"What are you eating, Heavy?" demanded Belle, suddenly.
"Some of those doughnut holes, I bet!" giggled Lluella. "They must be awful filling, Heavy."
"Nothing is filling," replied the stout girl. "Just think, almost the whole universe is filled with just atmosphere—and your head, Lluella."
"That's not pretty, dear," remarked The Fox, pinching Heavy. "Don't be nasty to your playmates."
"Well, I've got to eat," groaned Heavy. "If you knew how long it seemed from luncheon to supper time——"
Despite all Ruth Fielding could do, the girl from Silver Ranch felt herself a good deal out of this nonsense and joviality. Ann could not talk the way these girls did. She felt serious when she contemplated her future in the school.
"I'd—I'd run away if it wasn't for Uncle Bill," she whispered to herself, looking out of the window at the hundreds of girls parading the walks about the campus.
Almost every two girls seemed chums. They walked with their arms about each other's waists, and chattered like magpies. Ann Hicks wanted to run and hide somewhere, for she was more lonely now than she had ever been when wandering about the far-reaching range on the Montana ranch!