The Girls of Central High on Track and Field Part 18

"Come on!" exclaimed Bobby. "You're a lot of scare-cats!"

"I admire your language, Bobs," laughed Jess, following her.

The others went, too. Of course it was forbidden territory, and why shouldn't they want to go? That was only human nature.

Besides, as they climbed the stairs, through the narrow windows they caught glimpses of the rainbow and the clouds, now breaking up into great beds of vari-colored mist.

"Hurry up!" cried Bobby, in the lead. "It's just wonderful up here."

They had left the door at the foot of the long, winding flight open. But scarcely had they disappeared when another figure appeared in the corridor which they had left. Purt Sweet, too, had been kept after school by Professor Dimp.

The youth saw the girls ascend the stair. The chance was too obvious to neglect. Although usually taking Bobby's jokes and the others' laughter good-naturedly, he had been spurred by Lily Pendleton's remarks to a desire to "get square."

And here was opportunity before him. Purt hurried forward, softly closed the door behind the girls, and turned the key in the lock.

CHAPTER XVI--FIVE IN A TOWER

But the girls climbing the stairs to see the rainbow had no idea that anybody below was playing a trick on them. After school was dismissed and the pupils left the building, and the teachers were gone, there was n.o.body but old John, the janitor, on the premises.

From any other floor he could be summoned by alarm bells. But there were no push-b.u.t.tons in the tower. Therefore, when Purt Sweet turned the key, and stole away from the door at the bottom of the tower stairs, he had imprisoned the five girls as effectually as though they were in the tower of some ancient castle.

The five went up the stairs, however, without any suspicion that they were prisoners.

"Come on! come on!" urged Bobby, who mounted much quicker than the others. "Oh, this is glorious!"

They came out into a square room, through which the air blew freshly.

The rain had evidently blown into the place during the shower, for it lay in puddles on the stone floor. The windows had no panes--indeed, they were merely narrow slits in the stone wall, like loop-holes in old fortresses.

"Dear me!" cried Jess. "How small the people look in the park--do you see? Just like ants."

"Some of 'em are uncles, not 'ants,'" laughed Bobby.

"Punning again!" exclaimed Nell. "You should be punished for that, Bobby."

"Huh! that's worse than mine," declared Bobby.

"Look at that sky!" cried Laura.

"It is very beautiful," agreed Eve, quietly.

"Look at those clouds yonder--a great, pink bed of down!" murmured Jess.

"And this arch of color," said Laura, seriously. "I suppose that is just what Noah saw. How poetic to call it the Bow of Promise!"

The girls enjoyed looking at the wild colorings of the clouds and the beautiful bow. A half an hour elapsed before they proposed descending.

As they went down the stairs, Bobby still in the lead, she stopped suddenly with a little cry.

"What's the matter now, Bobs?" demanded Jess.

"Oh! don't you see it?" cried the other girl. "It's a spider."

"He won't eat you," said Jess. "Go on."

"I know he won't. I declare! he's spinning a web."

At that moment she came to the bottom of the stairway.

"Guess the draught pulled the door shut," she exclaimed. "Hullo!"

She tried the k.n.o.b, but the door would not open.

"Why, what's the matter, Bobby?" cried Laura. "That is not a spring lock."

"Huh! I guess not," returned Bobby. "But somebody's sprung it on us, just the same."

"What do you mean?" demanded Nellie Agnew.

"The door's locked," declared Laura, reaching the bottom step and trying the k.n.o.b herself.

"You bet it is," said Bobby.

"It's a joke!" gasped Eve.

"I should hope so," returned Laura. "If they were in earnest it would be bad for us. John will leave the building soon, and how will we attract anybody to release us?"

"Oh, Laura!" cried Nell. "n.o.body would be so mean."

"It may be," said Eve, thoughtfully, "that somebody went past, saw the door open, and closed and locked it with no idea that we were in the tower."

"Well!" exclaimed Bobby, at that. "We're in a nice fix--yes?"

"Who would have done it?" wailed Nellie Agnew.

"Maybe the janitor himself," observed Laura, thoughtfully.

"My goodness! but you're the cheerful girl," returned Bobby. "Do you want to scare us to death right at the start, Mother Wit?"

"We might as well admit the seriousness of the situation," said Laura.

"I can't imagine that anybody would shut us up here for a joke."

"Some of the boys?" suggested Eve.

"That Short and Long is full of mischief," added Nell.