"I should say not!" declared Bobby crushingly. Meg might win her point, but he hoped he could still handle the twins. "You go straight home. And you can tell Mother, if we don't come in early, that we're having a s...o...b..ll fight at school."

"You always have all the fun," grumbled Dot. "Why can't we stay a little while?"

"They'll have to say lessons right up to recess time, before they can even roll a s...o...b..ll," Mr. Wright comforted the twins, driving the sleigh up to the curb before the school-house yard. "You and I are going to have a nice little ride while they're pegging away at their books. How's that?"

Dot and Twaddles were cheered by this thought, and they were able to see Meg and Bobby and the lunch-boxes go up the school walk without another protest.

"You go and ask her now," suggested Meg, as she and Bobby went into the hall. "Go on, Bobby. Ask her if we can have a fight right after school."

Bobby stood a little in awe of Miss Wright, the vice-princ.i.p.al, but the vision of snow forts, and perhaps himself as one of the captains, decided him.

"All right, I will," he said recklessly. "You wait for me, Meg. It's only quarter of."

Bobby hurried down the hall to the door marked "Office" and opened it.

Miss Wright was nowhere in sight. There was no one in the office, and the clock ticked very loudly indeed.

"I'll wait a little," thought Bobby. "She has to come back to ring the a.s.sembly bells."

He studied the complicated system of bells that sounded the signals in each cla.s.sroom for a minute, and suddenly the telephone rang shrilly.

It startled him, and he jumped. He looked about uneasily. The bell kept ringing.

"I s'pose I'd better answer it," he said aloud, doubtfully.

"h.e.l.lo!" he called, taking down the receiver.

"h.e.l.lo," answered a strange voice. "Take this message, please. Miss Wright has a severe cold and will not be in to-day. Have Miss Garrett take charge of the a.s.sembly. That's all, thank you. Good-by."

Bobby blinked. Whoever had telephoned had spoken so quickly that he had had no chance to say a word.

CHAPTER VI

THE ORANGE AND THE BLACK

Bobby put the receiver back, and at that moment the door opened and Mr.

Carter walked into the office.

Mr. Carter was the princ.i.p.al of the primary and grammar schools, but usually spent most of his time at the grammar school. Bobby had been afraid of him once, but that was before he had learned to know him.

"Good morning, Bobby," said Mr. Carter pleasantly. "Has Miss Wright come in yet?"

"No, Mr. Carter. Some one telephoned," answered Bobby slowly, anxious to get the message delivered correctly. "She said Miss Wright had a solemn cold and wouldn't be in this morning."

"What kind of cold did you say?" asked Mr. Carter curiously. "Solemn?

What kind of complaint is that?"

Bobby looked perplexed. He thought for a moment.

"Oh!" He had remembered. "It wasn't a solemn cold; it was a severe cold."

"That sounds more like it," said the princ.i.p.al smiling. "Was that all, Bobby?"

"She wants Miss Garrett to take charge of the a.s.sembly and she said that's all thank you good-by," repeated Bobby glibly, just as the speaker had rattled it off to him over the telephone.

"All right," agreed Mr. Carter. "I might as well stay the day out here. Let's see, it's about time for the a.s.sembly bell, isn't it?"

Bobby had almost forgotten what he had come to the office for. As Mr.

Carter moved toward the bells, he recollected.

"I was going to ask Miss Wright," he hurried to say. "Could we--do you think we could, have a s...o...b..ll fight out in the yard after school?

With forts and everything? We wouldn't break any windows."

"I don't see any reason why you shouldn't have a s...o...b..ll fight," said Mr. Carter promptly. "Remember about the windows and don't aim at any of the girls, and you should have no trouble."

"I guess the girls will be in it," said Bobby sadly. "My sister Meg wants to play, and I s'pose half the girls in school will want to come in."

Mr. Carter laughed, but offered no advice or sympathy, as he pressed the signal for the a.s.sembly. Girls, Bobby thought, joining the patient Meg in the hall, always managed to have their way; a fellow might as well give up to them from the first.

After a.s.sembly came lessons, and, finally, recess.

"Go out into the fresh air," ordered Miss Mason, who taught the room Meg and Bobby were in. "It isn't cold out--not too cold. No, Frances, you can't stay in and draw."

Miss Mason believed in fresh air, and she usually drove her cla.s.s out into the yard, no matter what the weather, telling them that exercise would keep them warm. Those who tried to stay in the warm schoolroom were invariably disappointed, for Miss Mason opened every window as wide as it would go and let in the fresh cold air.

"Come on, Frances," called Meg from the doorway. "We're going to play something new."

Frances Smith followed Meg reluctantly, but when she heard about the s...o...b..ll fight, she was immediately interested.

"Mr. Carter said we could," announced Bobby to the boys. "We must remember and aim away from the windows and not hit the girls. Let's begin to build the forts now."

"We'll have to have a general," said Tim Roon quickly. "I'll be general of the Americans."

"Huh," retorted Bobby. "What do you think the other side is going to be? My men are Americans, too."

"Who said you were a general?" jeered Tim.

"Well, he is," replied Palmer Davis heatedly. "Isn't he, fellows? I guess Bobby proposed this. Come on, who wants to be on Bobby's side?"

"I do," cried Meg instantly.

"So do I," said Frances Smith.

"Girls!" Tim Roon's tone was one of deepest disgust. "For goodness'

sake, who ever heard of girls being in a s...o...b..ll fight?"

"Well, we're going to be in this one," Meg a.s.sured him with spirit.