"It's my opinion," Irene said shrewdly, "that some of the netball girls have done it to annoy us. You know how indignant they were because Pam consented to play for us."
This was voted the most sensible suggestion yet proffered.
"If that's so, then Prue Preston knows something about it," Deirdre declared. "She's the ringleader of the Fourth."
"Yes," added Irene, "and it was done while all the seniors were at the play, depend upon it."
Some of the girls departed to see if they could learn anything from the Fourth or Third, while the rest scattered far and wide to search every spot where the sticks might possibly be hidden. Half an hour later they drifted back to the gym room to report failure in every direction. The Fourth and Third Forms, not to mention the Second, had stoutly denied all knowledge of the missing sticks, and seemed as genuinely surprised at their disappearance as the seniors themselves, though the netball players seemed amused at the news. As for Prue Preston, everybody affirmed that she had been with the rest of the Fourth all the evening after prep time, first in the common room at a meeting and then playing draughts with the indoor games club. Monica Carr had also been with them.
Tea bell put an end to the search, but it is to be feared that the prep of many of the Sixth and Fifth suffered that night from lack of the usual time and care bestowed upon it. Girls gathered in groups in each other's studies, still discussing the mystery and suggesting hiding-places, but all efforts proved fruitless. One or two lucky girls, who had not put their sticks back in their proper places after the last game, still retained possession of them, but two people alone could not play hockey and until the rest of the sticks turned up there could be neither practice nor match.
The second day was also wet, and Madge and Deirdre organized a thorough search of the whole premises, resolving that should the sticks be anywhere within the school bounds they should be unearthed.
The end of the search found a hot, dusty, tired and short-tempered band of hunters. No success had rewarded their efforts, and to add to their humiliation, numbers of smiling netball players had followed them everywhere, offering various absurd suggestions and displaying obvious delight in their quandary.
"I don't believe they are hidden in the school," Madge declared. "Is there any place we haven't searched? Of course, we can't go poking our noses into mistresses' rooms—but then, they can't be there. Did you search the boxrooms thoroughly?"
Two exceedingly grubby and dusty Fifth-formers stoutly affirmed that they had looked into every box and trunk—even the hatboxes—and that not a spider nor a cobweb had escaped their sharp eyes. Glenda, Irene and several others had searched all the dormitories, examining wardrobes and doors and peering under the beds. Madge had even inquired of the kitchen staff if they had seen any traces of the sticks in their domains, and had been informed with cheerful smiles that no one had seen them since the gym room had last been swept.