"One thing he did was to pour sand into my tub of clothes that I had to leave this morning. He called the tub 'Lake Luna' and said he wanted to make an island in the middle of it, like Cavern Island where Billy is hidden."
"I had to clean out the tub and rinse the clothes half a dozen times to get the sand out."
"But, Billy!" exclaimed Dora. "They say he isn't over at that island."
"Well, I wish I knew where he was," sighed the worried sister.
Just then Tommy stopped yelling and spoke in a shrill, but perfectly plain tone:
"Sis! I'm a-goin' to bust a winder and fall out, I am!"
"Oh!" ejaculated Dorothy, jumping up. "He'll be hurt."
But Alice put forth a restraining hand to stop her before she could flee to the rescue.
"Don't bother. He doesn't want to jump himself. Tommy is bluffing."
"Bluffing!" gasped Dora. "Did you ever? I should be scared to death that the little scamp would do it."
"I used to be," sighed Alice. "Now I know better. I came to realize that Tommy was taking advantage of my love for him--and he's got to learn better than that."
In a few moments, after silence from the "chamber of torture," the shrill voice cried again:
"Sis! I've found the matches an' I'm a-goin' to set fire to the curtains--now you see!"
The twins gazed upon the calm face of Alice with wide-open eyes. Alice went on talking without showing the first signs of fear that Master Tommy would keep his pledge. She was resting after a hard day's work, and she enjoyed having her old schoolmates drop in to see her.
After further silence, the boy's shrill voice took up the cry again:
"I _do_ believe I smell something burning--cloth, or something," whispered the nervous Dorothy, sniffing.
"It's an old black rag I put in the kitchen fire, without opening the damper," said Alice, coolly.
"Suppose he _has_ got the matches?" demanded Dora.
"There are none in that room," returned Alice, placidly.
"Goodness me!" gasped Dorothy. "I wouldn't have a boy around for a farm!"
"If you don't smell nothin', Sis, it's 'cause I pulled off all the match heads an' swallered 'em! I'm goin' ter die--I'se p'izened, Sis!"
"Why! what a dreadful little scamp he is," gasped Dorothy.
Alice jumped up, with her lips set tightly. She ran into the kitchen, from which she returned in a moment with a cup of warm water and mustard.