Billie Bradley at Three Towers Hall; Or, Leading a Needed Rebellion

by Janet D. Wheeler

  CHAPTER XXIII

  A PRISONER OF WAR

  It was a bad night for all the girls, but for Billie Bradley it was anightmare. Miss Cora Dill had thrust her into a little room just bigenough to contain a couch, a table, and one or two chairs.

  When Billie had asked for a light the door had been slammed in her faceand she had heard the key turn in the lock.

  So she was a prisoner--and in disgrace. All her dreams had come to that.Miss Cora had said she would be expelled from Three Towers Hall whenMiss Walters heard what she had done.

  But in her heart Billie did not believe that. The hope that when MissWalters was told everything she would side with the girls was the onlything that kept her from being absolutely miserable. For Miss Walterswas always fair.

  Billie had never been afraid of the dark. She was not really afraid ofit now. But as the hours crept by and the place became still with thestillness of midnight, she began to feel uneasy and very, verylonesome.

  The silence was so deep that she was afraid to move for fear of breakingit, but at last, because her limbs were cramping and she was beginningto feel chilled, she rose from the couch where she had been sitting andbegan moving cautiously about the room.

  She stubbed her toe against one chair and almost fell over the other,making so much noise that her heart stood still and she looked fearfullyover her shoulder. Finally she came over to the couch again and sankdown upon it, feeling that she must cry or die.

  But she did not do either, just sat there thinking and thinking what shecould do next. She would have to sleep, she supposed, although Miss Corahad not given her any nightgown and there were no bedclothes.

  Then a happy thought struck her, and she turned down the cover of thecouch and found, as she had hoped, that the couch was made up as a bed.There were several rooms like this in Three Towers--rooms used only whenthere was an overflow of students. Billie remembered having heard thegirls speak of them as "cubby holes."

  But Billie was tired and unhappy, and all of a sudden her only wish wasto get within the protection of those covers. Perhaps it would not thenseem so lonesome and she was cold.

  After that she knew no more till morning.

  It was a dark, dreary morning with a bite in the air that felt likesnow. There was no sign of sunshine anywhere, either outside or insideof Three Towers Hall.

  The girls rose reluctantly, and there was rebellion in their eyes. Theywere on the verge of revolt, and it needed only one more unfair act onthe part of Miss Cora or Miss Ada Dill to start the ball rolling.

  "Are we going down to breakfast?" asked Laura, as the breakfast gongrang.

  "I suppose we'd better," answered Caroline Brant, her eyes looking tiredand red-rimmed under the spectacles. "We have to eat, anyway. After weget through we can come up here and decide what we're going to do."

  "Well, I know one thing we're going to do," said Laura fiercely. "If theDill Pickles don't let Billie come back to us, or at least tell us whereshe is, I'm going to set the place on fire, that's all."

  "That wouldn't help Billie any," said Rose, as they turned from theroom.

  Breakfast was gloomier than ever that morning. The girls were heavy-eyedand sullen, and Miss Cora, presiding grimly at the head of the table,looked, as one of the older girls said, "like a death's head at thefeast."

  "But where was the feast?" another girl retorted.

  In fact this meal was scantier than any that had gone before, and if ithad not been for the night's raid the girls would have been in a prettybad way.

  Amanda and the "Shadow" were there, and if looks could kill, they wouldhave both died on the spot. But there was no sign of Billie. The girlshad hardly thought there would be, but they had hoped.

  A little while later there was another mass meeting held in dormitory"C," and it was Rose Belser this time who took the floor.

  "We simply can't stand it any longer, girls," she told them, her blackeyes snapping. "Wasn't that a wonderful breakfast we had this morning?It makes you sick to think of it. And we don't even know whether Billiegot as much as we did. We've got to do something right away. We can tryto get word to Miss Walters. I have her address, but I don't know howwe're ever going to----"

  She was interrupted by a familiar whistle from somewhere outside, andthe girls ran over to the window. Sure enough, there were Chet andTeddy, looking, to the girls, like a couple of heaven-sent messengers,standing underneath the window, skates flung over their shoulders,looking up toward them expectantly.

  "Wait a minute," Laura called down, "Don't dare go away from there.You're angels, and have come just when we wanted you most."

  She turned a radiant face to the girls and began to speak hurriedly.

  "I had it all figured out last night, girls," she said, while theylistened eagerly. "When you told me you knew Miss Walters' address,Rose, I thought of the boys right away. There was just a chance thatthey might come over this morning or this afternoon. And now they'rehere."

  "Well?" they asked, puzzled.

  "Oh, don't you see?" Laura clapped her hands impatiently. "The 'DillPickles' won't let any of us send word to Miss Walters, but the boys cando it for us."

  Before she had finished a dozen girls were scrambling for pencil andpaper, Laura was pushed into a chair by the table and was commanded towrite and write quickly.

  And Laura obeyed while the girls fairly hung over her, offeringsuggestions, and all talking at once until it was a wonder she couldwrite anything at all.

  She told the boys briefly what had happened and begged them to send wordto Miss Walters at once. Then they tied the precious piece of paperaround an inkwell--who cared for the wreck of a mere inkwell at a timelike this?--and threw it out of the window.

  Teddy picked it up wonderingly and unwound the paper, while Chet peeredover his shoulder and the girls watched breathlessly from above. WhenTeddy came to the part about Billie's capture he was all for stormingthe castle, meeting the "Lions in their den, the Pickles in their hall,"and rescuing the heroine without delay. But Chet held him back.

  After that they had what seemed to be a rather heated argument, but Chetfinally got the best of it, and after a wave to the girls, who werefairly hanging out of the dormitory windows, the two boys started offand disappeared around the corner of the building.

  The girls watched them out of sight, then turned to each other withshining eyes.

  "That ought to bring Miss Walters back in a hurry," said Vi. "Theneverything will be all right."

  "Yes, but we may starve before she gets here," said one of the girlsgloomily.

  "And Billie! Oh, girls, we've just got to get her out!" added Laura."Nobody knows where she is or what they're doing to her."

  Without warning, the door opened and Billie herself flew in upon them.

  "Girls," she cried breathlessly, "can't you hide me somewhere?I've--I've--escaped!"

  "Escaped!" they cried, crowding around her, all asking questions atonce, feeling her, to be sure that it was really she, until Billie madefrantic signs for them to be quiet.

  "Girls," she cried, "please stop talking and listen to me. Miss Corawill find that I'm gone in a minute, and she's sure to come right herefor me."

  "Well, she won't get you, that's one sure thing," cried Laura staunchly.

  "But tell us about it," urged another girl. "Did they have you lockedup?"

  "Yes," said Billie, adding with a shiver: "And I had a terrible night.But this morning Miss Cora herself brought me some breakfast--I wish youcould have seen it--and she was just saying some nice mean things to mewhen Miss Race called her away for something, said it was important.Miss Cora went out without locking the door. So I didn't stop foranything, I just ran. I had something I wanted to tell you."

  "Good old Miss Race," Connie interrupted, her eyes shining. "I bet shejust did it on purpose."

  "But listen," Billie broke in hurriedly. "I thought of something while Iwas locked up, and I want to tell you about it before they catch meagain. It's about getting news to
Miss Walters. The boys will probablybe around this morning, and if you could let them know----"

  "But we've already done that," interrupted a score of eager voices, andBillie clapped her hands delightedly.

  "Good!" she cried. Then her face sobered again and she looked nervouslytoward the door. "I suppose Miss Cora will be along in a minute, andshe'll want to lock me up again. And I suppose she'll be so mad at mygetting away that she won't give me anything to eat now."

  But suddenly Rose jumped to her feet, face flushed, eyes shining. Thiswas her chance to square herself with Billie and all the rest.

  "Tell me something, girls," she cried. "Are we going to let Miss Corahave Billie? Are we?"

  "We are not!" they cried lustily; and Billie suddenly saw them through amist of tears.