"Is the building on fire?"

"Take it easy, boys! Take it easy!" yelled Major Ralph Mason, as he appeared at the head of one of the stairways. "There is no fire in this building. Don't get excited."

"Where is the fire?" queried a dozen voices in chorus.

"It's down at the gym! The upper floor is in flames!"

CHAPTER XVI

PUTTING OUT THE FLAMES

"What do you know about that! The gym is on fire!" gasped Fred, and clutched Randy by the arm. He looked at his cousin knowingly.

"I know what you're thinking, Fred. Those cigarettes that Slugger, Nappy and Codfish were smoking----"

"That's it! They threw them down recklessly, and also threw down the matches they had lighted."

"If the gym burns down Colonel Colby will hold them responsible for the loss," put in Jack, who had heard what was said.

While this talk was taking place, all of the cadets were rushing down the stairs. Soon they were out on the campus and headed through the fast-falling snow in the direction of the gymnasium building.

A heavy smoke was pouring from a broken-out upper window, and also from the edges of a scuttle on the roof. As the cadets hurried closer, they saw a thin flame show itself for a moment just inside the window.

"It's on fire all right enough, but maybe they can get it under control," announced Jack. "Come on, fellows! Do your duty!"

Warned by the fate which had overtaken Putnam Hall, Colonel Colby had taken every possible precaution against fire. There were several large water towers erected in and near the school buildings, and these were connected with various fire plugs. There were also numerous lengths of hose, with nozzles attached, hung up in the several buildings, and both the cadets and the teachers had been instructed in a fire drill.

Some of the cadets, who had been in the gymnasium when the fire was discovered, had already brought out the hose in that building and attached it to one of the plugs. Now this water was turned on, and a stream of fair size began to play upon the flames, the cadets, aided by one of the teachers, dragging the hose up the narrow stairway for that purpose.

"Get out hose number three and number eight!" directed Colonel Colby, who was on the scene; and the cadets went to work with a will, and soon had two more streams in action.

Despite the thickness of the smoke, two of the teachers and several of the cadets had gone up into the second floor of the building and located the fire.

"It's up near the steam radiator, just between the two windows,"

announced one of the teachers. "It's in some boxes and barrels that contain straw and excelsior."

"Isn't the building on fire?" queried one cadet.

"The flames are going up to the roof, but so far they haven't broken through."

The announcement that the fire so far was confined to some boxes and barrels, nerved the cadets and the others to make a greater effort to get it under control, and some began to fill buckets with water in the washroom below, and these were pa.s.sed up the narrow stairway and the water thrown where it was apparently most needed.

Randy and Andy were in this bucket brigade, while Fred and Jack worked with one of the hose gangs. It was exciting labor for all of the boys, but this they did not mind.

"Hurrah! we're getting it under control!" shouted Major Mason presently.

"Keep it up, boys, and we'll save the whole building!"

In the crowd were, of course, Slugger, Nappy and Codfish. At the first alarm they had run forth from the school and gazed in amazement at the smoke pouring from the gymnasium.

"Oh, look! It's the gym that's on fire!" Codfish had burst out; and then the little sneak had suddenly turned deadly pale, and would have sunk down in the snow had not Slugger caught him.

"See here, Codfish!" hissed the bully, shaking him. "Don't you say a word about this, do you understand? Not a word!"

"Don't you dare to admit to anybody that you were upstairs in the gymnasium," added Nappy.

"I--I ain't going to say nothing!" sniveled Codfish, and then, of a sudden, burst out crying. "You fellows let me alone! I didn't want to smoke anyhow!" he wailed.

"Shut up! Don't you mention smoking to anybody, or I'll just about half kill you!" hissed Slugger. "Now mind! not a word, if you know when you are best off!" and then he gave Codfish's arm such a twist that the little cadet screamed with pain.

Not to be suspected of what they had done, Slugger and Nappy mingled with the other cadets and did their full share in working on the lines of hose; but there were really more cadets than were needed for this labor, so they had little to do. Codfish also tried to take hold, but he trembled so that he soon had to give up, and then he ran back into the Hall, where he sat on the stairs, half sobbing.

By this time there was little more than smoke to be seen in the upper part of the gymnasium. The teachers and the cadets still continued to play water into the building. Some now began to open all the windows, realizing that a draft could not do much harm. Then, as the smoke began to clear away, they began an investigation, so that the last spark of the fire might be extinguished.

"I guess it's about out," announced Professor Brice presently. He had worked hard, and his face and hands were streaked with black.

"I think you are right, Brice," answered Colonel Colby, who had also mounted to the upper floor. "We may as well bring up a few buckets of water, and then turn off all the hose. There is no use of flooding the building, especially in this cold weather. As it is, I think the boys will have a skating pond below by morning," and he smiled faintly.

"Do you suppose this started from the heating plant?" questioned the teacher.

"Not at all!" was the low reply. "But we won't speak about that now, Brice," added Colonel Colby significantly; and thereupon the young teacher understood and said no more about the matter.

The cadets were sent below, and Colonel Colby and Professor Brice, aided by a couple of the hired men, made a close examination of the spot where the fire had taken place. It had been confined almost wholly to three boxes, loosely filled with excelsior, and two barrels containing straw and waste paper.

"It was a mistake to put such inflammable material up here," said Colonel Colby to Mr. Crews, the gymnasium instructor.

"I realize that now, Colonel Colby," answered Silas Crews, and his manner showed how much the fire had upset him. "But, you see, it was this way. We got some of that new gymnasium material in only a couple of weeks ago, and we weren't altogether satisfied with it--if you will remember. I said something about sending it back. Well, it came in those boxes and barrels, and so I just put them up here, thinking that maybe we'd want to use them in sending the stuff back. If it hadn't been for that, I'd have cleaned the boxes and barrels out and burnt the stuff up."

"I see, Crews. Well, after this, I want you to be careful and not do anything like that again."

"But I don't see how the boxes and barrels caught fire, sir," went on the gymnasium instructor perplexedly. "We had no light up here, and I don't see how they could catch from that little steam radiator over there. Why, that radiator hardly gets warm!" It may be mentioned here that the radiator had been placed on the upper floor of the gymnasium because there had once been talk of part.i.tioning this part of the floor from the rest and making of it a meeting room for one of the cadet clubs.

"I'll make an investigation later," answered Colonel Colby. "For the present, as the steam heating plant seems to be in perfect order, you had better start the fire up well, so that we can dry things out here.

Otherwise, all the pipes may freeze up, and that might give us more trouble than this fire."

"Yes, sir. I'll see to it, sir," said Silas Crews hastily. "And I'll have this whole place cleaned up the first thing in the morning. And I'll also have the broken windows fixed."

As soon as he returned to the school, Colonel Colby sent for Randy and Fred. He questioned them closely about the cigarette smoking indulged in by Slugger, Nappy and Codfish.

"You two are quite sure that you were not smoking yourselves?" he demanded sternly.

"We don't smoke, sir," answered Randy promptly.

"Did you light any matches while you were upstairs in the gymnasium?"