CHAPTER X
SOMETHING MORE THAN GHOSTS
Helen pinched Ruth's arm. It was plain that her guards did not holdHelen as tightly as they did Ruth. And why was _that_? Ruth thought.Could it be possible that her chum had had warning of this midnightvisitation?
Not that Ruth felt very much fear of the outcome of the exercises; butthe possibility that her old friend had kept any secret knowledge ofthe raid from her troubled Ruth immensely. Since they had come amongthe girls of Briarwood Hall--and that so few hours before--Ruth feltthat she and Helen were not so close together. There was danger oftheir drifting apart, and the possibility troubled Ruth Fieldingexceedingly.
The thought of it now, however, was but momentary. Naturally she wasvitally interested in what was about to be done to her by the party ofhazers.
"I am pained," said the girl sitting on the table, "that one of theneophytes comes before us with a bigger mouthful than she can swallow.If she understands fully that a single word above a whisper--or anyword at all unless she is addressed by the Sisters--will be punished byher being instantly corked up again, the gag may be removed. Do youunderstand, Neophyte? Nod once!"
Ruth, glad to get rid of the unpleasant mouthful on any terms, noddedvigorously. Immediately her captors let go of her arms and one of thempulled the "stopper" out of her mouth.
"Now, remember!" uttered the girl on the table, warningly. "A wordaloud and the plug goes back." Helen giggled again, but Ruth didn'tfeel like laughing herself. "Now, culprits!" continued the leader ofthe hazing party, "you must be judged for your temerity. How _dared_you come to Briarwood Hall, Infants?"
"Please, Ma'am," whispered Helen, who seemed to think the whole affaira great lark, "our guardians sent us here. We are not responsible."
"You may not so easily escape responsibility for your acts," hissed thegirl on the table. "Those who enter Briarwood Hall must showthemselves worthy of the high honor. It takes courage to come underthe eye of Mrs. Tellingham; it takes supernatural courage to come underthe eye of Picolet!"
"If she wasn't out of the house to-night you may believe we wouldn't beout of bed," murmured another of the midnight visitors, whom Ruth wasquite sure was Belle Tingley.
"And I hope you made no mistake about _that_, Miss!" snapped the girlon the table. "_You_ went to her door."
"And knocked, and asked for toothache drops," giggled another of theshrouded figures.
"And she wasn't there. I pushed the door open," muttered the othergirl. "I know she went out. I heard the door open and shut half anhour before."
"She's a sly one, she is," declared the girl on the table. "But,enough of Picolet. It is these small infants we have to judge; notthat old cat. We say they have shown temerity in coming toBriarwood--is it not so, friends and fellow members--ahem! is it notso?"
There was a responsive giggle from the shrouded figures about the room.
"Then punishment must be the portion of these Infants," declared theforemost hazer. "They claim that they were sent here against theirwill and that it was not reckless bravery that brought them to thesescholastic halls. Let them prove their courage then--what say theSisters?"
The Sisters giggled a good deal, but the majority seemed to be of theopinion that proof of the Infants' courage should be exacted.
"Then let the Golden Goblet be brought," commanded the leader, hervoice still carefully lowered, for even if Miss Picolet was out of thedormitory, Miss Scrimp, the matron, was asleep in her own room,likewise on the lower floor of the building. Somebody produced a vasewhich had evidently been covered with bright gold-foil for theoccasion. "Here," said the leader, holding the vase out to Helen."Take this Golden Goblet and fill it at the fountain on the campus.You will be taken down to the door by the guards, who will await yourreturn and will bring you back again. And remember! Silence!"
The lights all around the campus had gone out ere this. There was nomoon, and although it was a clear night, with countless stars in theheavens, it seemed dark and lonely indeed down there under the treesbetween the school buildings.
"Do not hesitate, Infant!" commanded the leader of the hazing party."Nor shall you think to befool us, Miss! Take the Golden Goblet, andfill and drink at the fountain. But leave the goblet there, that wemay know you have accomplished the task set you!"
This was said most solemnly; but the solemnity would not have botheredHelen Cameron at all, had the task been given to somebody else! Thethought of venturing out there in the dark on the campus rather quelledher propensity for giggling.
But there seemed to be no way of begging off from the trial. Helencast a look of pleading at her chum; but what could Ruth do? She wassurprised that the task had not been given to her instead; she believedthat these girls were really more friendly in feeling toward Helen thantoward herself. At least, it was Mary Cox on the table, and Mary Coxhad shown Helen much more attention than she had Ruth.
Two of the sheeted visitors seized Helen again and led her softly outof the room. A sentinel had been left in the corridor, and the wordwas whispered that all was silent in the house; Miss Scrimp was knownto be a heavy sleeper, and the French teacher was certainly absent fromher room.
The girls led Helen downstairs and to the outer door. This opened witha spring lock. The guards whispered that they would remain to awaither return, and the new girl was pushed out of doors, with nothing overher nightgown but a wrapper, and only slippers on her feet.
Although there was little breeze now, it was not cold. But it was darkunder the trees. Ruth, who could look out of the windows above,wondered how her chum was getting on. To go clear to the center of thecampus with that vase, and leave it at the foot of the figuresurmounting the fountain, was no pleasant experience, Ruth felt.
The minutes passed slowly, the girls in their shrouds whispering amongthemselves. Suddenly there came a sound from outside--a pattering ofrunning feet on the cement walk. Ruth sprang to the nearest window inspite of the commands of the hazing party. Helen was running towardthe house at a speed which betrayed her agitation. Besides, Ruth couldhear her sobbing under her breath:
"Oh, oh, oh!"
"You've scared her half to death!" exclaimed Ruth, angrily, as thegirls seized her.
"Put in the stopper!" commanded the girl who had seated herself on thetable, and instantly the ball of rags was driven into Ruth's mouthagain and she was held, in spite of her struggles, by her captors.
Ruth was angry now. Helen had been tricked into going to the fountain,and by some means the hazers had frightened her on her journey. But itwas a couple of minutes before her chum was brought back to the room.Helen was shivering and sobbing between the guards--indeed they heldher up, for she would have fallen.
"What's the matter with the great booby?" demanded the girl on thetable.
"She--she says she heard something, or saw something, at the fountain,"said one of the other girls, in a quavering voice.
"Of course she did--they always do," declared the leader. "Isn't thefountain haunted? We know it is so."
This was all said for effect, and to impress _her_, Ruth knew. But shetried to go to Helen. They held her back, however, and she could notspeak.
"Did the Neophyte go to the fountain?" demanded the leader, sternly.
Helen, in spite of her tears, nodded vigorously.
"Did she drink of the water there?"
"I--I was drinking it when I--I heard somebody----"
"The ghost of the very beautiful woman whose statue adorns thefountain," declared Mary Cox, if it were she, in a sepulchral voice.
Ruth knew now why the story of the fountain had been told them earlierin the evening, but personally she had not been much impressed by itthen, nor was she frightened now. She was only indignant that Helenand she should be treated so--and by these very girls for whom her chumhad conceived such a fancy.
Helen was still trembling. They let her sit down upon her bed, andRuth wanted to go to her more than ever, and comfor
t her. But the girlon the table brought her up short.
"Now, Miss!" she exclaimed. "You are the next. The first Infant hasleft the Golden Goblet at the fountain--you _did_ leave it there;didn't you, you 'fraid-cat?" she demanded sharply, of Helen. Helenbobbed her head and sobbed. "Then," said the leader of the hazingparty, "you go and bring it here."
Ruth stared at her in surprise. She did not move.
"Take out her gag. Lead her to the door. If she does not come backwith the Golden Goblet, lock her out and let her cool her temper tillmorning on the grass," said the girl on the table, cruelly. "And ifshe stirs up trouble, she'll wish she had never come to Briarwood!"