The Boys of Columbia High on the River/Chapter 10
CHAPTER X
A PLOT FRUSTRATED
"Fire! get busy here, Bones! Where's the buckets? Turn in the alarm!"
"Oh! they've gone and done it! The house is burning up! Our boats will all be lost!"
Buster himself was compelled to find the telephone, and clap the receiver to his ear as he shouted:
"Give me fire headquarters! This is the boat club house, and its on fire! Be quick!"
No reply coming he was staggered with a sudden terrible suspicion.
"They've even gone and cut the wires, so we can't telephone for help. Here, take a bucket and pitch in, Bones! Perhaps we can keep it down till some of the boys come. And yell for all you're worth while you work!"
The two boys dashed out of the house. What they saw thrilled them, for one side of the fine building seemed to be a mass of flames, which were eagerly eating up toward the roof.
There was, fortunately, plenty of water close at hand. All they needed were the ready arms to pass the buckets. Both boys began to shout at the top of their voices:
"Fire! fire! help here!"
Another voice took up the refrain from a nearby house. Then a second joined in further off. The town was being slowly aroused; but meanwhile their feeble efforts did not seem to be holding the fire in check to any appreciable extent.
"Hark! there goes the alarm!" shrilled Buster, as the sudden clang of the fire bell awoke the echoes of the July night.
"Hurrah! we may save it yet! Here comes a feller on the jump!" gasped Bones, who had been making a human hinge of himself with constant dipping into the river, and then tossing the contents of his bucket on the furious flames.
There were now three of them, and the reinforcement counted heavily. The fire did not seem to gain so rapidly now. Eagerly Buster looked for the coming of others, who would lend willing hands. It was a thrilling moment in the lives of those two lads, fighting to save the highly-prized boats with which Columbia High expected to do herself proud on the coming day.
Others began to reach the scene. Everybody pitched in with a vim to do something. As many buckets as could be pressed into service were put to work. Some of the boys even made their way into the building to snatch the boats out.
"Take care, there's a hole in the middle of the floor!" shouted Buster.
Three fellows found it immediately, and were plunged into the water, to add to the confusion by their cries of terror.
"Here comes the machine!" arose the shout; and the fire engine horses appeared in view, galloping toward the scene of confusion.
Fully five score of persons were now on the ground, and willing hands took hold to put out the fire. Water was being dashed on the side of the building from all sorts of available utensils, even to a dishpan borrowed from the back door of a neighboring house.
Buster had rushed into the building as soon as he heard the shrieks of the trio who had gone down into the river. There was no great trouble in fishing the unlucky ones out of their bathtub.
Once the engine started to play upon the flames, the firemen made short work of things. Lanterns were brought into service, to ascertain just how much damage had been done.
"Are the boats injured?" boys flung at each other, as they crowded into the building; for that seemed to be the one thing that concerned every Columbia High School student just then.
"Not a bit. The flames never ate through the walls. They were made especiallly to guard against fire. It's all right, fellows!" came a reassuring answer; and as Roderic Seymour was the one who spoke, the word of the senior carried weight.
At that a cheer went up, three times three! The dreadful suspense had been relieved, and light replaced gloom.
"How did it happen. Was it an accident, or did some fellow set it afire on purpose; we want to know?" they continued to demand.
"Where's Buster? He ought to be able to tell us. Make him speak!"
Poor Buster was feeling very limp just then, what with his tremendous labors, added to the excitement. Still, he was game to answer that call.
"I'm here, fellows. You can just make up your minds this was no accident. I know, because I knocked one of the scoundrels into that hole in the floor with this fine old stuffed club!" he declared, as they dragged him forward.
"How did he get in?" demanded Paul Bird.
"Through a window; I found it open when the alarm went off and woke me up."
"Woke you up, eh? What made you sleep if you were going to watch?" asked one, and Buster glared at the speaker, for it was Lef Seller, looking as brazen as ever.
Buster had fully believed that it had been Lef whom he had knocked down; but now he realized that this must be a mistake.
"Come off, will you? What would we want to both sit up for? It was my turn to get a couple of hours' sleep. Bones can tell you himself what he was doing. But I knocked the feller into the trap, and he went souse into the river," he declared, with more or less vehemence.
"Perhaps he's in there yet!" suggested some one.
"Well, you better take a lantern and look; but I don't think you'll find him. He's had plenty of time to crawl out and skip. I wish I knew who he was!" and Buster glared in the direction of Lef as he spoke.
Other eyes followed his meaning look, so that Lef could not help taking notice of the fact.
"Here, what you looking at me that way for? Think I'd be mean enough to be in a game like this? Feel my clothes if you want to; ain't a bit wet, eh? Well, just go and chase yourself, Billings. I was home and sleeping when I heard the bell go bang. I run here like mad, and I've helped as well as the next feller. Get that, do you? Then look the other way!" said Lef angrily.
"More than likely it was some fellows from Clifford," remarked a voice.
"Hello! Frank, that you? Wondered why you didn't show up before," cried Paul.
Frank was keeping watch of Lef. He felt sure that he had seen a shade of bitter disappointment cross the face of the other.
"He's the one who put those benches across our walk. He wanted to trip me up if I dashed out in a hurry, and perhaps hurt myself badly. But how did Lef know there would be an alarm? Is he responsible for this nasty job here?"
That was what Frank was saying to himself. It was an unpleasant thought, and he did not want to believe it. Lef had been guilty of many mad pranks, but it did not seem possible that he would let his private grudge against a schoolmate urge him on to such a criminal deed as this burning of the boat-house.
And so Frank was sincere when he declared that he firmly believed some outsiders who were interested in heavy wagers made against Columbia winning the boat races, were responsible for the outrage.
Still, the fact of Lef arranging that trap before the door of the Allen house puzzled him. Why should the other have any idea that there might be an alarm during the night, that would bring Frank from his home in great haste?
Only by the greatest of luck had Frank escaped serious injury when he plunged headlong over the obstruction. Several slight contusions on his shoulder and shins were apt to remind him of his adventure for some little time to come.
A seething crowd had gathered around by this time. Excited voices arose on every hand, commenting bitterly on the contemptible nature of the recent attempt to keep Columbia out of the races.
"This shows that they're afraid of us!" exclaimed one boy, angrily.
"Hold on, Cart, don't go to accusing the boys of Clifford or Bellport High for such a low-down trick as this," said Frank, quickly.
"What! don't you think they did it, Frank?" queried the other, in astonishment.
"I do not. I know most of the fellows in their athletic associations, and they're not the kind to crawl down to anything like this. If it wasn't done by some Columbia reptiles then you can lay it to that element always making wagers on our games. This ought to settle them with all good citizens," replied Frank.
"It sure will. The sooner we're rid of that gang the better all around. To win money they'd even try to bribe some poor chap to throw a game. Here's Chief Hogg come to ask questions, and make an investigation. Buster, toe the mark, and tell him everything."
It was deemed advisable to put a police guard over the building after that, and there were some who declared such a thing should have been done in the beginning.
Buster and Bones were allowed a chance to go home in order to secure some sleep. On the way the former gave his private opinion of a fellow who would keep such a lax watch that a window could be opened, and an intruder prowl about the premises without discovery until the sudden alarm of the clock startled him.
"Don't think I was off more than a minute," grumbled Bones, in self defense; "and even if we'd been awake it wouldn't have stopped them from piling up that stuff on the outside, and setting fire to it. You just keep mum on that subject, Buster. I did the best I could to help you out, because I knew you was afraid to stay there alone, after reading all them ghost stories."
Buster wisely decided that perhaps it would be best to let the matter drop, especially since after all no great damage had been done, as none of the boats were injured in the least.
"I wish I knew who that fellow was I knocked into that hole?" remarked Buster, for the tenth time, as they walked toward home at three o'clock in the morning.
"You never will. He slipped away in the crowd. But what was he doing inside the boathouse while the others were building that fire outside?" queried Bones.
"I was thinking that perhaps he wanted to make sure nobody was inside. It was bad enough to burn the boats; but they didn't want to hurt some of us fellows. But anyhow, I soaked him a good one, and that tickles me some!" laughed Buster.