FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147  
148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   >>  
hool had ever taught him. Of course, the other lads made great fun of the whole thing, and plagued Dr. Alec's students half out of their lives. But they kept on persistently, and one day something happened which made the other fellows behave themselves for ever after. It was a holiday, and Rose up in her room thought she heard the voices of her cousins, so she ran down to welcome them, but found no one there. "Never mind, they will be here soon, and then we'll have a frolic," she said to herself, and thinking she had been mistaken she went into the study to wait. She was lounging over the table looking at a map when an odd noise caught her ear. A gentle tapping somewhere, and following the sound it seemed to come from the inside of the long case in which the skeleton lived when not professionally engaged. This case stood upright in a niche between two book-cases at the back of the room, a darkish corner, where Brother Bones, as the boys would call him, was out of the way. As Rose stood looking in that direction, and wondering if a rat had got shut in, the door of the case swung slowly open, and with a great start she saw a bony arm lifted, and a bony finger beckon to her. For a minute she was frightened, and ran to the study door with a fluttering heart, but just as she touched the handle a queer, stifled sort of giggle made her stop short and turn red with anger. She paused an instant to collect herself, and then went softly toward the bony beckoner. A nearer look revealed black threads tied to the arm and fingers, the ends of threads disappearing through holes bored in the back of the case. Peeping into the dark recess, she also caught sight of the tip of an elbow covered with a rough gray cloth which she knew very well. Quick as a flash she understood the joke, her fear vanished, and with a wicked smile, she whipped out her scissors, cut the threads, and the bony arm dropped with a rattle. Before she could say, "Come out, Charlie, and let my skeleton alone," a sudden irruption of boys, all in a high state of tickle, proclaimed to the hidden rogue that his joke was a failure. "I told him not to do it, because it might give you a start," explained Archie, emerging from the closet. "I had a smelling bottle all ready if she fainted away," added Steve, popping up from behind the great chair. "It's too bad of you not to squawk and run; we depended on it, it's such fun to howl after you," said Will and Geor
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147  
148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   >>  



Top keywords:
threads
 

caught

 

skeleton

 

covered

 

Peeping

 
recess
 
vanished
 

wicked

 
understood
 

disappearing


paused

 

instant

 
collect
 

softly

 
giggle
 

fingers

 
revealed
 
beckoner
 

nearer

 

whipped


explained

 

Archie

 

emerging

 

depended

 

closet

 

smelling

 

popping

 

bottle

 

squawk

 

fainted


failure

 
Charlie
 

stifled

 

dropped

 

rattle

 
Before
 

sudden

 
proclaimed
 

hidden

 
tickle

irruption
 

taught

 
scissors
 
fluttering
 

happened

 

behave

 
fellows
 

lounging

 
persistently
 

inside