Nan Sherwood at Rose Ranch | Page 7

length of the hall and returned again before rapping a summons on Rhoda Hammond's door.
"Oh, yes! In a minute," cried a small voice from inside.
But Amelia waited on no appeal of this character. She found on turning the knob that the door was unlocked. She flung it open and stalked in, the other girls trailing two by two behind her.
"Oh, dear me! what do you want?" gasped Rhoda.
She had removed and hung up in the clothes-closet the beautiful furs, dress, and hat. Her bag was open on the couch, but it seemed to contain no kimono, and the Western girl remained half hidden behind the portiere that hung before the closet.
"What do you want?" she repeated, gazing in wonder at the tall figure of the Mistress of Ceremonies.
"We are just in time," said Amelia behind her mask, and in a supposed-to-be-sepulchral voice. "The sawney is all prepared to don her costume. Hither, slave! and see that she dons the costume quickly, for we must haste."
"The slave hithers," said Laura jovially. "Here you are, Rambunctious Rhoda from Rawhide Springs. Put 'em on."
She held out the overalls and jumper to the surprised new girl, who hesitated to take them.
"_Hic jacet!_ The varlet refuses 'em!" hissed the red-haired girl.
"Goodness, Laura," whispered Nan. "That means 'here lies'--and nobody is telling stories."
"She's got her Latin and Shakesperean English most awfully mixed," giggled one of the other girls.
"And 'varlet' is the wrong gender, anyway," observed Bess.
"Silence!" commanded the Mistress of Ceremonies. "Silence in the ranks. Will she not don the costume?"
"Put 'em on!" commanded Laura again, shaking the painter's suit before the hesitating Western girl.
"She would better," said Amelia threateningly, "or I will call to your aid all these, my faithful followers, who have already been through the fiery trial."
"I don't want to go through any fiery trial," said Rhoda. "But if you insist, I'll put on that jacket and the pants."
"'Pants' is truly Western, isn't it, Laura?" asked Amelia Boggs. "Civilized folk say trousers."
"I see I have much to learn," said Rhoda, too meekly, perhaps.
She slipped quickly into the roomy overalls behind the curtain, and then came forth, putting on the jumper. Her bare arms and shoulders were brown and firm. Nan thought Rhoda's figure was as attractive as her face was pretty. She caught the new girl's glance and smiled encouragingly.
"Doesn't she make a darling boy!" whispered Bess Harley to her chum.
But the other girls--at least, some of them--meant to make the newcomer feel keenly her position as a "sawney."
"She wears 'em just as though she was at home in them," said Laura drawlingly. "I tell you she is a regular cowgirl at home on the Hot Dog Mesa. Isn't that so, Miss Rhoda?"
"You seem to know," replied the Western girl bruskly.
Laura suddenly whispered to the hooded Amelia. The latter cleared her throat portentously and said:
"Sawney, it is evident that you must be taught your place. Meekness becomes you lambkins when you first come to Lakeview Hall. Slave, prepare the bandage."
"What's that?" demanded Rhoda. "Do you know, I don't like this foolishness much."
"The fiery trial all right for yours!" exclaimed Laura, who had caught up a towel and was folding it dexterously. "Turn around!"
"I won't!" declared Rhoda flatly.
"Mutiny!" exclaimed Amelia. "Seize the captive and bandage her eyes at once," and she pounded on the floor with the broom handle.
Nan was one of those who grabbed the Western girl. But she did so to whisper swiftly in Rhoda's ear:
"Don't fight against it. It's only fun."
"Fun!" repeated Rhoda in disgust.
But she gave over struggling. Laura blindfolded her quickly and securely. Of course she might have torn the bandage off, for her hands were free. But she waited more calmly now for what might come next.
CHAPTER IV
WALKING THE PLANK
Nan Sherwood knew very well that there was no intention of really injuring the new girl; therefore she made no objection to what was done. Indeed, she helped haze Rhoda Hammond, but more for the sake of seeing that the Western girl was not taken advantage of in any way than for the fun of the prank.
Nan did not know what Amelia and Laura had planned to do to the new girl, but knowing the older girls as well as she did, she was sure that nothing very bad was intended.
Somebody found an old striped silk parasol with some of the panels split, and this was opened and given to Rhoda to carry. The line of march was then taken up, with the victim directly behind the Mistress of Ceremonies and Laura and Nan shutting off all chance of Rhoda's escape.
The latter's cheeks were very red and her teeth gripped her lower lip tightly. Bess mentioned, giggling, that Rhoda looked already as though she were going through the fiery trial!
Nan realized it would have gone much better for the