"I"d never have the courage to try!" murmured Terry.
"Do you know, girls," burst out Arden, "I think we"ve stumbled on something important! You remember what Henry, our dear old chaplain, was muttering about the day we pa.s.sed him. Something about coming out of the orchard and some sort of a promise. And the old taxi-man, too, warned us, in a way. Certainly that orchard holds a real mystery in its dark leafiness." Arden smiled a little smugly. A sort of cat and canary smile, as Sim remarked when she got up off the bed to switch on a light.
She and Terry both were very thoughtful after what Arden had said.
Perhaps Arden was right. There was certainly something more than merely queer about the orchard, it was getting weird and uncanny.
"Do you think those sophs could have known?" asked Terry.
"I don"t," was Sim"s opinion. "They"d never have sent us there if they had known what was going to happen."
"I wouldn"t be so sure of that," spoke Arden. "Those sophs----"
"Hark!" from Sim.
Footsteps in the corridor outside.
A knock on the door.
A little scream from Terry, a quickly hushed scream, however.
The door was opened suddenly. It was Toots Everett and her two familiars.
"Where are the apples, freshies?" Toots demanded.
"We haven"t got them," Terry stated simply. "We--ah--we--dropped them."
"Oh, you did! And you look at us and calmly tell us you haven"t the apples we sent you to get! Well, you"d better get them tonight. It would be just too bad if the dean had to campus you in your first week here."
Toots paused ominously and resumed. "For going over to the post office without permission." It was a theatrical finish.
"Get those apples for us tonight!" commanded Jessica. "Slip out the back door about eight o"clock and you"ll manage it all right. None of the teachers will notice you then. Of course, you"ll have sense enough to take flashlights."
"We haven"t any yet," said Sim lamely. "We haven"t been to town, you know." She and her two chums were wondering how the soph.o.m.ore knew about the post office visit. Had the chaplain told them?
"No flashlights!" mocked Pip. "The poor dears! Then they"ll have to go in the dark."
"Oh, no!" Terry cried out with a dramatic restraining gesture.
"Little freshie "fraid-cats!" sneered Toots.
"Well," remarked Jessica, "purely out of the goodness of my heart, and not because I like you, I"ll let you take my large flashlight. But don"t forget! We expect those apples before "lights-out" tonight!"
With mocking smiles, the sophs withdrew to their room below.
"Oh, dear!" wailed Sim. "More trouble! I don"t want to go back to that orchard when it"s so dark!"
"I do and I don"t," said Arden. "I want to find out something, but I"m a little scared."
"If we all keep together and have a light, it shouldn"t take us long. I think I can find the tree we were near when--when----" Terry didn"t quite know how to finish.
Clang-clang! Clang! Clang-clang! It was the bell calling the students to supper: always a light meal. The "big feed," as the girls called it, came in the middle of the day.
Wearily the three arose from the beds whereon they had again cast themselves after the visits of the soph.o.m.ores, straightened themselves with pulls and twists, and joined their cla.s.smates in the dining hall.
Their coming hazing task was uppermost in their minds, consequently they did not feel like talking much.
Terry was elected to get the light from Jessica while her chums waited in no little trepidation in the main corridor below, near a rear door out of which they had been told they might slip without being observed by those in authority.
"Did you get it?" whispered Sim, as Terry came lightly down the stairs.
"Sure! Did you think I wouldn"t?"
"I was hoping you might not, and then we"d have a good excuse for not going," Sim answered.
"Well, let"s get started," suggested Arden.
They went out. The night was clear and beginning to get chilly. Sim knotted her bright scarf more tightly about her throat. Terry turned up the collar of her jacket, and Arden snuggled more closely into her long sweater.
At first, after walking away from the rim of light that filtered from the dormitory building, they could see nothing. But gradually their eyes became accustomed to the darkness and, without switching on the flashlight, they headed for Bordmust Hall.
For a few of their hesitant steps no one spoke. Then Terry turned on the flashlight, focusing its beams upon the ground while they walked slowly along in triangular formation, Sim and Arden forming the base as Terry with the light was the apex.
Nothing disturbed them. All was quiet and still and so absolutely silent that Terry remarked it was the "perfect state of nothingness."
The dark orchard seemed miles away. But as they paused for Arden to tie her shoe, a faint rustling could be heard. Tired old apple trees were once more settling down for the long winter sleep after a summer of fruit producing.
All at once they were there! Right in the orchard. The stones on the ground seemed to hold back their unwilling feet. They stopped and listened. Terry switched on the light but its penetrating beam seemed only to make the surrounding darkness blacker.
"Come on, girls! We"re just at the first row of trees. The one we are looking for is farther along. I remember a funny-shaped one, like a rearing crocodile, next to it. But wait, Terry! I heard something moving!" Arden froze into motionless silence to listen.
"Don"t let your imagination run away with you," Terry gently mocked.
"We"re just wasting time by listening, and I"ve got a lot of French to do. Let"s get going!"
Sim and Terry walked on. Terry, having seen that the way, for some little distance ahead, was clear, turned off the flashlight. They did not want to attract any possible attention. Arden was following a little more slowly. They were beneath some gnarled trees now.
"Flash a gleam, Terry," begged Sim. In the glow they looked at the leaf-strewn ground. "There"s not a single apple here! I don"t see how we found any this afternoon!" said Sim gloomily.
"Cheer up, old gal! I think this is the tree. That looks like a pretty good specimen." Terry was examining an apple in the light of Terry"s torch. "Pick them up quickly. If they turn out not to be good, we"ll blame it on the darkness. Hold the bag, Arden. It was very smart of you to bring it."
Quickly the two dropped apples into the paper bag held open by Arden.
They were making what they thought was a good collection when Arden suddenly stopped them as she murmured:
"Listen! Did you hear that? Sounded like someone sneezing!"
They stood motionless and quiet in the frightening darkness.
"I heard--something," Sim whispered.
"Well, whatever it was, it couldn"t have been very close," declared Terry, taking charge of the situation. "If we hurry we can be out of here in another minute."