“No flashlights!” mocked Pip. “The poor dears! Then they’ll have to go in the dark.”
“Oh, no!” Terry cried out with a dramatic restraining gesture.
“Little freshie ’fraid-cats!” sneered Toots.
“Well,” remarked Jessica, “purely out of the goodness of my heart, and not because I like you, I’ll let you take my large flashlight. But don’t forget! We expect those apples before ‘lights-out’ tonight!”
With mocking smiles, the sophs withdrew to their room below.
“Oh, dear!” wailed Sim. “More trouble! I don’t want to go back to that orchard when it’s so dark!”
“I do and I don’t,” said Arden. “I want to find out something, but I’m a little scared.”
“If we all keep together and have a light, it shouldn’t take us long. I think I can find the tree we were near when—when——” Terry didn’t quite know how to finish.
Clang-clang! Clang! Clang-clang! It was the bell calling the students to supper: always a light meal. The “big feed,” as the girls called it, came in the middle of the day.
Wearily the three arose from the beds whereon they had again cast themselves after the visits of the sophomores, straightened themselves with pulls and twists, and joined their classmates in the dining hall. Their coming hazing task was uppermost in their minds, consequently they did not feel like talking much.