rk! Hark!" sounded a hissing whisper from the corn-crib, and
Connie, eavesdropping outside the barn, shivered sympathetically.

"What is it! Oh, what is it?" wailed the unfortunate lady.

"Look! Look! Run for your life!"

Then while Connie clutched the barn door in a frenzy, there was a sound
of rattling corn as the twins scrambled upward, a silence, a low thud,
and an unromantic "Ouch!" as Carol bumped her head and stumbled.

"Are you assaulted?" shouted the bold Sir Alfred, and Connie heard a
wild scuffle as he rescued his companion from the clutches of the old
halter on which she had stumbled. Up the haymow ladder they hurried,
and then slid recklessly down the hay-chutes. Presently the barn door
was flung open, and the "Society" knocked Connie flying backward, ran
madly around the barn a few times, and scurried under the fence and
into the chicken coop.

A little later, Connie, assailed with shots of corncobs, ran bitterly
toward the house. "Peaking" was strictly forbidden when the twins were
engaged in Skull and Crossbones activities.

And Connie's soul burned with desire. She felt that this secret
society was threatening not only her happiness, but also her health,
for she could not sleep for horrid dreams of Skulls and Crossbones at
night, and could not eat for envying the twins their secret and
mysterious joys. Therefore, with unwonted humility, she applied for
entrance. She had applied many times previously, without effect. But
this time she enforced her application with a nickel's worth of red
peppermint drops, bought for the very purpose. The twins accepted the
drops gravely, and told Connie she must make formal application. Then
they marched solemnly off to the barn with the peppermint drops,
without offering Connie a share. This hurt, but she did not long
grieve over it, she was so busy wondering what on earth they meant by
"formal application." Finally she applied to Prudence, and received
assistance.

The afternoon mail brought to the parsonage an envelope addressed to
"Misses Carol and Lark Starr, The Methodist Parsonage, Mount Mark,
Iowa," and in the lower left-hand corner was a suggestive drawing of a
Skull and Crossbones. The eyes of the mischievous twins twinkled with
delight when they saw it, and they carried it to the barn for prompt
perusal. It read as follows:

"Miss Constance Starr humbly and respectfully craves admittance into
the Ancient and Honorable Organization of