n't get anything to eat."

"We'll just be prisoners, that's all," said Billie, her eyes rebellious.
"I know Miss Cora's hated me from the very first, and now she'll be able
to do just about what she pleases to me. But if she gets too funny,
I'll--well, I don't know what I'll do," she ended rather helplessly.

And during the next week the girls' worst fears were realized. All the
liberty that they had enjoyed under Miss Walters was taken away from
them, and, as Billie had predicted, they were practically prisoners.

That they could have stood perhaps; at least until Miss Walters
returned. But that was by no means the worst of it.

The two Miss Dills had always said that the girls could get along just
as well on far less to eat. In fact, Miss Ada was positive they could
study better if "they didn't cram themselves so full of food." And now
they set to work to prove their theory.

The meals became skimpier and skimpier, until one day after the noon
meal the girls left the table feeling positively hungry.

The afternoon seemed unbearably long, and for the life of them they
could not keep their minds on their books. All they could think of was
delicious juicy steaks, French-fried potatoes, chicken pie and
strawberry short cake.

And when girl after girl failed in her recitations, Miss Cora and Miss
Ada scolded them so harshly and said such sarcastic things that it
brought the angry red to their faces. But, as the girls said later, they
were "almost too hungry to fight back."

Two more days passed with conditions getting worse and worse until the
girls were becoming weak from lack of food. Two of the younger girls
became faint and sick.

"We can't stand this much longer," said Billie.

The girls were gathered in Billie's dormitory after supper, and one by
one girls from the other dormitories joined them. It was fast becoming a
mass meeting.

"We simply can't stand it," Billie went on, her little fists clenched
angrily at her side. "It's all right if they want to take our liberty
away. We can stand that for a little while, until Miss Walters comes
back. But when they begin to starve us----"

"But what are we going to do?" asked one girl, helplessly.

"We could run 'em out, I suppose," said one of the older girls gloomily.
"But I suppose we'd be run out ourselves as soon as Miss Walters got
back."

"I don't see why Miss Walters left 'The Pickles' in charge, anyway,"
spoke up another of the girls fretfully. "She