CHAPTER XVI
THE LAKE FREEZES OVER
When the rising bell rang, Sue counted three, then kicked off thecovers. She sprang out of bed to pull down the window leaving Betsyshivering.
"Cruel world." Betsy groaned wriggling further down in bed and reachingfor the covers.
"Cruel nothing," Sue retorted. "You fresh air fiends will be the deathof me yet. Pick the coldest night of the year to throw the window tothe top."
For two reasons Betsy could hardly hear the last of Sue's tirade. Shehad covered up head, ears and all. Sue had run in the bathroom to dresswhere it was warmer and had closed the door.
"What's all the commotion?" Mimi asked. The bell had awakened her butshe had not stirred. If she moved out of her warm place she touchedcold sheets.
"The greatest disaster in contemporary history," came Betsy's muffledvoice from the adjoining bed. "On this, perhaps the only _Friday_morning of the year when we could miss breakfast and stay in bed ourenergetic friend, Sue, has to sound a triple alarm and fire a nineteengun salute! Sue," she yelled poking her head out, "I hope you'refreezing."
"What's this rot about not getting up?"
Sue, fully dressed opened the bathroom door and entered, a glass ofcold water in her hand.
"We're not getting up! Don't tell me the fact that one may cutbreakfast and enjoy a little free time today because of term-end failedto penetrate your skull?"
Betsy was wide awake and chattering away just because she wished shewere sleepy. All eyes fixed with dread on the glass of water; she,Mimi, and Chloe watched Sue's expression sag.
"Woe is me! I did forget. Move over Betsy I'm coming back to bedclothes and all."
Sue set the glass on the floor took one jump and landed in bed. Betsyswirled and spiraled and succeeded in wrapping all the covers aroundher. Sue pulled and jerked without success.
"All right, I'll get in with Chloe and Mimi. They're not old meanies."
But they were. They held tightly to their covers. Sue went to the footof the bed, loosened the covers and started reaching for their feet.The fight was on. Zip-whizz! Betsy threw a pillow barely missing Sue'sbobbing head.
The five minute bell rang. Sue gave up.
"Three against one is no fair. I'm going to breakfast and I hope wehave waffles and country sausage and maple syrup and pineapple juiceand----"
Blam!
Mimi's pillow struck Sue's retreating figure.
"Go eat grits! Scram!"
But Sue had roused Mimi. She jumped up.
"Come on let's go to breakfast. I could dress for my wedding in fiveminutes."
When the last bell rang the three were within a half dozen steps of thedining room door. Betsy was pulling the comb through her hair. Chloewas straightening her tie and Mimi was tugging at her stocking but theygot in before the door closed.
"Gee! I'm glad we came," Mimi sighed.
She was so full she could hardly speak. More than half the girls weretaking advantage of their term-end privilege and had stayed away sothere were seconds and thirds! Of course, the menu wasn't all Sue hadpictured but they did have pineapple juice for a change and Mimi hadtwo servings. While she was too full to do much talking, Mimi could sitback and listen. She wouldn't have missed Miss Bassett's announcementfor anything.
"May I have your attention, please?"
The girls turned toward Miss Bassett, anticipation in their faces. Herannouncements were always good news--game schedules, pep squadmeetings, hikes or something enjoyable. The one she made today was oneshe had not made for four years! She might not get to make it for fourmore or longer because the winters were not as severe as they used tobe.
"The manager of Wildwood Park has telephoned that the lake is frozensolid. The temperature is dropping steadily and the forecast fortomorrow is continued fair and colder. _If_ there is six or more inchesof good ice on the lake, we will have a skating party tomorrow."
Clap! Clap! Clap! Cries of approval. Mimi clapped loudest.
"I am going out to Wildwood today to see for myself how the ice looks.In the meantime all girls interested in ice skating sign the sheet onthe bulletin board. Only those girls who are well and warmly dressedwill be permitted to go. This is not a definite promise but know this.I want to go as badly as you do, maybe more."
Mimi never doubted the weather man an instant. She felt sure, too, thatMiss Bassett would not have mentioned the party at all unless she waspractically sure the ice would hold. Mimi's worry was not thetemperature, it was getting some ice skates. Here at last was a chanceto learn how to do something she had always wanted to know how to do.She realized that there would be only a limited number of skatesavailable and she would have to think fast. That she could borrow apair was unlikely. Any girl who liked skating enough to own a pair andlug them around with her when there was so little chance of skating inthis climate, would be using her own. There was but one thing to do,buy a pair and buy them now before the hardware and sporting goodsstores sold out. She had not done one extravagant thing since Daddy andMother had been gone but she was going to spend practically her wholemonth's allowance at one crack.
All this had flashed quickly through her mind. Breakfast was over andin another few minutes the girls would start a mad search for skates.Somehow she must get the jump on them. The college girls could go righton to town without permission. Oh, dear! There seemed but one thing todo and Mimi did it immediately and successfully.
Slapping her napkin quickly to her mouth as if to suppress a hiccoughshe jerked her head and stood up. Making signs to the hostess sheexcused herself. As she passed Mrs. Cole's table, still pressing thenapkin to her lips, she hiccoughed out loud. As soon as she passed outthe double glass doors she dropped the napkin and ran.
She went as straight to the office as she could.
"Please, please," she pleaded breathlessly to the girl at the desk,"phone Sweirs for me. Here I'll find the number."
Her fingers flew-P-Q-R-S-Sa-Se-Sw--Sweirs--She could hear the girls nowcoming down the hall as she gave the number.
"Please ask if they have any ice skates to fit a size five boot."
The girl was so impressed by Mimi's excitement, it never occurred toher she did not have permission to telephone. But Mimi knew she did nothave; that was why she was having the girl call for her. Hurry! Hurry!How long did it take Sweirs to answer? They must be terriblybusy--probably selling all their skates.
"Sweirs are sorry. They have no ice skates."
Mimi groaned.
"Then we'll call the hardware stores." She was fumbling through thedirectory again.
"Look in the classified section in the back," the girl suggested.
H-Hardware. There. She had another number.
"Yes, size five please," the girl was saying. "Just a moment."
Putting her hand over the transmitter she turned to Mimi.
"He has some. What shall I say?"
"Have him send them out collect--and special delivery."
Ten or twenty-five cents more wouldn't matter. Mimi couldn't wait.
"Bring your money to the office now so that I can pay the boy."
"Thank you. Thank you so much."
The money. Mimi was down to earth again. She was taking one problem ata time and doing splendidly but she was up against something now. Shehad only one dollar and seventy-five cents in her purse and that wasnot enough. She had forgotten about buying three cans of heat, thebrown sugar and the movie magazines.
Knowing full well that no girl in school is as despised as one whoborrows, she risked her popularity to raise the money. Everywhere itwas the same. Term end was a time of celebration and each girl Mimiasked needed all she had and more.
There was but one thing left to do. She went back to Tumble Inn andtaking the key from around her neck she unlocked the secret drawer ofher trunk where she kept her diary. She took out one of the blankchecks Daddy had left her for emergencies. It would be the first oneshe had used a
nd she was spending it on something frivolous but afterall, Daddy wanted her to have a good time. He'd be the first person tosay, "Go ahead and get them, Honey." She felt very important as shemade out the check in the office. In her best writing she signed Dr. J.S. Hammond by Mimi. Her name ran sideways off the bottom of the check.
The thirty minutes she loafed around where she could see the officeentrance and pounce upon the messenger and grab her skates, she hadtime to think.
She had been very selfish. She had thought only of getting skates forherself. What about her suite mates? She could have ordered theirs atthe same time. One special delivery fee would have brought them all.Sorry that she had been so thoughtless she raced upstairs to makeamends and was not in the office when the skates were delivered.
"Did you ever hear of anything grander?" Betsy asked as she dangled apair of rusty skates. "Jill says if I'll clean them, I can use them.She is going on that sketching party Chloe is going on."
"You mean you're not going skating, Chloe."
"Is that so strange? I'm going hiking all right and will be in on thefood but while you all skate, some of us are going to sketch, if ourfingers aren't too numb. You might be posing for me for all you know."
"I'm not going skating either," Sue declared. "Olivia had alreadyinvited me to the matinee and had gotten special permission. She isgiving a movie party. Five of us are going and--without a chaperon!"
"Well blow me down!" Mimi declared. "Imagine doing anything else whenone could ice skate, especially an ordinary thing like seeing a movie."She slapped her hands together in front of her.
"Betsy, outside quick--idea!"
They whispered together, then dashed off.
"Oh, if only Miss Bassett hasn't left yet!" Mimi cried. Miss Bassettwas still in her room and she listened to their plan with interest.Mimi's enthusiasm was always contagious. To hear her talking with MissBassett, her suggested menu of bean hole beans for the skaters tomorrowwould be the most sumptuous feast mortals ever ate. Here was the planshe and Betsy had hatched up.
It was Friday morning now. The skating party was slated for middaytomorrow. Mimi and Betsy posted a notice of a surprise dinner--pricefifteen cents a skater. They delegated Madge and Janice to collect.Miss Bassett advanced money for purchase of supplies. She postponed hertrip to Wildwood until the girls could buy the beans and put them tosoak. Then armed with hand axe, shovel, matches and a hand full ofkindling to make sure, they drove out to Wildwood to dig the bean hole.
"Gee! It's grand riding. I haven't been in a car since Thanksgiving,"Mimi avowed. "Hadn't ridden in one then since September. Can youimagine?"
"I'm glad you're enjoying it. But about the beans. Mimi, you know thatif they are not good the whole party will be spoiled and I should hatethat."
"You go ahead and talk to the man, Miss Bassett. Leave the beans to us.They'll be good, I can promise."
The way Mimi declared herself Miss Bassett knew she could depend onher. Dumping the girls and their "field artillery" as they called it,she went on her own errand.
Mimi was in her glory. She had on her boots and old breeches and threesweaters and was giving Betsy orders right and left. She was workinghard herself. While Betsy gathered wood and searched for flat stones,Mimi dug the hole. She selected an open place where there would be nodanger of damaging a tree or starting a fire. After a half hour ofdigging in the frozen ground she had finished a hole the size of a cardtable. It was deeper than the ten gallon kettle the beans were soakingin and it was deeper in the center. While she rested, Betsy lined thecenter of the hole with flat stones. On top of these Betsy built a fire.
"Stack it loosely so it can get plenty of air to burn. Light it on thewindward side." Mimi had to let Betsy know how much she knew about firelore. She hoped, however, she did not act like Jean and wear ashow-off, I-have-been-to-camp-before manner.
"Why the windy side?"
"The wind will blow the fire under and it will catch all through.There. See? Now put on plenty of big wood so that we will have lots ofgood live coals when we get back. We'll ask the man to watch it whilewe are gone."
"Isn't that some fire?"
"Perfect. I just love fire." She meant this kind you could warm by andcook over; not the destructive, terrifying kind she was to know soon.Mimi stretched out her hands to it. "I never see it without repeatingto myself, 'The Ode to Fire.' I was saying it as you kneeled to lightthis one."
"I love that too."
"There comes Miss Bassett. Let's go meet her so she won't have to getoff the drive. These frozen ruts are rough."
All the way to town Mimi kept wondering if the beans were softening.She preferred to soak them all night but as Cissy so often said,circumstances alter cases. She had left them in warm, soft water. Thatwould help. It would be better to soak them less and cook them longerrather than take a chance on cooking them in the morning and hopingthey'd be done by noon. Long slow cooking was best.
Back at Sheridan and in the kitchen, Mimi took charge again.
First she drained the water off of the beans. Then she poured part ofthem into a crock. She sliced the salt pork in thin chunks and laid itin carefully. Then she sprinkled a layer of brown sugar, ripe tomatoketchup and salt. More beans--meat, sugar, salt, ketchup. On and onuntil the great kettle was half full and the crock was empty. Then shepoured in hot water until the kettle was full. The beans had notsoftened much. Mimi was worried; she had given Miss Bassett her word.
"I'll tell you what we'll do; leave them on the stove to simmer untilMiss Bassett blows for us. That way they'll be hot through and throughand will get a good start."
"Do you suppose any one has caught on?"
"I hope not."
No one found out, although several wondered what Betsy and Mimi weredoing, going out with Miss Bassett for the second time. What could bein that huge kettle which was so heavy one of the kitchen negroes hadto lift it on the running board?
Miss Bassett drove slowly but Mimi held her breath. Mustn't "spill thebeans" she cautioned. She had the window rolled down and was holding onto the handle. Once or twice on curves the pot pulled and swung outdangerously near slipping off but eventually they managed to depositthe kettle near the bean hole.
The fire had died to glowing embers. Mimi must be careful. She shoveledthem out of the hole and piled them to one side. Then handing Betsy athick pad, she took one herself and together they settled the pot onthe hot stones. Making sure the lid was clamped down tight, Mimicovered the pot with a wet grass sack. Then she shoveled the hot coalson top of the sack and over them, threw the loose dirt.
"Looks like a new grave," Betsy teased.
"Why Betsy! You should be ashamed! Besides, you never saw a grave withlittle wisps of smoke curling out."
"Ready, girls? You know it's Friday and we dress for dinner."
Mimi paid little attention to her toilette that evening. Of course, itwas always a relief to get out of her uniform but she had put on herboots to try on her skates. She volunteered to be last in the bathroomand spent her time trying to balance herself on them until the lastminute. When she finally started to dress her suite mates had dressedand gone. There was no one to pull her boots off. She tugged andtugged. For the second time that day she entered the dining room justas the doors were being closed.
After dinner she went to the sing song but only her body was there. Allher interest was simmering in a bean hole at Wildwood. She did do onething that was fun. After the sing song she linked arms with Betsy andthey strolled up and down the hall passing and repassing the opendouble doors into the parlors. They were looking in on the Friday night"dates."
"Even if I could and some boy wanted to come, I wouldn't have a datelike that for anything."
"You won't have one because you don't like boys."
"Yes, I do," Mimi declared. "Better than girls in lots of ways, but ifyou mean I'm not boy crazy, thanks. I'm not and hope I never am."
"Well, I'd have at date, even like that, if some one would ask me,"Betsy conclude
d as they went up to Tumble Inn.
Mimi retired early so that tomorrow would come more quickly. Morningcame almost too soon, for Mimi awakened much earlier than usual andthought the rising bell would never sound. In the still hour of dawn,as in moments when she wakened in the night, she wondered about Chloeand prayed brief, but tenderly sincere prayers.
Up and dressed she paced up, down, and around from the time breakfastwas over until the party was off. She made at least six trips up anddown the steps. She turned in money to Miss Bassett. She lost and foundher skate key. But at last, at eleven o'clock, she arrived with theparty at Wildwood Park.
Even now she was afraid something would happen to interfere with theskating. She watched Miss Bassett strap on her skates and with the manbeside her glide across the ice stopping here and there and tappingwith a heavy stick. Contrary to the forecast, it was not as cold as ithad been yesterday and the sun had been bright all morning. MissBassett looked a bit worried when they returned to the bonfire andalthough the manager insisted the whole lake was safe, Miss Bassettdrew a dead line.
"Not doubting your word at all, but I can keep up with half a lake fullof girls better than a whole lakeful."
"Just as you say. I'll stretch ropes."
Mimi was the first to get her skates on, but having them on she sathelpless on a log. One by one the girls put their skates on and hobbledpast. No one dreamed Mimi could not skate. She could do everything elseathletic outdoors and indoors, too, it seemed.
She watched miserably. Finally Madge saw her. Frail little Madge wasswooping and dipping and swirling like a brown bird. She beckoned toMimi. "Come on."
"I don't know how."
"Come on. I'll help you."
After two bad starts Mimi hip-hopped over to the lake's edge and heldout her hands to Madge. "Steady."
"I hope I don't pull you down."
"You won't."
"I can skate well on roller skates and if you hold me till I get thehang of it, I'll be all right."
"Sure you will. Now--Skim, don't push."
Under Madge's patient direction, she was gaining poise and balance. Butthe first venture she made alone was disastrous.
They had tried to keep to the edge of the crowd and were so absorbed inMimi's strokes, that by the time Mimi was ready to let go Madge'ssteadying hands, they were within a few feet of the rope.
"Now see if you can go by yourself," Madge said giving Mimi a goodshove to start her.
Mimi took four uncertain strokes, crashed into the rope and fell hard.She slipped several feet beyond where she had hit the ice so hard.Speeding behind to assist her, Madge caught her toe in the crack whereMimi had hit. At the second impact the ice gave way.
Madge did not fall all the way through. Mimi could tell that from whereshe was sprawled. Raising quickly, she tore off her skates and startedrunning toward Madge. She took two steps and halted. If the ice werethin it would crack more under her added and greater weight. Madge, whowas in no immediate danger, had not cried out. She was wedged in ahole, one leg through the ice, her head and body above.
"Help," Mimi screamed. "Help. Bring a plank."
Instead of getting a board, most of the skaters darted toward Madge.Quickly, Mimi ran a wide circle around her and headed them off. Thisaccident so far was not bad but unless they were cautious it could be.
Madge was sobbing now.
"My leg is freezing."
"We'll have you out in a minute," Mimi called reassuringly. "Be asstill as you can, so you won't make any more cracks. Stop, girls! MissBassett, please keep them back," Mimi pleaded. "Here comes Dit with aplank and we'll have her out in a jiffy."
Mimi helped Dit slip the board along the ice until Madge could clutchit with her numb little hands.
"Can you pull out or shall I ease out and help?"
"I-can-make it--I think--"
Madge was pulling hard but her heavy clothes made her clumsy. Mimistretched out on her stomach and inched closer. She held out one handto Madge and clung to the board with the other. Dit was holding theboard. Miss Bassett had sent for her car and was watching the rescuetensely. At the slightest misstep she would interfere.
"I've got you, Madge. Steady. You pull and I'll pull."
As Madge's leg finally came up, there was a sickening rip and cracking;the ice around her had given way. Girls screamed as the dark waterbecame visible through the rapidly widening cracks. Madge was submergedto the neck but she held desperately to the board and Mimi had herfirmly by the wrist. Calling directions to Dit about the board, Mimilifted with all her might as Dit jerked the board. Out came Madgeskidding across the crackled ice toward them, leaving a trail of slushbehind. Her brown suede jacket, her brown pants and boots soaked, shelooked like a baby seal. She was more helpless.
Quickly Miss Bassett rolled her in a blanket and lifting this frailestof the Preps in her arms she carried her to the car. The engine wasrunning. Mimi and Dit followed panting.
"We can take care of her, Miss Bassett. Let me drive her in. Mimi canhelp. You stay and see to the others."
"Thank you, Dit. Will that be all right, Madge?"
"Sure. I'm not hurt. I'm just c-c-cold and wet."
"Betsy can serve the beans," Mimi called back as an after thought.Beans seemed as far away as Germany. She was pulling off Madge's wetboots and rubbing her numb foot and leg.
"Thawing up?"
"Little bit."
"I feel like a clumsy ox! Making you fa' down and go boom!"
"I should have been watching."
"I'd have died if anything had have happened to you," Mimi shuddered.
"Don't say anything about death," Madge gasped. She was so white aroundthe mouth, Mimi feared she might faint. It was different from thepurple splotches from being cold. There was a haunted look in her eyes.She lowered her voice so Dit couldn't hear.
"I knew something awful was going to happen today," she confided.
"How did you know?"
Mimi was thinking of Cissy and her spooky premonitions. The verythoughts of them made goose bumps on Mimi.
"Ever since last night when I hear those"--her voice sank to a strickenwhisper--"death bells!"
There was horror and conviction in her voice.
"What on earth are death bells?"
"Sh-sh-sh--I'll tell you some time--maybe."
Was Sheridan a boarding school or a lunatic asylum, Mimi wondered asthey neared the winter stripped campus and stopped before Prep Hall.