“But why?” demanded Terry.
“If we could find out, perhaps we could solve the mystery of several other things that have happened around Cedar Ridge,” Arden said.
“But that bell,” went on Sim. “I heard some of the girls talking. It seems it is an old alarm bell, to be rung in case of fires. But when the telephone system was put in the rope that originally reached close to the ground, so help could be summoned from the town and from nearby residents, was cut off. And it was cut off so high up that no ordinary person, standing under the rope, could reach it.”
“Why was that done?” asked Terry.
“Because it was found,” Sim explained, “that when the rope was left long enough to be reached, some students, thinking it fun, rang the alarm. That was long before our time. So the dean had the rope cut short.”
“Why didn’t she take it off altogether?” asked Arden.
“I asked a soph that,” explained Sim, “and she told me it was thought best to leave most of the rope in place so if ever it was necessary to sound the old bell, it could be done.”
“But how, if the rope was high up?” Terry inquired.
“By standing on a ladder, I suppose. Don’t ask me, for I really don’t know.”
With determination they began washing off the marks of the eyebrow-pencil mustaches, using cold cream, and finally they were ready for bed.