"I hope none of the girls faint," said Fenn.
"Oh, Stumpy's getting worried about Jennie, I s'pose," remarked Ned.
"No danger of any of 'em fainting," said Bart. "They're too much afraid a mouse would bite 'em."
So it seemed, for the girls contented themselves with screaming and getting up on whatever offered in the way of chairs or benches.
Meanwhile the mice, bewildered by the lights, the noise and the strange place, were running about, squealing as loudly as they could. Every time one of the frightened creatures came near a girl, or a group of them, the cries of the damsels drowned the squeaks of the rodents.
The boys of the Upside Down Club were at their wits' ends, for they could wage no effectual warfare against the mice. One or two of the committee of arrangements scurried around until they secured brooms, but by this time the mice had hidden in corners, whence they scurried out occasionally, to the great fright of the girls.
The dance had come to a sudden end, for the girls, even after comparative quiet was restored, refused to venture on the floor. Even Alice, who was braver than most girls, stayed in a corner.
"Who did it?"
"Where did they come from?"
"How did it happen?"