“Got your nerve with you?” George demanded.
“Why?” inquired Ned.
“Oh, you’ll need it all right,” was the laughing response. “The word has gone around and there’ll be a gladsome crowd to assist you through the portals and into the inner sanctum.”
“Go as far as you like,” said Jerry, with a laugh. “I think they’re trying to bluff us,” he confided later to Ned and Bob.
George Fitch escorted Ned, Bob and Jerry to the fraternity house of the Bang-Ups. They were admitted to a room, beyond the door of which could be heard talking and laughter.
“You’ll soon be one of us,” George said. “I’ll leave you now. Better take off your clothes—that is, all except your underwear, and put on these,” and he handed the boys bath robes. “There’s some rough work, and there’s no use spoiling a good suit.”
“That’s right,” agreed Jerry, and they proceeded to invest themselves in the robes.
“Well, I wonder what’s next,” remarked Ned, as they waited in the room which George had left. “How long do we stay here?”
The question was answered a moment later, for the door opened, showing nothing but a vast black expanse beyond. Then a figure, which seemed to be a living skeleton, advanced. The three chums saw at once that the effect was produced by a black cloak on which had been drawn the outlines of a skeleton in phosphorous paint.