Billie Bradley and Her Classmates; Or The Secret of the Locked Tower Read online

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  BILLIE BRADLEY AND HER CLASSMATES

  OR

  THE SECRET OF THE LOCKED TOWER

  BY

  JANET D. WHEELER

  AUTHOR OF "BILLIE BRADLEY AND HER INHERITANCE," "BILLIE BRADLEY ON LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND," ETC.

  ILLUSTRATED

  NEW YORK CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY PUBLISHERS

  Cupples & Leon Company Publishers New York

  Copyright, 1921 Cupples & Leon Company

  Billie Bradley and Her Classmates PRINTED IN U. S. A.

  They marched through crying "Way for the Queen."]

  Contents

  CHAPTER I--THIN ICE CHAPTER II--NEARLY FROZEN CHAPTER III--POLLY HADDON CHAPTER IV--GENEROUS PLANS CHAPTER V--BEARDING THE LION CHAPTER VI--TROUBLE CHAPTER VII--SETTLING A SCORE CHAPTER VIII--JUST LIKE BILLIE! CHAPTER IX--INTO SPACE CHAPTER X--THE CAVE CHAPTER XI--THE SIMPLETON CHAPTER XII--THE ACCUSATION CHAPTER XIII--BILLIE IS CHOSEN CHAPTER XIV--A BLOOD-STAINED HANDKERCHIEF CHAPTER XV--A DISCOVERY CHAPTER XVI--CHRISTMAS CHEER CHAPTER XVII--BILLIE ON GUARD CHAPTER XVIII--AMANDA'S REVENGE CHAPTER XIX--THE TOWER ROOM CHAPTER XX--STOLEN CHAPTER XXI--MORE MYSTERY CHAPTER XXII--FIRST PRIZE CHAPTER XXIII--DISGRACED CHAPTER XXIV--TRIUMPH CHAPTER XXV--PRETTY FROCKS

  CHAPTER I--THIN ICE

  Click! click! click! went three pairs of skates as three snugly-dressedgirls fairly flew along the frozen surface of the lake.

  "Isn't it glorious?" cried the laughing, brown-eyed one, who was noother than Billie Bradley, as she threw back her head and sniffed thecrisp, cold air. "Who ever heard of the lake freezing over in the middleof November? And the ice is pretty solid, too."

  "In spots," added Violet Farrington, a slender, dark girl with blackhair and dark eyes.

  "What do you mean--'in spots'?" asked the third of the trio, LauraJordon. Laura was as fair as Violet was dark, and now her blue eyesdarted an anxious glance at her chum. "Do you think we shall find anythin ice?"

  "I don't know, of course," Violet answered quickly. "But you notice MissWalters told us to stay close to the shore, and that certainly looks asif she weren't any too certain about the ice."

  Miss Walters was the much-loved principal of Three Towers Hall, theboarding school which the girls were attending, and to the three chums,Miss Walters' word was law.

  As Billie Bradley had said, Lake Molata, upon which Three Towers Hallwas situated, had frozen over unusually early this year. Though it wasnot quite the middle of November, there had been several rather heavysnowfalls. The thermometer had fallen lower and lower till it haddropped below the freezing point, and after a few days of this fallingweather a thin glaze of ice had begun to form over the still surface ofthe lake.

  At first the girls had not been too joyful, fearing that the ice was toofragile to last and that one good thaw would do away with it entirely.

  But the thaw had not come, and as day after day the prematurely coldweather continued, the girls at the Hall had grown more and moreexcited. Finally they could stand it no longer and dispatched acommittee of three to Miss Walters--among whom had been Billie--askingfor the unique privilege of skating over the frozen surface of LakeMolata in the middle of November.

  The petition had been granted, with the reservation, as Vi had said,that the girls should stay close to shore and not venture out into theuncertain center of the lake.

  When the jubilant committee of three had brought back the glad news tothe eagerly waiting girls the dormitories had been the scene of wild butnoiseless fancy dancing in celebration of the great event.

  Soon after was heard the clinking of skates and the babble of excitedgirls' voices as those of the students who were lucky enough to haveprepared their lessons for the next day, and so had the afternoon free,made ready for the fun.

  Then, down the sloping lawn of Three Towers Hall, the hard, crusted snowcrackling merrily under their feet, down to the edge of the lake whereskates were put on, mufflers tightened and woolly caps pulled well downto protect ears that already were feeling the nip of the cold, rushedthe crowd of excited, happy girls.

  Fun! Any one who has tasted the joy of skating over freshly-frozen iceon a crisp winter day when the sun, pouring down, seems only to make theair more chill, any one who has tasted that joy, knows that there is noother sport like it.

  So, singly, in groups of two or three, in parties of four, the girlsspread out over the lake, their gayly hued caps and sweaters makingvivid patches of color on the surface.

  Although they had started out with the rest of the girls, Billie andLaura and Vi had become separated from them some way or other, and theynow found themselves skimming merrily along with not another person insight. This did not worry them, however, because they had learned byexperience that whenever the three of them were together they werealways sure of having a good time.

  "A week from now," Billie cried, strands of hair escaping from under hertam-o'-shanter and whipping about her glowing face, "the lake willprobably look as though we had dragged a farmer's plow across it."

  "A week from now we may not have any ice at all," added Vipessimistically.

  Laura, who was skating between them, let go their hands for a moment tofasten her sweater still more closely about her throat. The wind hadstung her face to a vivid red.

  "I must say you both sound cheerful," she said reproachfully, addingwith a gay little toss of her head: "From the way this wind feels, I'dsay we were going to have ice all winter."

  "Don't wake her up, she is dreaming," sang Billie mockingly, adding, asLaura gave her a push that would have unbalanced a less skillful skater:"Who ever heard of Lake Molata being frozen over all winter?"

  "Well, who ever heard of its being frozen over in the middle ofNovember?" Laura retorted, adding with a grin as Billie lookednonplussed: "I guess that will hold you for a while."

  "Laura Jordon," said Vi, folding her mittened hands and trying to lookvery prim and teacher-like, "report to Miss Walters immediately. That isthe third time you have used slang this morning."

  The girls giggled, and this time it was Vi who got the push.

  "Go long with you," said Billie gayly. "You can't imitate the DillPickles in a red sweater and a green cap."

  The Dill Pickles, as my old readers will remember, were two teachers,Miss Ada and Miss Cora Dill, who had recently lived at the Hall. The twohad done their best to make the girls' lives miserable and had finally,after the students had revolted and marched out of the school, been sentaway by Miss Walters.

  The vacancies had been filled by teachers who were as different from theMiss Dills in every way as they could be, and since then life at ThreeTowers Hall had been one happy round of study and fun for the girls.

  "Thank goodness the Dills have gone forever," said Vi, in response toBillie's observation.

  "Yes," agreed Laura, reminiscently. "It was a lot of trouble, gettingrid of them, but it was worth it."

  "There are only nice teachers up at the Hall now," said Billie,contentedly. "Especially Miss Arbuckle."

  "Isn't she ducky?" said Laura, enthusiastically,
if disrespectfully. "Iwas afraid she might change her mind and take up her old job ofgoverness to those two kiddies."

  "I wouldn't have blamed her much, if she had," Vi said, with a chuckle."She might make the little children behave, while with us----"

  "She hasn't a chance," giggled Billie.

  "Just the same," put in Laura, with unusual gravity, "you notice that weall do what Miss Arbuckle says. She isn't stern like Miss Race, either,nor nasty like the Dill Pickles used to be. I guess we just obey herbecause we all like her," she finished simply.

  "That's right, and----" Billie was saying when suddenly the ice crackedunder her skates and with a cry she lunged forward. Luckily her feetstruck on solid ice beyond the cracked part, and with difficulty sheregained her balance.

  "The ice!" she gasped, as Laura and Vi stared at her. "I struck a thinspot, I guess. Goodness, that scared me!"

  "I should say so," agreed Laura, with a little whistle of astonishmentas she edged over to the treacherous place in the ice which wascrisscrossed over with long cracks. "Look here, girls. I could almostpush this ice through with my finger."

  "Well, don't try it," advised Vi, backing away anxiously from thedangerous spot. "I wonder if there any more places like it."

  "S'pose there are--lots of them," said Billie, who had recovered fromher fright and was disposed to treat the whole thing as a joke. "Thething for us to do is to keep out of their way, that's all."

  "Sounds easy," grumbled Vi as they joined hands again and skated on moreslowly over the frozen surface. "But how are we going to know where thethin places are unless we step on 'em--and fall through, maybe?"

  "P'r'aps we'd better go back if----" Billie was beginning uneasily whena sudden, terrified scream cut her short. It was a child's scream and itwas followed by another, and yet another.

  "Oh!" cried Laura wildly, "somebody's getting killed."