“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 Skull and Crossbones.”

The twins pondered long on a fitting reply, and the next afternoon the postman brought a letter for Connie, waiting impatiently for it.  She had approached the twins about it at noon that day.

“Did you get my application?” she had whispered nervously.

But the twins had stared her out of countenance, and Connie realized that she had committed a serious breach of secret society etiquette.

But here was the letter!  Her fingers trembled as she opened it.  It was decorated lavishly with skulls and crossbones, splashed with red ink, supposedly blood, and written in the same suggestive color.

“Skull and Crossbones has heard the plea of Miss Constance Starr.  If she present herself at the Parsonage Haymow this evening, at eight o’clock, she shall learn the will of the Society regarding her petition.”

Connie was jubilant!  In a flash, she saw herself admitted to the mysterious Barnyard Order, and began working out a name for her own designation after entrance.  It was a proud day for her.