CHAPTER XVIII
WITH HAMMER AND SAW
Out into the storm they raced, to find that the alarm of the crash had been general, and that students from all the dormitories, and also a number of members of the faculty, were hurrying from their rooms to learn what was the trouble.
"What was it?"
"Did you hear it?"
"Is it another fire?"
"I heard it was the gymnasium that had blown op."
"Somebody told me that Prexy's house was destroyed by a bomb."
Questions and statements like those were heard on all sides, as the lads gathered in a group outside the college, or stood in the pelting rain on the campus.
The wind still blew with great violence, and the downpour was in keeping with it. Anxious eyes looked up to the sky to detect the shimmering of flames, and were relieved when no glare met their gaze, though in that rain it would have been a big fire indeed that could have kept on burning.
"The noise was over that way," declared Tom Parsons, pointing toward the gymnasium.
"No, it was over there," and Phil indicated the river. "Maybe it was one of the boathouses."
"I think it was out on the athletic field," asserted Sid.
"Let's go have a look," proposed Holly Cross. "It was a great old crash, whatever it was."
"Yes, it woke me up," said Bert Bascome. "I was dozing over my Latin prose, and I dreamed we were playing Boxer Hall. I was making a touchdown, and smashed into a goal-post—that woke me up—or, rather, the racket did."
"Well, make a real touchdown when we play Boxer, and we'll forgive you," put in Kindlings, joining the group of football players. "Come on, let's investigate."
As the students reached the gridiron they saw, even in the darkness, the cause of the crash. One of the largest grandstands had collapsed. The supports, weakened by the rain, had been unable to stand against the force of the wind, and had tilted over, letting the whole structure come slantingly to the ground, like some cardboard house upon which a heavy weight has fallen.
"For cat's sake, look at that!" cried Phil.
"It's a ruin!" added Sid, in despair.
"The biggest grandstand, too!" remarked Tom.
"Come on, fellows!" cried Holly Cross. "Maybe we can prop it up so it won't go down any farther," for part of the structure was still standing.
Holly started toward it, but had not advanced more than a few feet, when there came another sudden burst of fury on the part of the wind, and there was a second crash in the splintered and broken timbers.
"Come back!" yelled Dan Woodhouse. "You'll be hurt! It's going to fall apart!"
There was an instinctive retreat on the part of the throng of students, but the stand, after settling forward a little more, became stationary, and, aside from the flapping of a few loose boards, the wind seemed incapable of doing any more havoc.
"Well, wouldn't that jar you!" exclaimed Dutch, as he carefully held Holly's umbrella over his own head. "We'll have to hustle to have that raised again."
"Yes, and the game with Canton Military Academy comes off soon," added Phil. "The carpenters will have to get busy in the morning. Where's Kindlings?"
"Here I am."
"Say Dan, we'll have to have a meeting of the athletic committee right away, and take some action on this. If we can't use that grandstand for the Canton game, we'll lose a lot of money, and, goodness knows, we need the coin this year."
"That's right," came in a chorus from the others. Mr. Lighton, the coach, came up just then, and agreed that immediate action was necessary, late as it was.
The students were walking about the ruined stand, oblivious to the pelting rain, and they might have stayed there a long time, had not Mr. Zane bustled up to inspect the wreck.
"Now, then, young gentlemen," he said, "you had better all get back to your rooms. There is nothing more to see, and there might be some danger. The wind is increasing."
"I hope no more stands blow down," murmured Tom.
"Mr. Zane, we want to have a meeting of the athletic committee, to take measures for rebuilding the stand," spoke the football captain. "May we?"
"To-night?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well, I'm going to make a report of this to Dr. Churchill, and you may come, if you like. Also Mr. Lighton, and two or three members of the committee."
"Come on, Phil and Tom," urged Dan, and the end and quarter-back followed. The other boys, finding the storm most unpleasant, now thai the excitement was over, moved toward their rooms.
Proctor Zane stated the case to the president, and then Kindlings made his appeal.
"We want to arrange for the rebuilding of the stand at once," he said, "as we expect a big crowd at the Canton game, and we need all the seats we can get."
"Yes," remarked Dr. Churchill, musingly. "I presume the athletic committee has the funds available to pay for the work."
"No, we haven't, Dr. Churchill," answered Holly Cross, who acted as treasurer, "but we thought the amount could be advanced from the college treasury, and we could pay it back, as we did once or twice before. We'll need quite a large sum, I'm afraid, for the stand is one of the big ones, and is flat on the ground."
"Yes," again mused the president. "Well, young gentlemen, I would be very glad indeed to advance the money from our treasury, but, I regret to say, that it is impossible."
"Impossible!" repeated Holly.
"Yes, for the reason that there is no money in the treasury."
"No money!" The students looked at each other aghast.
"No," went on Dr. Churchill. "This legal complication regarding the missing quit-claim deed, and the lawsuit that has been started against the college, has made it necessary to spend considerable cash in the way of preliminary fees and court expenses. This has left the college without a running balance. In fact, Randall is poorer to-day than ever before. I might add that even money to pay the salaries of the faculty is lacking, and"
There was something like a gleam of hope in the eyes of the youths, but it died away when the president, with a grim smile added:
"I will state, however, that the gentlemen of the faculty regard the financial difficulty as only temporary, and are willing to continue on without pay for a while, so you see there is no excuse for not attending lectures," and the president's eyes twinkled. "But that is why," he continued, "I can not advance any sum for the rebuilding of the collapsed grandstand. I am very sorry, but it will have to stay down for the present."
"Then we'll lose on the Canton game," spoke Sid in a low voice, "lose money, I mean."
"It's too bad we can't have it put up," came from Phil, as the lads filed from the president's room, where the conference had taken place. "No use in having a meeting, if we can't get the money."
"Yes, there is too!" cried Tom Parsons, suddenly.
"Do you think we fellows can raise enough cash by ourselves?" demanded Kindlings. "I wish we could, but we can't."
"We can raise enough for what I am going to suggest,," declared Tom.
"And what's that?"
"Enough for hammers and saws and nails."
"And let the grandstand rebuild itself?" asked Phil, incredulously.
"No!" cried Tom, eagerly. "We fellows can rebuild it ourselves! I know how to handle tools, and I guess lots of the other fellows do, also. We can do it if we try. We haven't got the money to hire carpenters, so we'll be carpenters ourselves! We'll build that grandstand!"
"Hurrah for Carpenter Tom!" cried Dutch Housenlager, doing a Highland fling down the long dormitory corridor.
"I don't know the difference between a beam and a joist, and a two-by-four is as illuminating to me as a Greek root would be to a baby," said Kindlings, "but I'm with you, fellows!"
"So am I!" cried Frank Simpson. "I worked in a lumber camp once, and"
"Say, is there anything you didn't do?" asked Holly, as he thought of the hazing. "You're all right, Simpson. You can carry the two-by-fours for Kindlings."
"Make him carry the beams and joists," suggested Phil. "He'll do for that, all right."
Eagerly talking of the new idea, the boys gathered in the room of our heroes, and such a lively meeting was in progress that Proctor Zane was forced to call an adjournment, though he was very decent about it, and, hearing of the plan announced that he would amend some of the college rules, to enable the amateur carpenters to work at night, by means of powerful arc lights.
"Hurrah!" cried the lads, and Proctor Zane was cheered for one of the few times in his life. He seemed to like it, too.
A meeting of the athletic committee was called for early the next day, and the plan of having the lads do the carpenter work was discussed in all its details. There was some money available for tools, and it developed that, as Tom had said, many of the students were handy with them, some even having done carpenter work in their vacations to earn tuition money.
One of the janitors had once been a builder, and he offered to show the boys how to do the work properly, so that it would be safe.
"It will be almost as good as football practice for us," declared Tom, when he and his chums went to town to buy the tools and nails.
"It will keep us on the jump, if we get it done in time for the Canton game," declared Phil.