“At one o’clock sharp,” he assured her. “They haven’t seen anything at all, and they’re perfectly all right. Now get some sleep. Good night.”
Feeling relieved, Peggy went back to bed, but it was not easy to sleep. What had seemed such a good idea yesterday was beginning to seem foolish today. The boys were engaging in unknown risks, and nobody knew what dangers they might encounter. Perhaps they should have gone to the police in the first place, and tried to convince them that something was amiss. Perhaps they should still do so....
Finally, she slept, troubled by vague, unpleasant dreams.
The next day, her doubts grew stronger. Pip appeared at school late, looking like a molting owl. He had rings under his eyes and seemed not to have slept at all.
“We decided to stay on until daylight,” he explained wanly, “just in case your idea that any action would take place between six and twelve was wrong. Nothing happened, and we left at five-thirty in the morning.”
“But, Pip!” Peggy protested. “That’s a twelve-hour watch! You shouldn’t be in school today!”
“It’s all right,” he assured her with a weak smile. “I’m rested. Slept from six until nearly nine.”
He tackled his work gamely, but by noon agreed with Peggy that the wisest course would be to cut school for the afternoon and go home to sleep.
“Remember,” she cautioned him, “you have to set your alarm clock for one in the morning, in case you don’t get a call from Randy and Mal.”
“I’m going to do better than that,” Pip said. “I’m going to shut off the bell on my telephone so I can sleep straight through to midnight. Then I’ll have the alarm wake me, so I can turn the phone on, and I’ll set the alarm for one o’clock then.”