"'We have a wonderful team this year and so far we haven't had a single defeat.'"

("O Jemima!" groaned Betty.)

"'We play four other teams every year; you play only two, don't you? Our centers are great! I remember last year when your team played here how easily we beat you! I hate to say it, Nora dear, but we're going to beat you again!'"

"That's all she says about the team," Nora finished, folding up the letter. "No, wait a minute," she added. "This may interest you, too. She says:

"'We have the most adorable mascot; wait till you see him; and he's never failed us yet.'"

"Thanks, ever so much," Louise exclaimed as soon as she stopped reading.

"That's valuable information. We're much obliged to your friend."

"I wouldn't have said anything about it if she hadn't bragged so," Nora answered, backing to the door. "But mind, you beat them _well_, so that I can say 'I told you so.'"

"We will, we will," cried the team with one voice.

"Now what do you think of that?" demanded Madelaine Ames, one of the guards, a tall lanky girl with straight hair.

"What did she say about a mascot?" Betty inquired eagerly.

"That they had an adorable one," replied Mary Reeves, the other guard.

"We ought to have one, too," chimed in Helen Reed, the jumping center.

"Something original, I say; I'm tired of cats and dogs."

"Everybody think hard," suggested Louise, "and if you think of something, let me know and I'll call a meeting. We can't let them get ahead of us even in a mascot."

After a few unimportant details were discussed, the meeting broke up and the girls separated, each to think of a fitting mascot.

The next morning Lois, Betty and Polly, having finished all their exams, had the whole glorious day to themselves. Right after breakfast they disappeared into the woods and sought their favorite brook. When they reached it, they were very hot and tired, for the day was warm, and they had run all the way.

"Phew!" gasped Betty, throwing herself down beside the stream. "I'm hot."

"So am I," Polly agreed, resting her chin on her hands. "My feet, particularly. I have on these old hot gym shoes."

"Why don't we go in paddling?" suggested Lois. "It couldn't hurt us; it's so lovely and warm."

No sooner said than done. In two minutes their shoes and stockings were off and they were wading, ankle-deep, in the cool water.

"Great, isn't it?" gurgled Betty, looking down at her toes. "Ouch! Be careful of this spot; there's a sharp stone," she warned.

As Polly was about to look at the spot Betty was pointing to, a queer chattering noise up in the tree above her head caught her attention.

Looking up she saw a dark brown "something" sitting on a limb of the tree.

"Look!" she whispered.

"What is it?" gasped Lois when she had seen.

"Why, don't you know?" Betty demanded. "We've simply got to get it; I'll climb up the tree."

"Be careful not to scare it," cautioned Polly.

But there was no fear of that, for as soon as Betty reached the limb occupied by "it," there was a scuffle, and she felt something land on her shoulder.

"I've got it, safe and sound," she called to the girls below.

"Look how thin it is," said Lois when Betty was again on terra firma.

"Let's take it back to school and feed it, it must have run away."

"Of course we will-the darling-and-Oh, Polly, Lo, why didn't we think of it the minute we saw it? We'll have it for a mascot!"

That afternoon there was a very important team meeting in one of the cla.s.srooms. It lasted just a few minutes, but when the girls came out they were all smiling very mysteriously, and they seemed to be delighted about something.

There was a good deal of smuggling of food into the cellar, of which Mrs. Baird had given Betty the key.

For the remaining few days before Field Day, every time one of the team met Betty, Lois or Polly, they would inquire very mysteriously how "it"

was, and before many days pa.s.sed the word went round the school that Seddon Hall had discovered a worthy mascot.

CHAPTER XIX

FIELD DAY

Field Day arrived and with it the excitement known to any girl who has played in a big game of basket-ball.

"Oh, Polly, I'm so thrilled!" exclaimed Lois, putting her arm around her chum and dancing wildly down the corridor. "I'm glad my family isn't coming."

"So am I," Polly answered, thinking of Bob. "If we could only get a chance to play!"

"Hush! I don't even dare think of such a thing!"

"Well, I do, and I'll bet anything that the big team girls can't pa.s.s the ball as fast as you and Betty and I can."

"They can't. I watched last practice game and they made some dreadful mistakes with the signals. By the way, how is 'it' this morning?"

"Fine, Betty took some food to the cellar right after breakfast. The darling's really getting fat."

"Here comes Bet now. Oh, Betty, here we are!" Lois called as the third member of the trio appeared at the other end of the corridor.

"Thank goodness, I've found you," Betty answered. "All subst.i.tutes are wanted in the gym. Louise is waiting for you; hurry up."

The above conversation took place in Freshman Alley about ten o'clock in the morning. Throughout the entire school the game was the one subject that was being discussed. The girls had pinned the Seddon Hall colors on the fronts of their sailor suits, and the long green and white ribbons gave the required holiday effect.

In the gym the more ardent admirers of the team were busy with the decorations. The big Seddon Hall banner almost covered one end of the room and the other walls were hung with small school flags and streamers. Angela and Connie, both seated on the floor, were carefully polishing the handsome silver loving cup.

It was upon this scene of preparation that Betty, followed by Polly and Lois, entered.