fact, I consider your running into and overturning the other canoe a
very reprehensible act indeed. You might have all been drowned because
of the recklessness of you two girls."

"But Miss Carrington! it was not our fault," gasped Dorothy.

"Your canoe ran the other one down, didn't it?"

"But----"

"Yes, or no, young ladies!" snapped Gee Gee.

The twins nodded. Miss Carrington's mind was evidently made up on this
point.

"Very well, then. No after-hour athletics for you for a month. That is
all," and the teacher turned to the papers on her desk.

CHAPTER XVIII

MOTHER WIT'S DISCOVERY

"And that shuts us out of the races!"

Dora broke another rule when she whispered this to her twin as they took
their seats. Dorothy was almost in tears. But the twins could not tell
the other girls of Gee Gee's proclamation until the first intermission.

"She's just as mean as she can be!" proclaimed Bobby Hargrew who, as
Jess said, always blew up at the slightest provocation.

"Hester did it. She's always doing something mean," declared Jess
herself.

"Well, there was an infraction of Mrs. Case's rules," said Laura
Belding. "But it does seem as though Miss Carrington delights in setting
obstacles in the way of Central High winning an athletic event. She is,
deep down in her heart, opposed to after-hour athletics."

"She's just as much opposed to them," said Dorothy, "as our Aunt Dora."

"It's a mean shame!" declared Nellie Agnew, who was not usually so
vigorous of speech.

"And you see, Hester Grimes and Lily Pendleton aren't penalized," said
the furious Bobby. "They have crawled out of it. And I saw the whole
race, and know it was Hester's fault that there was a spill."

"Let's take it to Mr. Sharp," cried Jess.

"That would do no good. You know he will not interfere with Miss
Carrington's mandates. She has judged the case to the best of her
knowledge and belief," said Laura.

"Hester is her favorite," complained Bobby.

"And we have no right to say that. She is punishing the twins for
breaking a plain rule. If we tried to expose the whole affair, and bring
the witnesses to prove our side, we would only be getting Hester and
Lily into trouble, too, without making the twins' case any better," said
the wise Laura.

"They ought to be conditioned as well," declared Nellie, who had a
strong sense of justice.

"It looks so. But Miss Carrington probably thinks, believing that Dora
and Dorothy are at fault