CHAPTER XXI
RAIDING THE PANTRY
As a matter of fact, Teddy and Ferd and all the other boys, too, wereleft out in the cold more than even they had expected.
Miss Race greeted rapturously the return of her money. And as for thegirls--well, they hung around Chet, showering him with questions andpraise until it was really a wonder they did not spoil him entirely.
But when the first excitement was over, the boys had gone home, andeverything was quiet again, they could not help feeling sorry that Chethad not kept the Codfish when he had him. And Miss Walters, though shesaid nothing to the girls, was more worried than any of them.
"Why, we'll be afraid to go out at all after dark," Billie said,wide-eyed and excited.
"And I'm sure I'll dream of him every night," Laura added with ashudder.
But as the days went by the girls found other things to worry about thanthe Codfish. They were having more and more trouble with Miss Ada andMiss Cora. Then one day there came news that brought the whole matter toa head.
Miss Walters had received a telegram calling her away suddenly and hadno way of knowing just when she would be back.
And in the meantime--this part of the news the girls received inhorror-stricken silence--Miss Ada Dill and Miss Cora Dill were to beleft in entire charge of Three Towers Hall.
It was nothing less than tragedy to the girls, for they knew that now atlast the "Dill Pickles" had their chance. And they knew, too, that MissAda and Miss Cora would make the most of it.
The day came when Miss Walters left, and the girls watched her go withpuckered brows and stormy eyes.
"The meals have been bad enough, goodness knows," Laura grumbled, asthey gathered up their books for the first class. "But now I suppose wewon't get anything to eat."
"We'll just be prisoners, that's all," said Billie, her eyes rebellious."I know Miss Cora's hated me from the very first, and now she'll be ableto do just about what she pleases to me. But if she gets too funny,I'll--well, I don't know what I'll do," she ended rather helplessly.
And during the next week the girls' worst fears were realized. All theliberty that they had enjoyed under Miss Walters was taken away fromthem, and, as Billie had predicted, they were practically prisoners.
That they could have stood perhaps; at least until Miss Waltersreturned. But that was by no means the worst of it.
The two Miss Dills had always said that the girls could get along justas well on far less to eat. In fact, Miss Ada was positive they couldstudy better if "they didn't cram themselves so full of food." And nowthey set to work to prove their theory.
The meals became skimpier and skimpier, until one day after the noonmeal the girls left the table feeling positively hungry.
The afternoon seemed unbearably long, and for the life of them theycould not keep their minds on their books. All they could think of wasdelicious juicy steaks, French-fried potatoes, chicken pie andstrawberry short cake.
And when girl after girl failed in her recitations, Miss Cora and MissAda scolded them so harshly and said such sarcastic things that itbrought the angry red to their faces. But, as the girls said later, theywere "almost too hungry to fight back."
Two more days passed with conditions getting worse and worse until thegirls were becoming weak from lack of food. Two of the younger girlsbecame faint and sick.
"We can't stand this much longer," said Billie.
The girls were gathered in Billie's dormitory after supper, and one byone girls from the other dormitories joined them. It was fast becoming amass meeting.
"We simply can't stand it," Billie went on, her little fists clenchedangrily at her side. "It's all right if they want to take our libertyaway. We can stand that for a little while, until Miss Walters comesback. But when they begin to starve us----"
"But what are we going to do?" asked one girl, helplessly.
"We could run 'em out, I suppose," said one of the older girls gloomily."But I suppose we'd be run out ourselves as soon as Miss Walters gotback."
"I don't see why Miss Walters left 'The Pickles' in charge, anyway,"spoke up another of the girls fretfully. "She knew how horrid they wereand how they've all the time been picking on us girls."
"Well, I don't see that it makes any difference why Miss Walters didit," Billie broke in, and there was something in her tone that made thegirls stop talking and look at her expectantly. "The fact is, she hasleft the 'Dill Pickles' in charge and they're trying to starve us todeath. Now what I want to know is this: Are we just going to standaround and let them do it? Or are we going to fight?"
"Fight!" they cried, their pale faces beginning to flush with hope.
"What do you want us to do, Billie?" asked Laura eagerly.
"Listen and I'll tell you." She leaned forward and one could almost haveheard a pin drop in the room. "There's only one way I know of that wecan get food that 'The Pickles' don't give to us."
"And that?"
"Is to raid the pantry and storeroom," said Billie, her eyes gleaming."We'll probably find plenty of cooked things in the pantry, and if wedon't, we'll go on into the storeroom and get canned sardines andvegetables and soup. I know I don't care what I eat, as long as I getenough of it."
The girls were silent a minute, staring at Billie half hopefully, halffearfully. To raid the pantry and storeroom? It had never been done inall the history of Three Towers. It would be open rebellion! And yetthey were hungry--terribly hungry--two of them had been faint and sickfrom lack of food.
"Will you do it?" asked Billie, her eyes blazing at them.
"We will!" they almost shouted, and then rose such a pandemonium thatBillie, trying to scream above the noise, found her voice drownedcompletely.
After a minute they quieted down a little--enough to listen to her,anyway.
"Please don't make so much noise," she begged. "We'll be likely to makeour raid a great deal easier if we wait until the cooks are gone and theteachers are in bed. We don't care if we are caught, but we don't wantto be caught until after we've had something to eat."
The girls realized the common sense in this, but it was all they coulddo to be patient and wait. The thought of something to eat--all theywanted to eat--after a week of starvation made them ravenous, furiouslyimpatient of delay.
The time passed at last, however, and when the "lights out" gong soundedthrough the hall the girls were apparently in bed and fast asleep.
Hardly five minutes had passed before the doors of the differentdormitories opened, and the girls crept singly or in twos and threestoward the farther end of the hall until all the hundred-odd girls ofThree Towers were gathered there except two. Two of them had stayedbehind, and so absorbed were the other girls that they never noticed theabsence of Amanda Peabody and Eliza Dilks.
It may be that Rose noticed, for as she left the dormitory she lookedover at them and smiled a little. She had guessed at the truth.
For Amanda and Eliza disliked Billie so bitterly that they would even gohungry for the chance of getting even with her. Miss Ada and Miss Corawould be very glad to know who had been the ring-leader in therebellion!
In the meantime the girls, satisfied that every one was present, hadstarted softly down the back stairs which led them by the shortest wayto the kitchen.
As Billie had said, they did not care if they were discovered, exceptthat if they were caught they would probably have a harder time gettingwhat they wanted.
Billie was in the lead with Vi and Laura close behind her. They hardlymade any noise at all, and before they knew it they were facing theclosed door that led to the kitchen.
Billie swung it open cautiously and looked inside. The kitchen was dark,but she knew where the electric switch was, and the next minute the roomwas flooded with light.
The sudden glare rather frightened the girls, and they hesitated for amoment--but only a moment. They were terribly hungry, and just acrossthe kitchen was the pantry, and back of that, the storeroom.
"Come on, girls," Billie whispered
. "Here's where we get the best of'The Pickles.'"
They found cold ham in the refrigerator, they found bread and butter andcrackers and jam. In the twinkling of an eye all these dainties haddisappeared, and they were looking around for more.
Next they raided the storeroom. They found tiers upon tiers of cannedgoods, and Billie, because she was the first to find a can-opener, waspronounced "official can-opener," and opened cans till her arm ached.
But how good that stolen food tasted! They ate ravenously. They ate withknives and forks and spoons, and when these ran short, they even atewith their hands. And by and by the brightness came back to their eyes,the color to their cheeks, and they chattered like joyful magpies.
When they could eat no more, they filled their pockets with biscuits andcrackers and started back the way they had come.
But they only started, for as Billie opened the door that led to thestairs she found herself face to face with Miss Cora, Miss Ada, MissRace and several of the junior teachers.
In the background--triumphant smiles upon their faces--lurked AmandaPeabody and Eliza Dilks.
Billie Bradley at Three Towers Hall; Or, Leading a Needed Rebellion Page 21