran short, they even ate +with their hands. And by and by the brightness came back to their eyes, +the color to their cheeks, and they chattered like joyful magpies. + +When they could eat no more, they filled their pockets with biscuits and +crackers and started back the way they had come. + +But they only started, for as Billie opened the door that led to the +stairs she found herself face to face with Miss Cora, Miss Ada, Miss +Race and several of the junior teachers. + +In the background--triumphant smiles upon their faces--lurked Amanda +Peabody and Eliza Dilks. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +A CHALLENGE + + +The girls stood still, awaiting they did not know what, while Miss Ada +and Miss Cora swept into the room followed by the other teachers, Amanda +and the Shadow. The Misses Dill carried their noses high in the air, and +there was a grim expression around their mouths. But as the girls +glanced from them to Miss Race they saw that the latter looked troubled. + +"Amanda and Eliza did it," Laura whispered fiercely in Billie's ear. +"They waited behind and told on us--the sneaks! Oh, how I wish----" + +"Silence!" cried Miss Cora Dill, glaring at Laura. "If there is any +talking done in this place to-night, I expect to do it." + +She paused a minute, sweeping the girls with an icy glance, then her +eyes rested accusingly upon Billie. + +"Three Towers," she said then, "has never before been the scene of such +a disgraceful happening. It is preposterous, unthinkable! I shudder to +think of what will happen when Miss Walters hears the truth. + +"And of course," she added, her eyes still fixed upon Billie, "you girls +would never have thought of such a thing if you hadn't been put up to +it. Fortunately, I have been able to learn the name of the--person," the +word held so much of contempt that Billie's face burned, "who started +this disgraceful affair." + +By one accord the girls turned accusing eyes upon Amanda and Eliza, but +the latter only tossed their heads and looked defiant. + +"Beatrice Bradley"--Miss Cora almost spit out the name--"step forward, +if you please." + +Poor Billie wanted desperately to run away somewhere and hide. But she +held her head high, and her eyes met Miss Cora's squarely. + +"I want you to tell the truth," said Miss Cora, angered by what she took +to be the insolence of the girl. "Did you or did you not propose this +outrageous affair?" + +But this was more than the girls would stand for. Before Billie had a +chance to answer there arose from different parts of the room a score of +voices raised in protest. + +"We all did it." + +"Billie isn't any more to blame than the rest of us." + +"It isn't fair." + +"We were all in it together." + +Billie had so many defenders that the noise they made completely +drowned Miss Cora's voice and prevented her from speaking for several +moments. This, of course, only served to make her angrier than before. + +"I didn't ask you all to talk," she said, when at last she could make +herself heard. "It seemed to me I was speaking to Beatrice Bradley. I +will ask it once more," turning to Billie, who was rather white now. +"Were you or were you not the ring-leader of this affair?" + +There was absolute quiet in the room while the girls waited miserably +for Billie's answer. They knew her well enough to know what it would be, +even before she spoke. + +Then Billie lifted her head and said quietly: + +"Yes, Miss Dill, I was the one who started the trouble. I don't think +any of the girls would have thought of it if it hadn't been for me." + +A ripple of protest rose behind her, but Miss Dill waved it down +angrily. + +"Then by your own confession," she said, something of triumph gleaming +in her eyes, "you have not only broken all the rules of Three Towers but +you have incited the rest of the girls to do likewise. Have you anything +to say for yourself?" + +"No, Miss Dill." Billie's voice was so low it could hardly be heard. + +"You are not even sorry?" Miss Cora went on relentlessly. + +"No," said Billie, lifting her head and looking Miss Cora straight in +the eyes. "We have been nearly starved since Miss Walters left, and some +of the girls have been sick from hunger." Her voice rose a little and +the color came back to her face as she flung out a challenge like a flag +of war. "I'm sorry, Miss Dill, but if I had to, I would do it all over +again." + +Miss Cora looked as if she doubted the evidence of her ears, while a +murmur of applause went up from the girls. Oh, but they were proud of +Billie! + +"You have heard what she said," Miss Cora Dill turned to the teachers +behind her. "Such insolence can only result in expulsion. Beatrice +Bradley, come with me. The rest of you," she turned fiercely upon the +other girls, "will go up to your dormitories. To-morrow I will deal with +you." + +As Billie, dread in her heart at that awful word "expulsion," started +toward Miss Cora Dill, Caroline Brant caught her hand and whispered +reassuringly in her ear. + +"Don't worry," she said. "They won't dare expel you. When Miss Walters +hears all about it she will be more than likely to expel them!" + +Billie gave her a wan little smile, squeezed her hand gratefully, and +was promptly taken into custody by Miss Cora. Then the teachers stood +aside while the rest of the girls filed past them upstairs. + +In the dormitories all was confusion. Sleep was out of the question, +and the girls gathered in excited groups discussing the terrible thing +that had happened to them, half wishing for Miss Walters, yet half +afraid to have her come back. Suppose she should side with the "Dill +Pickles"? Then all would indeed be lost. + +But Billie was their chief worry. + +"Why didn't she fib about it?" cried one girl, pacing up and down +excitedly. "We would all have backed her up. She knew that." + +"But Billie doesn't fib," said Vi proudly. "And besides, it wouldn't +have done her any good. Amanda and the Shadow had already told, and they +were right here in the dorm when we were planning the raid." + +Fiercely the girls looked around for the sneaks; but they were nowhere +to be seen. + +"Probably 'The Pickles' are taking good care of the little darlings," +sneered Laura. "Oh, how I'd like to get my hands on them!" + +"What's the matter, Rose?" asked Caroline Brant suddenly. "Don't you +feel good?" + +For Rose was sitting on the edge of her bed, her head bowed on her +clasped hands. At Caroline's question she raised her head and looked +around her miserably. + +"No, I don't feel good. I--I have a headache," she said. + +The girls regarded her curiously for a minute, and then forgot all +about her. They had worse things than headaches to worry about. + +Rose did indeed have a headache, but the headache was mostly caused by a +heartache. She herself did not quite understand it. + +Billie had at last been singled out from all the other girls for +punishment, would perhaps be expelled from Three Towers Hall, and where +she, Rose, should have been happy about it, she was only miserable. + +Of course she had really had no hand in Billie's disgrace--this time. +But she had planned and schemed for it before, and that made her almost +as bad in her own eyes as those two wretched sneaks whom all the girls +hated and despised. If they could only know what had been in her mind +they would hate and despise her, too! + +Her head felt hot and her lips were feverish. It was a terrible thing to +despise oneself. The only way she could ever put things straight again +was to find some way of getting Billie out of her scrape. She must think +of a plan! + +Suddenly she jumped to her feet, and the girls turned startled eyes upon +her. + +"I have it!" she cried. "We must get word to Miss Walters. If she could +know what an awful fix we're in, she'd come right back. I'm sure she +would." + +The girls stared for a minute--then seized eagerly on the plan. + +"But how can we get word to her if we haven't her address?" Connie +Danvers asked. But Rose answered her impatiently. + +"I've thought of that," she said, then went on to explain while the +girls listened eagerly how she had taken some letters to the mail box +for Miss Race, and, happening to glance down, had seen that the top one +was addressed to Miss Walters. + +Luckily she remembered the address, and now when one of the girls handed +her a slip of paper she wrote it down feverishly. + +"But how are we going to get word to her?" asked one of the girls, and +they looked at each other helplessly. "'The Pickles' won't let anybody +outside the Hall, and they'll look over all the mail." + +They were still trying to think of a plan when a step in the hall--a +step that sounded very much like Miss Ada Dill's firm tread--sent them +scattering. + +A little later silence settled like a cloud over the dormitories, but +few of the girls slept. They were thinking--thinking---- + +By and by Laura leaned across and whispered to Vi. + +"Asleep?" she asked. + +"No, I can't sleep," said Vi miserably. "I keep thinking of Billie and +where they've put her and--and--everything." + +"Well, I've thought of a real plan," whispered Laura mysteriously. + +"You have?" cried Vi, sitting up in her turn. "What is it?" + +But in the darkness Laura shook her head. + +"Not now," she said. "I'll tell you in the morning." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +A PRISONER OF WAR + + +It was a bad night for all the girls, but for Billie Bradley it was a +nightmare. Miss Cora Dill had thrust her into a little room just big +enough to contain a couch, a table, and one or two chairs. + +When Billie had asked for a light the door had been slammed in her face +and she had heard the key turn in the lock. + +So she was a prisoner--and in disgrace. All her dreams had come to that. +Miss Cora had said she would be expelled from Three Towers Hall when +Miss Walters heard what she had done. + +But in her heart Billie did not believe that. The hope that when Miss +Walters was told everything she would side with the girls was the only +thing that kept her from being absolutely miserable. For Miss Walters +was always fair. + +Billie had never been afraid of the dark. She was not really afraid of +it now. But as the hours crept by and the place became still with the +stillness of midnight, she began to feel uneasy and very, very +lonesome. + +The silence was so deep that she was afraid to move for fear of breaking +it, but at last, because her limbs were cramping and she was beginning +to feel chilled, she rose from the couch where she had been sitting and +began moving cautiously about the room. + +She stubbed her toe against one chair and almost fell over the other, +making so much noise that her heart stood still and she looked fearfully +over her shoulder. Finally she came over to the couch again and sank +down upon it, feeling that she must cry or die. + +But she did not do either, just sat there thinking and thinking what she +could do next. She would have to sleep, she supposed, although Miss Cora +had not given her any nightgown and there were no bedclothes. + +Then a happy thought struck her, and she turned down the cover of the +couch and found, as she had hoped, that the couch was made up as a bed. +There were several rooms like this in Three Towers--rooms used only when +there was an overflow of students. Billie remembered having heard the +girls speak of them as "cubby holes." + +But Billie was tired and unhappy, and all of a sudden her only wish was +to get within the protection of those covers. Perhaps it would not then +seem so lonesome and she was cold. + +After that she knew no more till morning. + +It was a dark, dreary morning with a bite in the air that felt like +snow. There was no sign of sunshine anywhere, either outside or inside +of Three Towers Hall. + +The girls rose reluctantly, and there was rebellion in their eyes. They +were on the verge of revolt, and it needed only one more unfair act on +the part of Miss Cora or Miss Ada Dill to start the ball rolling. + +"Are we going down to breakfast?" asked Laura, as the breakfast gong +rang. + +"I suppose we'd better," answered Caroline Brant, her eyes looking tired +and red-rimmed under the spectacles. "We have to eat, anyway. After we +get through we can come up here and decide what we're going to do." + +"Well, I know one thing we're going to do," said Laura fiercely. "If the +Dill Pickles don't let Billie come back to us, or at least tell us where +she is, I'm going to set the place on fire, that's all." + +"That wouldn't help Billie any," said Rose, as they turned from the +room. + +Breakfast was gloomier than ever that morning. The girls were heavy-eyed +and sullen, and Miss Cora, presiding grimly at the head of the table, +looked, as one of the older girls said, "like a death's head at the +feast." + +"But where was the feast?" another girl retorted. + +In fact this meal was scantier than any that had gone before, and if it +had not been for the night's raid the girls would have been in a pretty +bad way. + +Amanda and the "Shadow" were there, and if looks could kill, they would +have both died on the spot. But there was no sign of Billie. The girls +had hardly thought there would be, but they had hoped. + +A little while later there was another mass meeting held in dormitory +"C," and it was Rose Belser this time who took the floor. + +"We simply can't stand it any longer, girls," she told them, her black +eyes snapping. "Wasn't that a wonderful breakfast we had this morning? +It makes you sick to think of it. And we don't even know whether Billie +got as much as we did. We've got to do something right away. We can try +to get word to Miss Walters. I have her address, but I don't know how +we're ever going to----" + +She was interrupted by a familiar whistle from somewhere outside, and +the girls ran over to the window. Sure enough, there were Chet and +Teddy, looking, to the girls, like a couple of heaven-sent messengers, +standing underneath the window, skates flung over their shoulders, +looking up toward them expectantly. + +"Wait a minute," Laura called down, "Don't dare go away from there. +You're angels, and have come just when we wanted you most." + +She turned a radiant face to the girls and began to speak hurriedly. + +"I had it all figured out last night, girls," she said, while they +listened eagerly. "When you told me you knew Miss Walters' address, +Rose, I thought of the boys right away. There was just a chance that +they might come over this morning or this afternoon. And now they're +here." + +"Well?" they asked, puzzled. + +"Oh, don't you see?" Laura clapped her hands impatiently. "The 'Dill +Pickles' won't let any of us send word to Miss Walters, but the boys can +do it for us." + +Before she had finished a dozen girls were scrambling for pencil and +paper, Laura was pushed into a chair by the table and was commanded to +write and write quickly. + +And Laura obeyed while the girls fairly hung over her, offering +suggestions, and all talking at once until it was a wonder she could +write anything at all. + +She told the boys briefly what had happened and begged them to send word +to Miss Walters at once. Then they tied the precious piece of paper +around an inkwell--who cared for the wreck of a mere inkwell at a time +like this?--and threw it out of the window. + +Teddy picked it up wonderingly and unwound the paper, while Chet peered +over his shoulder and the girls watched breathlessly from above. When +Teddy came to the part about Billie's capture he was all for storming +the castle, meeting the "Lions in their den, the Pickles in their hall," +and rescuing the heroine without delay. But Chet held him back. + +After that they had what seemed to be a rather heated argument, but Chet +finally got the best of it, and after a wave to the girls, who were +fairly hanging out of the dormitory windows, the two boys started off +and disappeared around the corner of the building. + +The girls watched them out of sight, then turned to each other with +shining eyes. + +"That ought to bring Miss Walters back in a hurry," said Vi. "Then +everything will be all right." + +"Yes, but we may starve before she gets here," said one of the girls +gloomily. + +"And Billie! Oh, girls, we've just got to get her out!" added Laura. +"Nobody knows where she is or what they're doing to her." + +Without warning, the door opened and Billie herself flew in upon them. + +"Girls," she cried breathlessly, "can't you hide me somewhere? +I've--I've--escaped!" + +"Escaped!" they cried, crowding around her, all asking questions at +once, feeling her, to be sure that it was really she, until Billie made +frantic signs for them to be quiet. + +"Girls," she cried, "please stop talking and listen to me. Miss Cora +will find that I'm gone in a minute, and she's sure to come right here +for me." + +"Well, she won't get you, that's one sure thing," cried Laura staunchly. + +"But tell us about it," urged another girl. "Did they have you locked +up?" + +"Yes," said Billie, adding with a shiver: "And I had a terrible night. +But this morning Miss Cora herself brought me some breakfast--I wish you +could have seen it--and she was just saying some nice mean things to me +when Miss Race called her away for something, said it was important. +Miss Cora went out without locking the door. So I didn't stop for +anything, I just ran. I had something I wanted to tell you." + +"Good old Miss Race," Connie interrupted, her eyes shining. "I bet she +just did it on purpose." + +"But listen," Billie broke in hurriedly. "I thought of something while I +was locked up, and I want to tell you about it before they catch me +again. It's about getting news to Miss Walters. The boys will probably +be around this morning, and if you could let them know----" + +"But we've already done that," interrupted a score of eager voices, and +Billie clapped her hands delightedly. + +"Good!" she cried. Then her face sobered again and she looked nervously +toward the door. "I suppose Miss Cora will be along in a minute, and +she'll want to lock me up again. And I suppose she'll be so mad at my +getting away that she won't give me anything to eat now." + +But suddenly Rose jumped to her feet, face flushed, eyes shining. This +was her chance to square herself with Billie and all the rest. + +"Tell me something, girls," she cried. "Are we going to let Miss Cora +have Billie? Are we?" + +"We are not!" they cried lustily; and Billie suddenly saw them through a +mist of tears. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE CAPTURE + + +The girls expected trouble and they had not long to wait for it. They +had left Billie inside the dormitory, had gone into the hall, closed the +door after them firmly and had defiantly placed themselves before it. + +They rather welcomed the sight of Miss Cora, stiff-backed and +stern-lipped, bearing down upon them like a tug of war. They had learned +in their history, that in "union there is strength," and now they were +about to test the truth of it. If one of them felt her courage slipping, +all she had to do was to think of the breakfast they had had that +morning and, presto, it was all back again. + +Miss Cora stopped as she came to the foremost girls, and her eyes swept +them coldly. + +"What is the meaning of this?" she asked, adding as the girls did not +show any intention of moving: "Let me pass, at once." + +Then Rose stepped forward a little and drawled, in the insolent tone +that only Rose knew how to use. + +"Where are you going, Miss Dill?" + +Miss Cora looked as stunned as if she had been hit on the head with a +hammer. That one of the girls should have the insolence--the absolute +impertinence--to ask her, Miss Cora Dill, where she was going! + +Then a hot wave of anger flowed over her, and she found her voice. + +"Where I am going has nothing to do with it, whatever," she said, her +voice icy. "I command you to stand away from that door." + +Then it was Caroline Brant who spoke in her quiet, calm voice. + +"We will be glad to do as you say, Miss Dill," she said, "if you will +promise not to lock Billie Bradley up again." + +"Promise--not to lock----?" gasped Miss Cora. Then she turned upon the +girls with blazing eyes. "You are mad--all of you!" she said, her voice +shaking with fury. "I will wire Miss Walters at once!" and she turned +away down the hall, her hands so tightly clenched that her nails left +little angry red marks where they had bit into the flesh. + +The girls watched her go--then turned back into the dormitory with a +sigh. They had won a victory, and yet they were not happy about it. +Except that Billie was free, things were even worse than before. + +"Now I don't know what we're going to do," said Vi, gazing drearily out +of the window. The leaden sky had turned still darker and a flurry of +snow had begun to fall. + +The gong for classes rang out through the hall and the girls started and +looked at each other questioningly. Several of them began to gather up +their books, but Billie, who had been thinking deeply, suddenly sprang +to her feet. + +"Listen, girls," she said, and they looked at her questioningly. "It +seems to me there's only one thing left for us to do. We can't go to +classes, not after what we've just done, and we can't stay around here +till Miss Walters comes. The Pickles will surely starve us to death." + +She paused for a moment and they looked at her expectantly. Then she +lowered her voice and spoke quickly. + +"Let's go home," she said. "Or at least we can go to the hotel in town +till Miss Walters gets back. What do you say?" + +And not one of the girls but what hailed the idea joyfully. It would be +rebellion, of course; and a few days before they would have hesitated. +But not now. + +They set about packing in feverish haste, fairly throwing their things +into their suitcases. They were afraid of having their plans spoiled at +the last minute. And in Molata they could get all they wanted to eat; +that is, as long as their money held out. + +At last they were ready. Hats and coats on, valises in hand, they +gathered in the hall waiting for Billie to give the word to march. + +Eyes were bright, color was high, for they had started on real adventure +and they were beginning to enjoy it. + +"Come on," said Billie, raising her hand smartly to the little brown hat +in salute. "For-ward march!" + +As they reached the lower hall they were met by Miss Ada Dill and Miss +Cora, Miss Race and several of the other teachers. The latter had feared +trouble when the girls failed to report at classes, and had started out +to see what the matter was. + +And now they saw! Before they could even gasp their amazement the girls +swept past them, opened the front door, and ran down the steps to the +drive. There were only about a hundred of them, but it seemed to the +teachers who watched them go that there were easily twice that number. + +"They've struck," said Miss Race, turning to the other teachers with +consternation in her eyes, while they looked back at her soberly. "I +wonder what Miss Walters will say." + +"We'll very soon find out what she'll say," Miss Cora Dill spoke up +grimly. "I sent a wire to Miss Walters this morning. She will surely be +back in a day or two." + +Meanwhile, out on the road, the girls were trudging gamely on toward +town. The first thrill had gone from the adventure, and they were +beginning to wonder what made their grips so heavy. + +And the snow, which had begun in a light flurry, was coming down heavily +now, covering the woods and the road before them with a white fleecy +blanket. + +The wind had risen, too, and they were forced to stop time and time +again to straighten hats and shake the clinging snow from their skirts. + +And because of the wind they did not hear the sound of voices. So that +Chet and Teddy, coming back from their errand to town, were almost upon +them before they knew it. + +And then something happened that made the girls drop their bags and +stare in stupid amazement. + +Out from the bushes straight in front of them sprang the figure of a +man. And at the same moment Chet and Teddy rounded the curve of the +road. + +The man straightened and looked wildly from one group to the other, and +then made as though to double on his tracks and dive into the woods +again. + +"Stop that man!" shouted Teddy. "He robbed our Academy! That's right, +girls--head him off!" + +For Billie, with a gasp of astonishment, had recognized the Codfish, and +seeing what he was about to do had darted forward straight in his path. +A score of the other girls followed her example, and so quickly was the +move made that the man found his escape cut off entirely. + +Wildly he looked about him, started in the other direction, but found +his path blocked there also. + +With a snarl of rage he flung himself forward, resolved to break his way +through by force, but Teddy and Chet were too quick for him. + +Not for nothing had they won medals on the track team, and now, as the +thief made his last attempt, his arms were caught in a strong grip and +were twisted behind him so suddenly that he cried out with the pain of +it. + +It was Teddy who had caught him, and now as the man struggled to free +himself he called out a sharp order to Chet. + +"Give me your skate strap, quick," he cried. "This chap's as slippery as +an eel. What are you doing?" + +For Chet, seeing that the Codfish was struggling to get his imprisoned +hands down to a suspicious bulge over his right hip, sprang forward and +drew the hidden revolver from its holster. + +"The game's up, old man," he crowed exultantly. Then, turning, he handed +the pistol to Billie. "Keep him covered, old girl," he said, "till I get +this strap loose and handcuff the gentleman. That's the girl! Steady, +Mr. Codfish--we've got you now." + +The Codfish made as though to spring upon Billie, revolver and all, but +Billie kept her head. Several of the girls screamed, but she was not one +of them. + +She stepped back a few steps and waved the revolver threateningly. She +was "horribly afraid of the old thing," but not for the world would she +have let any one suspect it. + +"If you don't stand still I'll shoot," she said, a quaver in her voice +despite all her efforts to speak calmly. "I've got this thing aimed at +just about where your heart is, I guess." + +The Codfish glared at her wildly, hesitated just a minute, but that +hesitation cost him his chance. Chet had at last got his skate strap +loose, and had bound it tightly about the man's wrists, while Teddy +still held his arms tight to prevent a sudden dash into the woods. + +"Now I guess we've got you," cried Teddy jubilantly. "You will rob our +Academy, will you, and expect to get away with it? Now I guess the next +thing is to hand you over to the first policeman we meet. Come on now, +forward march." + +"But did he really rob your Academy?" asked Laura eagerly, as the girls +picked up their grips where they had dropped them in the road and they +all started on together. + +"I'll say he did!" said Chet indignantly. "And he got away with a pretty +haul, too. That's what we were going to tell you girls about this +morning. But say----" he broke off and looked at them with a funny +expression on his face, "we've been so busy catching the crook that we +never thought! Say, where are you going with your suitcases and +everything? And--and how did Billie get loose? The last we heard of her, +she was locked up." + +"Yes, what is it--a walkout?" asked Teddy, looking in bewilderment from +Billie to the other girls. But suddenly Rose gave a sharp cry of +warning. + +"The Codfish," she cried. "Look out!" + +For Teddy, in his bewilderment, had loosened his grip of the thief's +arm, and the latter had taken this chance to make a dash for liberty. + +With a kangaroo leap Teddy was upon him, and Chet, snatching the pistol +from Billie's hand, pointed it threateningly. + +"None of that, old chap!" he cried. "You'd better be a good little boy +or you'll get a taste of something worse than prison. Now, then, forward +march, and mind your Ps and Qs." + +The Codfish shot a glance at Chet that made the girls shiver, but he +went ahead, nevertheless. + +"We ought to meet the sheriff and his hick policemen pretty soon," said +Chet, keeping his eyes and his pistol fixed unwaveringly on the +captive's back, while Teddy gripped his arm with both hands and the +girls crowded close behind. "He pulled off this stunt last night, and +Captain Shelling, the owner of our school, sent us to town to notify the +police." + +"Oh," said Billie thoughtfully. "So that was where you were going this +morning when you stopped at the Hall. What's that?" she added as the +sound of voices, somewhat muffled by the storm, reached them. + +"I hope it's the sheriff," said Teddy, hurrying his captive forward +through the snow. "Say, I'm glad we caught this fellow now before he had +a chance to make off with what he stole. We may have a chance of getting +it back." + +They turned a curve in the road and saw a party of half a dozen men +coming toward them on a run. + +"The sheriff!" yelled Teddy. "Here's some more luck." + +But the sheriff's party seemed almost more surprised at sight of the +hundred-odd girls from Three Towers Hall than they were delighted to see +the boys and their captive. + +They were more interested in the Codfish, however, and promptly took him +into custody, exchanging real handcuffs for the strap the boys had used. + +The boys eagerly told the story of his capture, giving the girls more +credit for their part of it than they deserved, or so the latter +protested, and the sheriff and his party listened with delighted grins. + +"Pretty good work," said one of them approvingly. "You couldn't have +done any better if you'd planned it. Well, good day to you, and thanks. +We'll soon put this rascal where he won't do more stealing of other +people's goods. Get up there, will you?" and he gave the sullen Codfish +a push that sent him staggering up the road in front of them. + +Before the party disappeared the sheriff turned once more to look back +curiously at the girls and boys who were still standing in the road, +staring after them. + +"Well, I'll be jiggered, but that is curious," he said, shaking his head +doubtfully. "Looks as if all of Three Towers Hall had turned out for an +outing." + +"Humph, funny kind of weather for an outing," replied another one. "They +didn't have a teacher with 'em, either. Pretty queer, I call it." + +"Well," said another, philosophically chewing a huge cud of tobacco, "I +call it lucky. If those girls hadn't happened along just when they did +we wouldn't have got hold of this bird so slick. And who am I, to be +quarreling with fate?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +HAPPY AGAIN + + +"Gee, that was some slick work!" crowed Teddy Jordon exultantly. "Who'd +ever think we would catch the old Codfish. But say----" he broke off, +his face growing sober as he looked at the girls. "You haven't told us +yet just why you're taking this tramp in the snow. What's the idea--a +health cure or something?" + +"No, it isn't a health cure," explained Billie, a trifle wearily, for +now that the excitement of catching the Codfish was over the girls were +beginning to feel cold and hungry and rather forlorn. "We're just +leaving Three Towers, that's all." + +"Leaving Three Towers!" the boys repeated incredulously. And Teddy +added, seeing in a flash the real state of affairs: "Now I get the idea. +You're striking, aren't you?" + +Billie nodded. + +"Say, that reminds me," said Chet. "We sent a telegram to Miss Walters +asking her to come back at once. We sent it for you even before we told +the police about the Codfish." + +The girls brightened, and Billie darted forward eagerly and caught Chet +by the sleeve. + +"Oh, Chet, what did you tell her?" she cried. "Did you ask her to come +back right away?" + +Chet nodded importantly. "I told her enough to bring her back on the +run, I guess," he said, adding with a grin: "I made up the telegram and +Teddy paid for it." + +"Oh, you darling!" cried Billie, hugging both the boys to the great +delight of Teddy, who made the girls giggle by asking if there was not +another telegram he could send. + +"Come on, girls," cried Billie, forgetting, in the hope of seeing Miss +Walters again before long, that she was tired and hungry. "If we hurry +we can get to town before the snow gets too deep." + +"But, say," cried Teddy, as the girls started on their way, "aren't you +even going to say good-bye to us? That's gratitude for you!" + +The girls stopped short and looked surprised. + +"Aren't you going to the town with us?" asked Vi. + +"You needn't think that because you're on strike that we are, too," said +Chet reproachfully. "Captain Shelling didn't give us the whole day off, +you know." + +"You deserve it just the same," said Connie Danvers. "He'll probably +give you a week off and a medal when he learns how you caught the +thief." + +"But we couldn't have caught him if you girls hadn't come along," +protested Teddy modestly. "If we get a holiday we'll see that you get +one, too." + +"We're taking ours now," laughed Billie. "Good-bye, boys; and thanks +awfully for sending the telegram." + +Teddy and Chet stood watching the girls as they trudged through the +clinging snow, and when they turned away their faces were unusually +sober. + +"That's a plucky thing to do," said Teddy admiringly. "But I bet they +would never have had the nerve to do it if Billie hadn't set them up to +it." + +"Billie's some class, isn't she?" Chet took him up eagerly. "Just look +how she jumped in front of the Codfish. She might have been shot, but +she never even thought of it. Say," he added, his chest swelling visibly +with pride, "I've always thought I'd like a brother; but Billie's as +good as a brother, any day." + +"She's a sight better," Teddy contradicted fervently. + +Tired but hopeful, the girls trudged the remaining distance to town and +started up the main street toward the one big hotel in Molata. They +strung down the street in what seemed an endless line, and people +passing stared wonderingly and turned around for another look when the +girls had passed them. + +People gathered at the windows and in the door-ways to look at the +strange procession, but the girls were too tired and hungry to notice +them. + +When they filed into the big summer hotel lobby, how the clerk at the +desk and the few men gathered about did stare! A hundred girls, all +pretty and daintily dressed, but seeming, by their suitcases and their +clothes which were powdered thick with clinging wet snow, to have walked +a good distance, were sure to create a sensation. + +The girls hung back, realizing for the first time how they must appear +to strangers and not quite certain just what to do next. But, as usual, +Billie took the lead. + +She went toward the clerk with an uncertain, apologetic little smile +that would have softened a much harder heart than his and said that she +would like to engage rooms for herself and her friends. + +Be it said to the credit of the clerk, who was rather a nice looking boy +with sand colored hair and eyes to match, that he did not even smile. + +Soberly he asked Billie how many rooms she would need, and Billie turned +to the girls rather helplessly. Then it was Caroline Brant who came to +her aid. + +"We can sleep three in a room," she said, regarding the clerk gravely +through her horn-rimmed spectacles. "So you can figure out just how many +we'll need." + +"If we could have cots put in the rooms," Billie ventured, "we could +get more than three in one room." + +"All right," the clerk answered, still unsmiling, while several people +had gathered around and were looking on with interest. "If you don't +mind cots I guess I can fix you up all right. It's lucky that it's +winter," he added, a little twinkle creeping into his nice eyes, "and +that the hotel isn't crowded, or we might have to turn somebody out." + +He watched the girls go up the stairway to the rooms above--for they had +decided they would rather walk than wait for the elevator--then turned +to one of the men lounging near with a chuckle. + +"Nice kids," he said, regarding the signatures in the big book before +him written in unmistakably girlish hands. "If they weren't dressed so +well, I'd say it was an orphan asylum out for an airing." + +Meanwhile the girls had decided that they were more hungry than they +were tired, and so merely stopped to drop their bags in their rooms and +brush a little of the clinging snow from their clothing before setting +forth in search of food. + +They had decided to separate into groups and to eat in different places +so as not to attract too much attention, and they were gathered on the +sidewalk in front of the hotel wondering just what to do next when +suddenly one of the girls gave a startled cry. + +"Girls--no, it isn't--yes, it is!" she cried, clutching the girl beside +her hysterically. "Look! There's Miss Walters!" + +"Where?" + +"Oh, it can't be!" + +"Are you sure?" + +"Yes, there she is! There she is!" + +And Miss Walters--for it was indeed she--attracted by the hubbub as were +some other passersby, looked at the girls first curiously, then in +astounded amazement. To her startled vision it seemed as if all the +girls in the world were gathered there on the sidewalk in front of the +hotel. And they were her girls--the girls of Three Towers Hall! + +She hurried forward, feeling that the next moment she must wake up and +find it all a dream, and the girls surged around her in an eager flood. + +They were so wildly surprised and joyful at the unexpected meeting that +they were almost ready to get down on their knees and thank the fates +who had sent her to them just when they needed her most. + +They all started to talk at once, but Miss Walters, having recovered a +little from her first surprise and seeing that a curious crowd was +beginning to gather, spoke to them authoritatively. + +"Come inside," she said. "I can't imagine what has brought you here like +this, but we certainly can't talk about it in the street." + +She led the way through the doorway and into the hotel lobby, which was +fortunately deserted. Then she sank down upon a couch and the girls +gathered eagerly around her. + +"Now suppose one of you tell me the meaning of all this," said Miss +Walters, her blue eyes a little hard and accusing. She had no idea what +had happened, but she knew that if the girls were responsible for this +unheard of proceeding it would go hard with them. Miss Walters was fair +and just, and because she was just she could be sternness itself where +any disobedience on the part of the girls was concerned. + +As for the girls themselves, all their old fears of expulsion came back +at this attitude of their president, and they looked rather helplessly +at each other. + +Then Connie Danvers nudged Billie and whispered something in her ear. +And Billie bravely did as she was asked, although, as she afterward +said, her knees were trembling under her. + +"Miss Walters," she began hesitatingly, as Miss Walters turned a steady +gaze upon her, "I can explain why we are here and everything that has +happened since you left--if you will let me," she finished rather +timidly. + +"That is just what I want you to do," said Miss Walters gravely. + +As Billie told her story Miss Walters' expression changed, became less +stern, and she leaned forward in amazement. + +"You say that some of the girls were faint and sick from lack of food?" +she asked once incredulously. "Why, it's--it's incredible. But go on," +she interrupted herself impatiently. "What happened then?" + +When Billie told of the raid, her imprisonment in the little room, her +escape, and finally the decision of the girls to leave Three Towers and +come to the hotel until Miss Walters' return, the latter jumped to her +feet, her face flushing angrily. + +"I'm glad I came just when I did," she said. "I was tempted to stay +longer, but something told me that I might be needed, and that something +was right. Come, girls, we'll hire all the taxis in town if we have to, +and private automobiles, too, and get back to Three Towers immediately." + +"We'll have to get our baggage," Billie suggested timidly. + +"Your baggage?" queried Miss Walters absently, her mind on what she +would do when she reached Three Towers. + +"Yes, we left our bags in our rooms upstairs." + +"Your rooms?" Miss Walters asked, then added with a compassionate smile +that made her seem more beautiful than ever to the adoring girls: "Why, +of course, you poor children! I forgot that you expected to stay over +night. All right, run up and get your bags while I see the room clerk +and about getting us back to Three Towers." + +The girls never forgot that triumphant ride back to Three Towers through +the snow. Nor did they forget what happened afterward. + +Miss Ada and Miss Cora Dill and the other teachers saw them coming, and +Miss Cora's lips tightened grimly. She was the first to greet Miss +Walters at the door. + +"Go up to your dormitories, girls," said Miss Walters, hardly glancing +at the teachers. "We will have lunch in half an hour--a real lunch. Just +a minute," she called, as the girls started jubilantly off. "I'd like to +speak to Beatrice Bradley in my private office immediately." + +Billie came back, wondering just what was going to happen next, while +Laura picked up the suitcase she had dropped and hurriedly followed the +other girls. + +Then Miss Walters turned to the teachers. + +"Will you all come with me into my office?" she asked. "There is a very +important matter which I must attend to before I do anything else." + +She walked down the corridor to her office and opened the door. Then she +motioned them inside, stepped in after them and closed the door +decidedly. + +"Sit down, please," she said, and when they were all seated she sat down +at her desk and regarded them gravely. "As you know," she said, "an +unheard-of thing happened this morning, and I must have the testimony +of every one before I can decide one way or the other." + +Then very quietly she told of her meeting with the girls that morning +and repeated almost word for word the story of what had happened during +her absence as told by Billie and supported by the other girls. + +The faces of Miss Ada and Miss Cora had been growing redder and redder, +and now as Miss Walters finished and looked about her Miss Cora burst +out angrily. + +"I hardly expected that you would listen to the girls' account of it, +Miss Walters," she said. "What they have said is not true." + +"Pardon me, Miss Walters," Miss Race broke in, and they all turned to +her, "but I can testify that everything that Beatrice Bradley has told +you is absolute fact. I don't think that Miss Cora will deny," she +turned to Miss Cora, who was white with fury, "that I have time and time +again remonstrated with her and Miss Ada for their treatment of the +girls." + +"Is that so, Miss Cora--and Miss Ada?" asked Miss Walters, turning to +the sisters, whose anger was slowly beginning to change to fear. + +"Yes, Miss Walters," said Miss Cora at last, "it is true that Miss Race +was continually interfering in our government of the girls during your +absence. But," she added, while her mouth set in a grim line, "I still +maintain that we did nothing during your absence that you yourself would +not have done." + +There was deep silence in the room for a minute while Miss Walters' eyes +wandered from one intent face to another and then dropped to the blotter +on her desk. + +Billie's heart was beating so hard she was afraid it could be heard in +the room. + +Then Miss Walters' voice came to them, cool, incisive. + +"I'm sorry," she was saying, looking from Miss Ada to Miss Cora and back +again, "but I can't agree with you. Surely while I have had charge of +Three Towers the girls have not gone hungry or become faint and sick +from lack of nourishment. Neither have they raided pantries and +storerooms and deserted Three Towers _en masse_, Miss Cora." She paused, +and one could have heard a pin drop in the room. "I am very sorry, but I +think that after Monday Three Towers will have no further need of your +services, nor of those of Miss Ada. That is all, I think." + +She rose by way of dismissal, and the other teachers rose also. Billie, +who was nearest the door, slipped out quietly and ran swiftly up the +stairs toward her dormitory. Her head was in a whirl, and all she wanted +to do was to get with the girls again and tell them the marvelous thing +that had happened. + +The other girls were waiting for her, and as she burst in upon them they +carried her off, seated her royally on top of a dresser, and gathered +around eagerly, all talking at once and demanding to know what had +happened. + +Somehow, she made them see the scene in Miss Walters' office as if they +had been there themselves, the scene in which the girls had won the +great victory and the "Dill Pickles" had been dismissed. + +They were just at the height of their rejoicing when the bell rang for +lunch, and with one accord they stampeded for the dining room. + +And it was a real lunch, as Miss Walters had promised--a lunch that +disappeared as if by magic, and when it was over the students of Three +Towers were really comfortable for the first time in over a week. + +And everybody was happy, except Miss Ada Dill and Miss Cora; and Amanda +Peabody and Eliza Dilks, perhaps. However, even though her attempt had +failed this time, Amanda was by no means discouraged. There would be +other chances--and then she would get even with Billie Bradley! + +Rose Belser was happier than she had been since she had first become +jealous of Billie. She was happy because she had done her best to set +Billie right again, and could look at her pretty reflection in the glass +once more without feeling ashamed. + +It was some time later, and Billie, Vi and Laura were stretched out in +comfortable attitudes on Billie's bed in dormitory "C"--for Miss Walters +had declared it a half holiday. And, indeed, after lunch was over there +was scarcely any of the day left, anyway. + +"I feel almost sorry for Miss Ada and Miss Cora," Billie was saying, +when suddenly the door opened and Connie Danvers flew in upon them. + +"Girls," she cried, plumping herself down between Laura and Vi on the +bed, narrowly missing the latter's feet, "I've just got a letter--there +are some for you girls down in the box, too--and what do you think the +folks are going to do this summer?" + +The girls said they could not possibly guess, and before any of them +would have had a chance to, anyway, she rattled on again: + +"Mother and Dad are going to open our cottage at Lighthouse Island +again--we haven't been there for several summers. My old Uncle Tom runs +the lighthouse there, and he's a perfect darling. But this is the real +thing," she paused and regarded them with sparkling eyes. "Mother says +there will be plenty of room in the cottage for two or three of my +school chums if I'd like to have them. Think of that--if I'd like to +have them!" + +The girls sat up and regarded Connie doubtfully. "What do you mean?" +stammered Billie. + +"What do I mean, you little goose?" said Connie impatiently. "Don't you +know I'm asking you and Laura and Vi to go with me?" + +"A summer on an island with a lighthouse!" Billie murmured, while Laura +and Vi looked as if they could not believe their ears. "Now I know I'm +going to just die of it." + +"What?" asked Connie curiously. + +"Joy," said Billie. + +And whether she did actually die of joy or not--somehow one is rather +certain that she did not--will be told in the next book of Billie's +adventures, entitled, "Billie Bradley on Lighthouse Island; or, The +Mystery of the Wreck." + +Lighthouse Island was certainly a queer spot, and the girls had any +number of unusual adventures there. + +"We mustn't forget our own letters!" cried Billie suddenly, and then +there was a rush to get the epistles. And here let us say good-bye to +the girls of Three Towers Hall. + +THE END + + + + +Other Books Published by GEORGE SULLY & COMPANY + + + + +BILLIE BRADLEY SERIES + +BY JANET D. WHEELER + + + BILLIE BRADLEY AND HER INHERITANCE + OR THE QUEER HOMESTEAD AT CHERRY CORNERS + + BILLIE BRADLEY AT THREE TOWERS HALL + OR LEADING A NEEDED REBELLION + + BILLIE BRADLEY ON LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND + OR THE MYSTERY OF THE WRECK + + + + +Four Little Blossoms Series + +_For children 5 to 9 years of age_ + +By MABEL C. HAWLEY + + +Four Little Blossoms at Brookside Farm + +Mother called them her Four Little Blossoms but Daddy Blossom called +them Bobby, Meg and the twins. The twins, Twaddles and Dot, were a +comical pair and always getting into mischief. The children had heaps of +fun around the big farm, and had several real adventures in the bargain. + + +Four Little Blossoms at Oak Hill School + +In the Fall, Bobby and Meg had to go to school. It was good fun for Miss +Mason was a kind teacher. Then the twins insisted on going to school +too, and their appearance quite upset the class. And in school something +very odd happened and all the boys and girls wondered what it meant. + + +Four Little Blossoms and Their Winter Fun + +Winter came and with it lots of ice and snow, and oh! what fun the +Blossoms had skating and sledding. And once Bobby and Meg went on an +errand and got lost in a sudden snowstorm. And once Twaddles slipped +through a hole in the ice, but the others went quickly to the rescue. + + + + +The "Do Something" Series + +By HELEN BEECHER LONG + + +A series of books for girls which have been uniformly successful. Janice +Day, the "Do Something" girl, is a character that will live long in +juvenile fiction. Every volume is full of inspiration. There are an +abundance of humor, quaint situations, and worth-while effort, and +likewise plenty of plot and mystery. + +An ideal series for girls from nine to sixteen. + + + Janice Day, the Young Homemaker. + Janice Day at Poketown. + The Testing of Janice Day. + How Janice Day Won. + The Mission of Janice Day. + + + + +The Lucile Series + +By ELIZABETH M. DUFFIELD + +"These books should interest every girl who loves the open."--_Chicago +Evening Post._ + + + Lucile, The Torch Bearer. + Lucile Triumphant. + Lucile, Bringer of Joy. + Lucile on the Heights. + + +"Out of door" stories for girls, of vital interest and compelling charm. +The wholesome spirit and beautiful aims of the "Campfire Girls" have +never been more attractively described, and the fun and merriment of the +outings will prove fascinating to every live girl. The heroine, Lucile, +is a most spirited and striking character and one will not wonder at the +almost adoring affection in which she is held by her companions. + + + + +The Nan Sherwood Series + +By ANNIE ROE CARR + + +In Annie Roe Carr we have found a young woman of wide experience among +girls--in schoolroom, in camp and while traveling. She knows girls of +to-day thoroughly--their likes and dislikes--and knows that they demand +almost as much action as do the boys. And she knows humor--good, clean +fun and plenty of it. + + + Nan Sherwood at Pine Camp, + or The Old Lumberman's Secret. + + Nan Sherwood at Lake View Hall, + or The Mystery of the Haunted Boathouse. + + Nan Sherwood's Winter Holidays, + or Rescuing the Runaways. + + Nan Sherwood at Rose Ranch, + or The Old Mexican's Treasure. + + Nan Sherwood at Palm Beach, + or Strange Adventures Among the + Orange Groves. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BILLIE BRADLEY AT THREE TOWERS +HALL*** + + +******* This file should be named 23894.txt or 23894.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/8/9/23894 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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