CHAPTER XI
THE VOICE OF THE HARP
"Among two hundred girls there are bound to be girls of a good manydifferent kinds." So had said Mrs. Tellingham when Ruth Fielding andher chum presented themselves before the Preceptress not many hoursbefore. And Ruth saw plainly that some of these shrouded and maskedfigures, at least, were of the kind against whom Mrs. Tellingham hadquietly warned them. These were not alone careless and thoughtless,however; but the girl whom Ruth believed to be Mary Cox, their whilomfriend and guide, was cruel likewise.
Ruth Fielding was no coward. She believed these girls had arranged toterrify their victims by some manifestation at the fountain--why,otherwise, had they sent Helen there and now were determined to makeRuth repeat the experience? Nor was it necessary for the leader of thecrew of hazers to remind the girl from the Red Mill how unpleasant theycould make it for her if the dared report them to the teachers.
"Now, First Neophyte!" exclaimed the leader of their visitors. "Wheredid you leave the Golden Goblet?"
"On the pedestal, right between the feet of the figure," sobbed Helen.
"You hear?" repeated the other, turning her shrouded face to Ruth."Then go, drink likewise of the fountain, and bring back the goblet.Failure to perform this task will be punished not only in the present,but in the future. Take her away--and remember your orders, guards."
The door was opened ever so quietly and the sentinel outside assuredthem that nobody had stirred. All had been so far conducted socarefully that even the other girls not in the plot were not awakened.As Ruth was led past the door of the larger room, which she knew MaryCox and her three chums occupied, she heard the unmistakable snoring ofa sound sleeper within. It made her doubt if, after all, those fourwho had appeared so friendly to Helen and herself that evening, wereamong the hazers; and she heard one of her guards whisper:
"Miss Picolet never has to look into _that_ room to learn if they'reasleep. Listen to Heavy, will you?"
But this puzzlement did not stick in Ruth's mind for long; the guardshustled her down the stairs and the outer door was opened.
"If the cat should suddenly come back, wouldn't we just _catch_ it?"whispered one girl to the other.
"Now, don't you be forever and ever going to that fountain," said theother to Ruth. "For if you are long, we'll just shut the door on youand run back."
As she spoke she let go of Ruth's arm and jerked the gag out of hermouth. Then the two pushed the new girl out of the door and closed itsoftly. Ruth could hear them whispering together behind the panels.
Like Helen, she had been given her bath-gown. She was not cold. Butit was truth that the memory of her chum's state of mind when she hadcome back from the visit to the fountain, gave Ruth Fielding an actualchill. Helen had set out upon _her_ venture without much worriment ofmind; but she had been badly frightened. Ruth believed this fright hadbeen wickedly planned by the hazing crew of girls; nevertheless shecould not help being troubled in her own mind as she looked out intothe dimness of the campus.
Not a sound rose from this court between the buildings. A few dimnight-lights were visible in the windows about the campus; but thelamps that illumined the walks and the park itself were burned out.The breeze was so faint that it did not rustle the smallest branches ofthe trees. There was not a sound from anywhere upon the campus.
Remembering the promise of the two girls who had thrust her out of thehouse, Ruth thought it best for her to get the unpleasant business overas quickly as possible. Although she could not see the sunken fountainfrom the steps of the dormitory where she stood, she knew which path totake to get to it the quickest. She started along this path at once,walking until she was surely out of view of the girls in the windowsabove, and then running to the fountain. She had some objection togiving her new schoolmates the satisfaction of seeing that she was atall frightened by this midnight jaunt.
She sped along the path and there was the statue looming right beforeher. The trickle of the water, spouting into the basin, made a low andpleasant sound. Nothing moved about the fountain.
"Perhaps, after all, Helen only _imagined_ there was somebody here,"thought Ruth, and she pattered down the steps in her slippers, and soclimbed upon the marble ledge from which she could reach the gildedgoblet which was, as Helen had declared, placed between the feet of themarble statue.
And then, suddenly, there was a rustle near at hand. Was that awhisper--a sharp, muffled gasp? Ruth was startled, indeed, andshuddered so that the "goose-flesh" seemed to start all over her.Nevertheless, she clutched the goblet firmly and held it beneath one ofthe spouts of the fountain. She was convinced that if there wasanybody behind the figure of marble, he was there for the expresspurpose of frightening her--and she was determined not to be frightened.
The goblet was quickly filled and Ruth held it to her lips. She mightbe watched, and she was determined to obey the mandate of the maskedleader of the hazing party. She would not give them the right to saythat _she_ was panic-stricken.
And then, with an unexpectedness that held her for an instantspellbound, she heard a hasty hand sweep the taut strings of a harp!She was directly below the figure and--if the truth must be told--shelooked up in horror, expecting to see the marble representation of aharp vibrating under that sudden stroke!
There was no movement, of course, in the marble. There was no furthersound about the fountain. But the echo of that crash of music vibratedacross the campus and died away hollowly between the buildings. It hadbeen no sound called up by her imagination; the harp had been soundedwith a sure and heavy hand.
Ruth Fielding confessed her terror now on the instant. When power ofmovement returned to her, she leaped from the basin's edge, scurried upthe steps to the path, and dashed at top speed for the dormitory,bearing the goblet in one hand and catching up the draperies of herlong garment so as not to ensnare her feet.
She reached the building and dashed up the steps. The door was ajar,but the shrouded guards were nowhere visible. She burst into the hall,banged the door after her, and ran up the stairs in blind terror, withno care for anybody, or anything else! Into the room at the end of thecorridor she hurried, and found it----
Deserted, save for her chum, Helen Cameron, cowering in her bed. Themasked and shrouded figures were gone, and Ruth found herself standing,panting and gasping, in the middle of the room, with the half-filledgoblet in her hand, her heart beating as though it would burst.