But the boys who brought in the two canoes p.r.i.c.ked the bubble of Hester"s rage: They told Mrs. Case and the professor just how the trouble had occurred.
"You have no complaint, Hester," said Mrs. Case, later. "There are too many witnesses against you. I am afraid you are not over-truthful in this. However, I shall report the four of you for demerits. You had no business to race. I have forbidden it. And you can see yourselves how unfortunate intercla.s.s trials of speed may be. Now! no more of it, young ladies!"
Hester went off with her nose in the air after somebody had brought her dry clothing from home; but Lily Pendleton was grateful to the twins for helping her.
"Though I declare! I don"t know which of you to thank," she said, giggling. "And one"s just as wet as the other. Anyhow, I"m obliged."
"You"re welcome, Lily," said one of the twins. "We are sworn to solemn secrecy never to tell on each other; so you will have to embalm us both in your grat.i.tude."
Miss Pendleton was not quite all "gall and wormwood," as Bobby Hargrew said Hester was; but the girls of Central High as a whole did not care much for Lily because she aped the fashions of her elders, and tried to appear "grown up." And when she came in from her unexpected dip in the lake it was noticeable that her cheeks were much paler than they had been when she started with her chum in the canoe. Because she had a naturally pale complexion, Lily was forever "touching it up"--as though even the most experienced "complexion artist" could improve upon Nature, or could do her work so well that a careful observer could not tell the painted from the real.
The twins went home in borrowed raincoats over their wet garments; nor did they escape Aunt Dora"s sharp eyes--and of course, her sharp tongue was exercised, too.
"Now!" complained Dora, in their own room, "if our athletic field and the building were constructed, we wouldn"t have been caught. Every girl is to have a locker of her own, and there will be dressing rooms, and a place to dry wet clothing, of course--and everything scrumptious!"
"Never mind," said her twin. "It"s coming. Such fine basketball courts!
And tennis courts! And a running track, too! I heard somebody say that they would begin the excavation for the building next week. I tell you, Central High will have the finest field and track and gym in the whole State."
"And East and West Highs are just as jealous as they can be," Dora remarked: "They"ve got to wake up, just the same, to beat the girls of Central High."
"Thanks to Mother Wit," added Dorothy.
"Yes. We must thank Laura Belding for interesting Colonel Swayne and his daughter in our athletics," agreed Dora.
The next morning the twins went to school in some trepidation. There was no knowing what Miss Grace G. Carrington, their teacher, would do about the four girls whom the physical instructor had reported. The Lockwood girls never curried favor with any teacher, save that they were usually prompt in all lessons, and their deportment was good. But even Gee Gee seldom had real fault to find with them.
When they came into the cla.s.sroom before a.s.sembly, however, they found Hester Grimes at the teacher"s desk, and Hester did not seem to be worried over any punishment. The twins looked at each other, and Dora whispered:
"I bet you she"s up to some trick. Trust Hessie for getting out of a sc.r.a.pe if there"s any possible chance for it."
"Well, I don"t see how Miss Carrington can make an exception in her case. All four of us were in it."
"All four of us were in the lake, all right," giggled Dora; "but I bet Hessie isn"t punished for her part of it."
"I declare it was her fault," said Dorothy, hotly. "She turned her boat right in our path."
"Wait!" whispered her twin, warningly.
Miss Carrington looked upon them coldly, and after they had returned from the morning exercises in the main hall she called Dora and Dorothy to her desk.
"Mrs. Case reports your rough and unladylike conduct on the lake yesterday," said the teacher, rather grimly. "Of course, it was out of school hours, but as long as you accept the use of the school paraphernalia and buildings for after-hour athletics, you are bound by the school rules. You understand that?"
"Yes, Miss Carrington," said Dora. "But if you will let us explain----"
"I have the report," interposed Gee Gee, in her very grimmest manner.
"In fact, I consider your running into and overturning the other canoe a very reprehensible act indeed. You might have all been drowned because of the recklessness of you two girls."
"But Miss Carrington! it was not our fault," gasped Dorothy.
"Your canoe ran the other one down, didn"t it?"
"But----"
"Yes, or no, young ladies!" snapped Gee Gee.
The twins nodded. Miss Carrington"s mind was evidently made up on this point.
"Very well, then. No after-hour athletics for you for a month. That is all," and the teacher turned to the papers on her desk.
CHAPTER XVIII
MOTHER WIT"S DISCOVERY
"And that shuts us out of the races!"
Dora broke another rule when she whispered this to her twin as they took their seats. Dorothy was almost in tears. But the twins could not tell the other girls of Gee Gee"s proclamation until the first intermission.
"She"s just as mean as she can be!" proclaimed Bobby Hargrew who, as Jess said, always blew up at the slightest provocation.
"Hester did it. She"s always doing something mean," declared Jess herself.
"Well, there was an infraction of Mrs. Case"s rules," said Laura Belding. "But it does seem as though Miss Carrington delights in setting obstacles in the way of Central High winning an athletic event. She is, deep down in her heart, opposed to after-hour athletics."
"She"s just as much opposed to them," said Dorothy, "as our Aunt Dora."
"It"s a mean shame!" declared Nellie Agnew, who was not usually so vigorous of speech.
"And you see, Hester Grimes and Lily Pendleton aren"t penalized," said the furious Bobby. "They have crawled out of it. And I saw the whole race, and know it was Hester"s fault that there was a spill."
"Let"s take it to Mr. Sharp," cried Jess.
"That would do no good. You know he will not interfere with Miss Carrington"s mandates. She has judged the case to the best of her knowledge and belief," said Laura.
"Hester is her favorite," complained Bobby.
"And we have no right to say that. She is punishing the twins for breaking a plain rule. If we tried to expose the whole affair, and bring the witnesses to prove our side, we would only be getting Hester and Lily into trouble, too, without making the twins" case any better," said the wise Laura.
"They ought to be conditioned as well," declared Nellie, who had a strong sense of justice.
"It looks so. But Miss Carrington probably thinks, believing that Dora and Dorothy are at fault for the spill, that the others were enough punished by being swamped. Of course, they should not have raced canoes without the race being arranged by either Mrs. Case or Professor Dimp."
"Huh! Old Dimple could come forward and save Dora and Dorothy from the penalty. Why, whatever will we do?" cried Bobby. "It spoils our chance for the cup again."
"And it"s such a beauty!" sighed Jess Morse.