"They are both mighty sore, because they had to leave Oak Hall in disgrace," said Luke. "Every one of us had better keep his eye peeled, for they'll make trouble if they get half a chance." And then the bell rang for dinner and the boys went downstairs.

The next day the lads were all busy getting ready for the Fourth of July. It had been arranged that they should have quite a display of fireworks on the lawn of the senator's home, and many folks of that vicinity were invited to attend.

"Here is Buster Beggs!" cried Roger, that evening, and the youth who was so fat and jolly hove in sight, suit-case in hand. He shook hands all around and was speedily made to feel at home.

"Glad you are going to have fireworks," he said to Roger. "I don't care much for noise on the Fourth, but I dote on fireworks. Let me set some of 'em off, won't you?"

"Of course," was Roger's reply. "We boys are going to give the exhibition, while the older folks, and the girls, look on."

"But we are going to have a little noise--at sunrise," put in Phil.

"What kind of noise--a cannon?"

"No, some firecrackers."

"Oh, that will be all right," answered Buster, thinking the firecrackers were to be of ordinary size.

So they were--all but one. But that one was a monster--the largest Phil and Roger had been able to buy. They had not told the others about this big fellow, not even Dave, for they wanted the explosion of that to be a surprise.

"It will sure make them sit up and take notice," said Phil to Roger, as the pair hid the big cannon cracker away in the automobile garage.

"We'll set it off back of the kitchen," answered Roger. "It won't do any harm there."

On the night of the third the boys retired somewhat early, so as to be up bright and early for the glorious Fourth.

They had been sleeping less than an hour when a sudden cry awakened them.

"Fire! Fire! Get up, boys! The garage is on fire, and I am afraid the gasoline tank will blow up!"

CHAPTER VIII

FIRE AND FIRECRACKERS

"What's that!"

"The garage on fire!"

"Say, look at the blaze!"

Such were some of the cries, as the boys tumbled out of bed, one after another. A bright glare of fire was dancing over the walls of the rooms.

"It's some brushwood behind the garage!" announced Dave, as he poked his head out of a window to look. "It's that big heap the gardener put there yesterday."

"He shouldn't have placed it so close," said Luke. "Why didn't he rake it to some spot in the open?"

All of the boys were hurrying into their clothing as fast as possible.

The alarm had been given by Senator Morr, and by the chauffeur, who slept in a room of the barn next to the garage.

"Oh, Roger!" gasped Phil. "That big cannon cracker!"

"I was thinking of it, Phil!" returned the senator's son, hurriedly. "We must get it out somehow!"

"If it goes off it will wreck the building!"

"Yes, and the gasoline tank with it!"

The tank in question was not underground, as would have been safer, but was located in a bricked-up place at one side of the garage. In the storehouse were two barrels of gasoline, and also some lubricating oils.

If that storehouse caught, it would certainly make a hot and dangerous blaze.

Pell-mell down the stairs rushed the youths, one after another. In the meantime Senator Morr was dressing and so were the others of the household.

"Be careful, boys! Don't go too close!" warned Mrs. Morr.

"Watch out for an explosion!" puffed her husband. The senator was so stout that dressing in a hurry was no easy matter for him.

When the boys got out in the garden they found the chauffeur and the gardener at work, trying to pull the burning brushwood away from the garage. The flames were crackling merrily and the sparks were flying in various directions.

"I'm going in and get that big cannon cracker," said Roger to Phil, in a low voice, so that the others might not hear.

"I'll go with you, Roger. Be careful, though, the sparks are flying all round that doorway."

"I've shut everything!" bawled the chauffeur, as he saw Roger at the big sliding doors. "Better not open up, or the fire will get inside."

"I've got to go in, Jake!" answered Roger. "I've got to get something out."

"What?" asked Dave, who was close by.

"Never mind, Dave. It's something that can't be left in there," and so speaking Roger slid open a door and hurried inside the garage. Phil came directly behind him.

On the floor, in a corner, was a box with ordinary firecrackers in it--about two hundred packs in all. On top of this was a package in paper containing the big cannon cracker.

"Lookout!"

"It's on fire!"

Thus yelled both boys as they saw that the flames from the brushwood had made their way into a corner of the garage, just where the firecrackers had been placed. For an instant they hesitated, then both leaped forward again and commenced to stamp out the fire.

It had caught at a corner of the box containing the smaller firecrackers and was also at the paper containing the cannon cracker. This Phil caught up, knocking the fire away with his hand.

"What are you after, anyway?" The question came from Dave, who had followed his chums into the building. Buster, Shadow, and Luke were outside, at the rear, helping to pull the brushwood away and stamp out the flames.

"Firecrackers--a box full!" cried Roger. "We must get it out!"

"A giant firecracker!" added Phil. "Big enough to blow down a house!"