Giving the girls a safe start she followed them down, down, down to the basement. At the foot of the stairs the two girls turned right and back. Mimi ran on tiptoe left and back to meet them under the stairs. She crouched down behind a large trash container and waited. Betsy’s flashlight was playing against the wall.
“There’s the buzzer,” she whispered. “Give me a minute to get back to the foot of the stairs so you can find me by the light and so we can run.”
The alarm buzzer was right over Mimi’s head. She could reach up and touch it herself. But she had decided on her course. Better to scare one girl or two girls out of their wits, than turn the whole school inside out.
“O. K.” Betsy whispered tensely. “Let’er go and scram!”
When Madge’s thin white arm reached up, Mimi grabbed her wrist and with her other hand she threw her flashlight in her own face so that Madge would know instantly she would not be harmed. “Steady, steady,” she whispered.
Madge did not cry out. All sound died in her throat but Mimi could feel her trembling all over. Mimi was thinking fast now. She extinguished her light, and pulled Madge toward her.
“What’s wrong?” Betsy called in a low tone.
“Tell her—nothing—bell out of order,” Mimi hissed in Madge’s ear.
“Nothing—it won’t r-r-ring—must be out of fix.” She was still shaking.
Mimi couldn’t hear what Betsy said but she was shoving Madge toward the stairs.