CHAPTER XVI--FIVE IN A TOWER
But the girls climbing the stairs to see the rainbow had no idea thatanybody below was playing a trick on them. After school was dismissedand the pupils left the building, and the teachers were gone, there wasnobody but old John, the janitor, on the premises.
From any other floor he could be summoned by alarm bells. But there wereno push-buttons in the tower. Therefore, when Purt Sweet turned the key,and stole away from the door at the bottom of the tower stairs, he hadimprisoned the five girls as effectually as though they were in thetower of some ancient castle.
The five went up the stairs, however, without any suspicion that theywere prisoners.
"Come on! come on!" urged Bobby, who mounted much quicker than theothers. "Oh, this is glorious!"
They came out into a square room, through which the air blew freshly.The rain had evidently blown into the place during the shower, for itlay in puddles on the stone floor. The windows had no panes--indeed,they were merely narrow slits in the stone wall, like loop-holes in oldfortresses.
"Dear me!" cried Jess. "How small the people look in the park--do yousee? Just like ants."
"Some of 'em are uncles, not 'ants,'" laughed Bobby.
"Punning again!" exclaimed Nell. "You should be punished for that,Bobby."
"Huh! that's worse than mine," declared Bobby.
"Look at that sky!" cried Laura.
"It is very beautiful," agreed Eve, quietly.
"Look at those clouds yonder--a great, pink bed of down!" murmured Jess.
"And this arch of color," said Laura, seriously. "I suppose that is justwhat Noah saw. How poetic to call it the Bow of Promise!"
The girls enjoyed looking at the wild colorings of the clouds and thebeautiful bow. A half an hour elapsed before they proposed descending.
As they went down the stairs, Bobby still in the lead, she stoppedsuddenly with a little cry.
"What's the matter now, Bobs?" demanded Jess.
"Oh! don't you see it?" cried the other girl. "It's a spider."
"He won't eat you," said Jess. "Go on."
"I know he won't. I declare! he's spinning a web."
At that moment she came to the bottom of the stairway.
"Guess the draught pulled the door shut," she exclaimed. "Hullo!"
She tried the knob, but the door would not open.
"Why, what's the matter, Bobby?" cried Laura. "That is not a springlock."
"Huh! I guess not," returned Bobby. "But somebody's sprung it on us,just the same."
"What do you mean?" demanded Nellie Agnew.
"The door's locked," declared Laura, reaching the bottom step and tryingthe knob herself.
"You bet it is," said Bobby.
"It's a joke!" gasped Eve.
"I should hope so," returned Laura. "If they were in earnest it would bebad for us. John will leave the building soon, and how will we attractanybody to release us?"
"Oh, Laura!" cried Nell. "Nobody would be so mean."
"It may be," said Eve, thoughtfully, "that somebody went past, saw thedoor open, and closed and locked it with no idea that we were in thetower."
"Well!" exclaimed Bobby, at that. "We're in a nice fix--yes?"
"Who would have done it?" wailed Nellie Agnew.
"Maybe the janitor himself," observed Laura, thoughtfully.
"My goodness! but you're the cheerful girl," returned Bobby. "Do youwant to scare us to death right at the start, Mother Wit?"
"We might as well admit the seriousness of the situation," said Laura."I can't imagine that anybody would shut us up here for a joke."
"Some of the boys?" suggested Eve.
"That Short and Long is full of mischief," added Nell.
"Chet would wring his neck for a thing like this," declared Jess, withconfidence.
"I don't care who did it, or what it was done for," said Bobby, finally."The fact remains: The door is locked!"
"That is the truest thing you ever said, Bobby," sighed Jess. "Come onback to the tower room. Do you suppose we can call loud enough toattract the attention of people on the street?"
"Not in a thousand years," groaned Bobby.
"Oh, we won't have to remain here that long," said Laura, cheerfully.
"Hope not," growled Bobby. "I'm getting hungry."
"That won't do you any good," said Jess. "It's useless to have anappetite when there is nothing in sight to satisfy it--just as uselessas the holes in a porous plaster."
"Who says the holes in a porous plaster are useless?" demanded Bobby,quickly. "They're not."
"What are they for, then?" asked Eve, mildly.
"Why, to let the pain out, of course," declared Bobby, boldly.
"I wish there were some holes here that would let _us_ out," sighedNellie Agnew.
"Don't lose heart, Nell!" advised Laura. "There never was a situationthat didn't offer some release. We'll find a way of escape."
"Sure!" scoffed Bobby. "Any of us can crawl out through one of theseslits in the wall."
"And then what?" demanded Jess.
"Why, jump!" cried Bobby. "There'll be nothing to stop you."
"Don't talk so recklessly," said Mother Wit. "This is really a veryserious problem. Mother will be very anxious about me if I don't comehome by six."
"It's an hour and a half to that yet," said Nellie, looking at herwatch.
Bobby was striving to squeeze through one of the open windows in thetower and look down upon the street. But it was nonsense to expectanybody on the walk to see them up there in the tower.
"And we could shriek our heads off without attracting a bit ofattention," declared Nellie, half crying. "What _shall_ we do, Laura?"
"Keep cool," advised Laura. "Why lose all our courage because we arelocked into this tower? We will be found."
"Maybe," spoke Bobby, gloomily.
"You have become a regular croaker," declared Jess. "I'm ashamed of you,Bobs."
"That's all right!" cried Bobby. "But hunger is an awful thing tosuffer."
"Ha! you make me laugh," cried Eve. "Just think of me! If I don't catchthat 5:14 train I'll not get supper till nine o'clock."
"But what a supper it will be when you _do_ get it!" exclaimed Bobby."Oh, girls! when I was at Eve's house last week they had thirteenvegetables for supper, besides two kinds of cold meat, and preserves andpickles. Talk about the poor farmer! Why the sort of supper Eve's folkshave every night would cost city folks two dollars a plate."
"I am afraid you are stretching your imagination, Bobby," laughed Eve.
"Never! They've got bins and bins of vegetables--and rows and rows ofham in the meat house--and bar'ls and bar'ls of salt pork! Listen here,"cried the whimsical Bobby, who had a doggerel rhyme for every occasion."This is just what Eve Sitz hears whenever she goes down into the cellarin the winter. She can't deny it!" And she sang:
"Potato gazed with frightened eyes, King corn lent mournful ear, The beet a blushing red did turn, The celery blanched with fear, The bean hid trembling in its pod, The trees began to bark, And on the beaten turnpike road The stones for warmth did spark, The brooklet babbled in its sleep Because the night was cold; The onion weeps within its bed Because the year is old."
"You are so ridiculous," said Eve. "Nobody believes the rigamaroles yousay."
"All right!" returned Bobby, highly offended. "But you're bound tobelieve one thing--that's sure."
"What is that?" queried Nellie.
"That we're up in this tower, with the door locked--and I believe thatJohn, the janitor, goes home about this time to supper!"
"Oh, oh!" cried Nellie. "Don't say _that_. However will we get away?"
"Let's bang on the door!" exclaimed Jess.
So they thumped upon the thick oak door--Bobby even kicked it viciously;and they shouted until they were hoarse. But nobody heard, and nobodycame. The only person who knew they were locked into the tower was amile away from Central High by that time--and, an
yway, he dared not tellof what he had done, nor did he dare go back to release the girls fromtheir imprisonment.
The Girls of Central High on Track and Field Page 16