It was about twelve o'clock at night, and everything was quiet in and about the camp when all at once there was a wild alarm, a sudden ringing of bells and shouting of voices, and Bucephalus tore through the camp shouting at each tent:

"Wake up, sah, dere am a big fiah, wake up!"

Jack and Percival were the first to be aroused, and to run out of their tent at the sudden alarm.

"There is a fire somewhere!" exclaimed Jack, smelling smoke and seeing a light in the sky.

"It is up at Van der Donk's," cried Percival. "That is the direction, I am sure. Hurry and get dressed, Jack. We may be needed."

Other boys were now coming out, asking questions, staring this way and that, rubbing their eyes or standing in a bewildered fashion, and wondering what all the commotion was about.

A messenger came running into the camp from the big house asking for help to put out the fire, which had just been discovered, and which had already gained considerable headway.

The fire was, indeed, at Mr. Van der Donk's, and it was feared that the fine mansion with its costly furnishings would have to go, as there was no fire engine company within a mile or more, and it would be hard to get word to them at this time.

"Stir yourselves, boys!" cried the little colonel, bustling about half dressed. "We can at least form a bucket brigade. Form the lines quickly, Percival, and get the boys to moving."

Jack, Dick and others quickly got the boys out, and, not more than half dressed, most of them, they quickly formed in good order, and went on the double quick out of the camp and toward the big house.

Every boy had a bucket to draw water from the river for washing purposes, and now they each seized one and went on the run toward the house.

It was a matter of a few minutes only to reach it, and once there Jack and Dick formed them into a double line reaching from the house to the well, and to an artificial pond on the grounds.

Once the line of buckets got started the boys went into the house, on the balconies and everywhere convenient, and the work went on rapidly.

Bucket after bucket was passed to the boys at the end of the lines, and passed back empty after their contents had been dashed upon the flames, the work going on rapidly.

The boys had been at work nearly ten minutes and had done much to stay the progress of the flames if not to subdue them when a fire company from Riverton arrived, and with a lot of noise and bustle, but with very little system, got to work to put out the fire.

Then their engine would not work, orders were misunderstood or not obeyed, and there was a great deal of confusion, during which the Hilltop boys worked steadily on and soon began to show the effects of their efforts, the flames being under control in many places and entirely out in a few.

Jack was hard at work taking bucket after bucket, and throwing water on the flames that poured from a corner of the piazza roof when Margaret ran up to him, almost fainted in his arms, and gasped:

"My baby brother! He is in the room up there in the extension. No one has thought of him. Save him, Jack!"

"Yes, just as soon as---here, Billy, Arthur, take my place. I must go up to the extension."

One of the boys quickly took his place at the head of the bucket line, and he ran inside and up the stairs to the room indicated by Margaret, covering his mouth with his hand to keep from breathing smoke.

He found the door, burst it open, and saw a bed in a corner with a small child asleep.

Seizing the infant he wrapped it in the blankets, pressed it close to him, and rushed out and down stairs to the open air.

"Here you are!" he cried, and a nurse ran up to him, and took the baby from his arms.

"Oh, thank you, thank you a thousand times!" she cried hysterically.

"I do not know what I would do if the baby was lost. I shall lose my place."

"H'm! thinking more of herself than of the baby!" sputtered Percival, who had run to support Jack. "Are you all right, old man?"

"Yes, but it was a close shave. Look! the place is all in flames now.

It was lucky I went up there when I did."

"You are very brave," said Margaret, running up to him and seizing his hand. "I do not know how to thank you."

"Never mind trying, Miss Margaret," said Jack simply. "I am glad that I was able to do something. How was the child overlooked?"

"Every one supposed that the nurse had attended to him. She is always with him at night. I suppose she was frightened and left him, and then at the last moment thought of him."

The girl nearly fainted again in her excitement, and fell against Jack's shoulder, Percival raising her and saying:

"There, there, brace up. It is all right, and Jack Sheldon has shown himself a hero as he has done many times before."

"I shall never forget him!" exclaimed Margaret, and then her father and mother took her away, and the boys continued their work.

The fire company was getting down to business by this time, but if the Hilltop boys had not made a good beginning for them they could have done nothing.

The fire was, before long, under control, and, although considerable damage had been done, the house was saved.

The boys were presently marched back to the camp, and Jack and Percival sought their tent, tired out and excited.

"Hello! what is this?" exclaimed Jack, as he was undressing, seeing something drop out of his trousers pocket.

It was a lady's gold watch.

CHAPTER VI

THE MYSTERY OF A GOLD WATCH

"What have you got there, Jack?" asked Percival, seeing Jack stoop and pick up something.

"A gold watch, a lady's watch, apparently. How did it get in my pocket? I don't remember picking it up. It is a very handsome one, and quite expensive I should judge, although I never bought a gold watch."

"And it dropped out of your pocket?"

"Yes, that is the strangest thing about it. How did it get there?

I did not put it there, I am certain."

Percival examined the watch, which Jack handed to him, and said:

"Yes, it is a very expensive gold watch, aside from the case, which is set with diamonds. The watch itself is one of the best foreign makes, and probably cost anywhere from one to two hundred dollars for the works alone. Then add the price of the case, and you have a nice little sum to pay for a little watch such as a lady carries."

"But how did I get hold of it, Dick? Could I have picked it up at the fire, and not known anything about it? We were all pretty well excited, and this might have happened."