CHAPTER XXV

Arden Is Convinced

Silence--a somewhat stunned and portentous silence--followed the dean's explanation and remarks. Then a buzz of talk began. It spread all through the room, for the orchard mystery had grown to greater proportions than the faculty of Cedar Ridge had believed.

Arden secured the attention of Sim, who was excitedly talking to Terry, and propounded this:

"Do you seriously think that what Tiddy said just now is true? Or, at least, do you think it is a logical explanation? It sounds fishy to me. If it was a ram that hurt Tom Scott and the chaplain, the beast planned his attacks with almost human cleverness."

"Oh, I don't know," Sim answered. "I suppose it's possible----"

"But not probable," Arden interrupted.

"Oh, let's forget about it," suggested Sim.

"I wonder," thought Arden as they finished lunch and walked from the dining room to the sun-flooded campus, "I wonder if Sim is going to do anything about the pool? She didn't seem much interested in the way the dean solved the mystery."

"What do you think?" inquired Terry. "Aren't you satisfied, Arden, with the dean's statement?"

"It satisfies me, Arden, m'sweet!" drawled Sim. "I find this sun very satisfying, too," she went on as she stretched her arms high above her head and ran her fingers through her thick hair.

"You, also, Terry?" inquired Arden.

"Yes," Terry answered. "You'll have to look further for doubters of the dean." She threw herself down on the warm grass and opened her Latin grammar for a last look before class.

Arden stood over her chums in uncertainty, for now Sim had joined Terry on the grass. The sun was bright, the sky unclouded and of a deep blue. Arden pulled her bright red sweater down lower over her tweed skirt and adjusted a small scarf about her neck. Cedar Ridge was not a particularly "dressy" college, nor did it have a reputation for displaying on its campus carelessly dressed students. Rather a happy medium was struck. High heels were out of place. One could not make a swift last-minute dash up the boardwalk to Bordmust Hall in open pumps, as several girls had found out to their sorrow.

Arden and her chums dressed in sports clothes, topped, usually, by the inevitable mortar-boards. Now that hazing was over, the college settled down to a peaceful routine, with not so much stress on the poor freshmen.

"Well," Arden finally remarked, "I must say you girls show very little of the stuff which made our country the great place it is today. You have no curiosity. That's your trouble!"

"My trouble is not enough sleep," murmured Sim drowsily.

"Latin will be the death of me," declared Terry.

"Then I'll leave you to yourselves," announced Arden, turning away. "I'm off to see what I can see."

"Not mad, are you?" questioned Sim.

"No, just curious." Arden was soon beyond talking distance.

She was a little surprised, though she would not let Sim or Terry know it, that they took the dean's explanation so calmly and believingly.

"For my part," reasoned Arden to herself, "I'm going to find out if an old black ram really caused all the scares and trouble."

Once her mind was made up, Arden acted quickly. Her next class was an hour away. There was time enough, she knew, as she swung off in the direction of the orchard. She went in through the hedge entrance. It was dark and gloomy there, even with the sun shining, and for a moment the girl hesitated. But she kept on, and was soon in the grove of gnarled and fantastic trees. The sun was shining down through their twisted branches and glinting on the vari-hued apples. Arden drew in a deep breath of a tangy perfume.

She picked up a red and yellow apple, wiped it off on her skirt, and bit into it. Distinctly it was good. She walked on farther. All was serene. There was no ram, no sign of a ram, though Arden did not really expect to find one roaming about. But she did think she might see the marks of the beast's feet. But she saw none.

"And there's no one lying here unconscious and injured by any black beast," said Arden smiling a little at her conceit. She walked over to a corner where stood a shed in which were kept barrels and ladders for the harvesting of the apples. It was nearly time for the harvest now.

The door, that had been taken off for use as a stretcher the night the chaplain had been attacked, had been replaced. The door swung open, and Arden had a glimpse inside the shed of various farm implements.

"Ho, hum!" she yawned. "I guess the girls and the dean were right. There's no use trying to find anything different. I shall have to admit I was wrong, and I don't want to, for really I don't believe in that ram story. If I could only find something else to bear out my theory."

She was looking around the orchard, gazing toward distant corners for something she could investigate when she was startled by a rustle of dried leaves caused by some feet pattering rapidly among them. There were a whistling snort and a loud sniff.

Arden wheeled about and screamed in terror.

Rushing straight at her, with lowering head and menacing horns curved in the typical design of such creatures, was an immense black ram. The animal must have been hiding behind a tree. Attracted by Arden's presence in the orchard, and perhaps incensed by her red sweater, it had come to give battle.

Snorting in rage, like a miniature bull, and scattering the leaves with his pounding feet, the ram was coming on, Arden thought, like an express train. For one wild moment she felt resentful against the dean who had said the beast was now securely penned. Then Arden turned and made a jump for the tool shed.

She got inside just in time, pulling the door after her. And a moment later the whole structure was shaken as the ram butted his horns against the thin portal.

"Oh, my gosh!" gasped Arden. And as there followed a moment of silence and inaction on the part of the creature, she saw a hook on the inside of the door and slipped it into the staple.

Then came another butting attack on the door.

"He'll break it in!" cried Arden, her heart beating fast. "It isn't very strong. Oh, what shall I do? What shall I do?"

The ram was snorting, puffing, and blowing outside the shed. Arden could hear him pawing in the dried leaves. Then for the third time he rushed with those heavy curved horns at the barrier which kept him from the human he wanted to attack.

"No wonder Tom Scott and the chaplain were hurt with such a creature as that rushing at them!" gasped Arden. "Oh, dear! I wish I'd taken the dean's word. It's a ram all right. A terrible ram!"

She wondered if a human voice in command would have any effect on the creature. She would try.

"Go away! Get out of here!" she ordered through a crack in the door. She waited. She heard nothing. Perhaps the beast had gone. She loosed the hook a little, making a crack wide enough out of which she could look. The ram hadn't gone. He was balefully eyeing the shed from a little distance, and when he saw the door move again he lowered his head and butted it harder than before.

"Oh, this is awful!" groaned Arden. "I guess I'll have to stay in here until he goes away or falls asleep. I suppose rams do sleep, sometimes. This is what I get for doubting Tiddy. I wonder if there is a back door that I could sneak out of while he's butting the front one?"

But there was no rear exit, as Arden discovered when she peered through the jumble of ladders, barrels, and tools. Sheds aren't usually built with two doors.

There was nothing to be done but to wait for a rescue or until the ram should get weary of the siege and raise it.

"When the girls find out about this they'll have the laugh on me all right!" Arden ruefully mused.

The ram was quiet again, but Arden thought it useless again to give any orders or to tantalize the brute by partly opening the door. Time was passing. It was getting late. She would soon be due at her class. If she did not appear, her chums might think something had happened to her and start a search.

"But I didn't tell them where I was going," Arden reflected. "They don't know where to start looking, and they'll never imagine I came to the orchard after all that's happened.

"'Oh, to be in England, now that Spring is there'--or any old place but in this shed," the imprisoned girl murmured. She was getting panicky. Almost without knowing what she was doing, Arden found herself shouting:

"Go away, ram! Go away!"

She paused and caught her breath suddenly. She heard voices outside; men talking. The sounds came nearer. Someone said:

"That certainly was a mighty poor job you did on that pen, Anson. The ram got out without half trying. There he is now, down by the tool shed. And by Jove, Anson, I believe he's got someone penned in there! He wouldn't act that way unless there was someone in the shed. Look, there he goes, butting the door!"

It was Tom Scott. Arden recognized the voice. And Anson Yaeger, the grim farmer, answered:

"I did as good a job as I could with the wood I had. I'd like to see you or anybody else----"

"Never mind that now!" interrupted Tom. "The thing to do now is to catch that ram again! He's dangerous. Come on!"

Arden could hear footsteps running now, and though the ram once more butted the door, nearly cracking some of the boards, she knew that rescue was on the way.

There was silence outside the shed for a moment, and then Tom Scott said:

"You slip around back, Anson, and sort of hold his attention by peering out at him around the corner. While you're doing that, I can slip up behind him and get this rope around him. I'll lasso him, and we'll hog-tie him, cowboy fashion."

"Very well," agreed the farmer.

Arden could not see what they did, but she was told, later. Tom, who had provided himself with a noosed rope when he and Anson started out in search of the escaped ram, skillfully tossed it over the beast's head from the rear. The noose fell in a choking loop around the ram's neck, and Tom pulled tight.

The surprised animal turned to charge Tom, but by this time Anson attacked him with a heavy timber, knocked him down, and both men threw themselves upon the creature. He struggled and bleated, but was soon well tied so he could not move.

"Good work, Anson!" complimented Tom.

"Hum!" was the grunted answer. The farmer was winded.

Arden was debating with herself whether to come out and show who the ram had imprisoned or to wait until the men had taken the beast away. But she had no choice, for Tom said:

"Now we'll see what unfortunate this ram was after."

"I'm going out," Arden told herself and unhooked the door.

Tom Scott and Anson fairly jumped with surprise as they saw her.

"He chased me in here," she volunteered. "I got in just in time, but I didn't dare come out again."

"No, it's wise you didn't," said Tom, smiling at her. "This is a dangerous beast. I thought he was after someone, the way he stood near this shed. Your red sweater must have attracted him. Not hurt, are you?"

"No, only frightened. At least I was. I'm so glad you came."

"Well, he can't hurt you now," chuckled Tom, looking at the bound ram. Anson said nothing. "He's a tricky beast. Worked his way out of the pen we shut him up in temporarily until his owner can dispose of him. I believe the dean has threatened to make a complaint unless the ram is removed from around here."

"I hope he goes," said Arden. "The orchard will be safer without him and less--less mysterious."

"Mysterious?" questioned Tom, somewhat wonderingly.

"Yes. But I must be going. I'll be late for my class. Thank you for rescuing me."

"It was a pleasure," Tom said, bowing and smiling. "Also a pleasure to choke the beast that gave me such a whack."

Still Anson Yaeger did not speak. He seemed to be glaring at Arden with his little beady eyes almost hidden under shaggy brows. But Arden was looking only at Tom Scott. She could not seem to help it. And he was looking at her. Arden began to feel embarrassed. It was as if, she said later, she had met the good-looking gardener at some previous time but could not remember where. She was puzzled and annoyed.

"Well, I really must go!" she announced, and this time she did, hurrying past the bound and recumbent ram that seemed to eye her with much malevolence. But he was helpless now.

Arden hurried up through the orchard, turning for a final look at the scene of her latest adventure. She saw Anson bringing a wheelbarrow out of the shed to be used in taking the ram to a new prison. Then she ran to Bordmust and reached it just in time for English lit.