Part 5 (2/2)
CHAPTER VII.
WHEN GHOST MEETS GHOST.
”Gee, but I'm hungry!” exclaimed Dum, as we trailed our sheeted forms up the stairs. ”Did you ever see such slim eats in all your life? Why, my cake was cut so thin and my ice cream was so scant, they could not have pa.s.sed muster even at a church fair!”
”Shh! Don't say a word, but I've got a box under my mattress. You let Annie and Mary know, while I see Jean Rice and Nancy Blair. We'll meet in the Gym at eleven. I believe we will be safe from old Mr. Ryan. He is sure to keep away from there as he knows that the skull lanterns are still up. We had better not try to have the spread in our room as we are so close to teachers. Tell Mary and Annie to get their dummies ready and tell Dee to start on ours. I'll be up just as soon as I put Jean and Nancy on.”
Jean Rice and Nancy Blair were two girls we had been seeing a good deal of. They were full of fun and while they were rather a frivolous pair, they were nice and good tempered and always ready for a lark. You could count on them to join in on any hazardous expedition.
When eleven o'clock struck we were ready to repair to the Gym for our secret repast. We kept on our sheets and masks as part of the fun. We had made our dummies ready and tucked them in their little downies before we ventured forth. The corridors were dark and silent. The Gym was at the far end of the building from us, down two flights of stairs.
We judged it prudent to separate and go one by one a few seconds apart as, if we should by chance run against any one in authority, it was easier for one to escape than five. I went first, the box of fried chicken clasped in my arms: Dum followed me with the beaten biscuit; then came Mary with ham sandwiches; and Annie close behind her, carefully hugging the caramel cake, too timid to let the s.p.a.ce be too great between her and her friend. Dee valiantly brought up the rear with stuffed eggs and pickles.
We found three girls instead of two waiting in the gymnasium. I thought Jean and Nancy had brought a friend and went up to make her welcome.
They had lighted some of the pumpkin and skull lanterns and were standing with an air of expectancy.
”h.e.l.lo, girls!” I whispered, ”you beat us to it, didn't you? Which of you is which?”
”You tell us who you are first,” demanded one of the figures, ”and then we will tell you.”
”I am Page Allison. I bet you are Nancy Blair.”
There was a giggle from the masks. It was another bunch of Juniors on pleasure bent. They were waiting for five more girls and were going to have a spread and a ghost dance.
It turned out that what one might call the cream of the Junior cla.s.s was gathered there. If we got caught, it meant the whole cla.s.s in disgrace, as it would be a well-known fact that the members of the cla.s.s who were missing were so only because they were not asked to be present. It gave us a great feeling of security to be fifteen strong. We were seven and these eight more girls brought the number of law breakers up to fifteen.
There were only twenty-five Juniors in the school and that left ten girls who were either too goody-goody to be included or not sufficiently attractive, which is not in itself a crime but is certainly unfortunate.
The spread was wonderful. The little dabs of ice cream and cake we had been served at the party had only whetted our appet.i.tes and in no way diminished them. We ate in silence broken by whispers and giggles. We hoped the teachers and Miss Plympton were safe in their downies and we trusted in Mr. Ryan's superst.i.tious nature to keep him out of the Gym.
The ghost dance began later and was kept up buoyantly, without music except a weird rhythmic whistling that the dancers themselves furnished.
This whistling is done by sucking in and never blowing out and the effect is most uncanny. It is very hard on your wind to whistle this way, but when your breath gives out, your partner picks up the tune where you leave off and keeps the ball rolling.
The last candle burned down to its socket and guttered out, and then the spectres flitted back to their rooms. It was pitch black in the corridors and Annie was afraid to go alone, so we formed a cordon by catching hold of hands and crept along, keeping close to the walls. I was in front and once when we were quite near our rooms I came bang against a human hand groping along the wall towards me. I stopped dead still! It was all I could do to keep from squealing right out, but a sound of scurrying down the hall rea.s.sured me. It was just a student as afraid of being caught as I was.
”Who goes there?” I demanded in stern and grown-up tones.
No answer but more scurrying and in a moment the sound of a door cautiously closed.
”Some poor girl scared to death,” I thought. We found our rooms in the dark and with the help of an electric search light, the pride of Dee's heart, we s.n.a.t.c.hed our poor dummies out of their warm beds and were soon snuggled down in their places.
”How do you reckon it happened there were no lights in the halls?”
whispered Dum.
”Nancy Blair told me she had turned them out on purpose,” said Dee. ”She said she knew we would get caught if there was any light.”
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