Burly, rapidly, 'a display on the horizontal
ladder, to be followed by one on the rings. Competitors to choose
between----'

'I bag rings!' screamed Angela, at the top of her voice.

'No, you don't!' said Mary Wells, in her stolid, aggravating way. 'You've
just got to wait till it's settled for you, so there! We all know why
you're so anxious not to do the ladder; why, you can't even manage a
simple travel----'

'How can you, Mary Wells?' asked Angela, solemnly. 'You know I can bear
anything but an untruth; and to say that _I_----'

'Sh-sh!' said Miss Burleigh, vigorously, and she was again allowed a
few seconds of silence. 'The junior division will then conclude with
rope-climbing.'

Hardly were the words out of her mouth than her listeners fell to
disputing again.

'Rope-climbing--Barbara!' asserted Jean.

'What are you talking about?' cried Mary, with contempt. 'Barbara is
simply not _in_ it with Charlotte; and what's more, you know she isn't,
Jean Murray.'

'Oh, the wicked stories some people can tell,' sighed Angela. 'Have you
seen Barbara Berkeley swarm up the----'

'Please, please don't,' implored Babs. 'Can't you see that Hurly-Burly
wants to say something else?'

Being the champion in question, she could not very well side with Jean,
as she usually did. Her appeal had some effect on the disputants, and
Miss Burleigh, remembering it was a half-holiday, shrugged her shoulders
good-naturedly and took advantage of the pause to proceed.

'The display will take place at five o'clock on Thursday,' she proclaimed;
'supper will be at seven, and after supper, the Canon, who is coming
from the North on purpose, will give away the prizes to the two
successful competitors----'

'That's Margaret and Charlotte Bigley,' interrupted Mary, noisily; and
Hurly-Burly gave it up and fled, with her hands over her ears, just
as Angela, with a yell of defiance, lost her balance and plunged down
head-first from her perch on the vaulting-horse.

'No, no! Margaret and Jean!' she gasped out breathlessly, as she scrambled
up again from the floor and brushed the dust from her hands and knees.

Jean sprang to her feet on the top of the vaulting-horse, and danced up
and down in her excitement.

'Margaret and the Babe!' she shrieked, waving her arms wildly round her
head.

But Barbara had slipped down after Angela, though not quite so
precipitately, and had retired from the contest to a particular corner
of the gymnasium,