"Honest?"
"Sure thing! How did you ever learn to play the mouth organ so well?
I never imagined that instrument could produce such pretty music!"
"I can"t remember when I learned. Seems as if I always knew how,"
replied Judd, mightily pleased.
"Your popularity is a.s.sured now!" went on Cateye, "You"ll have a crowd in here every night."
"Not much!" sniffed Judd, "I"m no orchestra. They"ll be lucky if they hear another note for a week!"
"Well, let"s go to bed," yawned Cateye, sleepily, breaking off conversation. "I don"t know when I"ve been so tired. For heaven"s sake don"t snore to-night! I want to snooze."
"Trust me, pal," grinned Judd, "I"m not due to snore for two nights yet. You must remember, I"m runnin" on a fixed schedule."
Long after Judd"s steady breathing could be heard Cateye lay awake, thinking. He had tried to go to sleep at first but found sleep, for a time at least, impossible.
"Good old Judd," Cateye mused to himself, "I"m getting so I like you better every day. You may be awkward; you may be a rube as they say; but you"re a great scout just the same. Bob,..." (Here he addressed his friend as though he were present), "That was the best thing you ever did when you sent your green kid brother down to me. You knew how I could help him if I would and you knew what an inspiration he would be to me. This is a great old world and a great old college. What would life be without real friendship? What would one do without,--"
but musing, he dropped off into the land of dreams.
The campus clock had tolled twelve very methodically and stopped for an hour"s rest. Cateye was still sleeping soundly but for some unaccountable reason he was bothered with bad dreams. It seemed now as if Judd had turned into a raving maniac, had grasped him by the throat and was slowly, cruelly, choking him to death. Try as he might Cateye could not shake that death grip off. Judd was grinning crazily and saying: "That"s one of my failin"s; I always do grip too hard!"
Cateye"s breath began to come in short, quick gasps. He tried his best to cry out, to beg Judd to release him, but though his lips moved no sound came forth. Cateye tried to get free, but failed, and lost consciousness altogether.
Judd was also troubled in his sleep but his dreams were of a different nature. It seemed to him as if all the flies in the Universe were buzzing and crawling about on his face. They crept into his eyes and mouth and even ventured up his nose. The more Judd fought to keep them off the more numerous they became. Finally one big fly succeeded in gaining entrance to Judd"s mouth and buzzed down into his throat, almost choking him. He coughed and sat bolt upright. It was hard for him to think, to act, to breathe. Why! The room was full of smoke!
This discovery brought Judd to full consciousness with a jolt. He bounded to his feet and rushed over to Cateye"s bed.
"Cateye! Cateye! Wake up! The dorm"s on fire! Quick!"
No answer.
"Cateye!"
The smoke was stifling. There was no time to waste. Judd reached over and shook Cateye roughly. This not producing the desired affect he pulled Cateye out of bed and dragged him to the door, shouting, "Fire!"
as loud as he could. From the lower floor his cries were answered and a voice here and there took up the cry.
Judd opened the door into the hall but was met by such a blast of hot, suffocating smoke that he quickly shut it again. What was to be done?
Cateye was unconscious; the hallway was black with smoke. The window!
Judd rushed over to it and looked down. But the dorm was three stories high and they were upon the third story! Judd was baffled for a moment, then, diving under his bed he pulled forth a coil of knotted rope, one end of which was tied to a ring in the floor, provided for fellows in every room, in case of just such an emergency. He quickly made a noose of the free end, pa.s.sed this around under Cateye"s arm pits, and pushing him out the window, lowered him to the ground.
Half-clad figures were already dashing across the campus. At Judd"s l.u.s.ty hail some one took care of Cateye. Satisfied that his room-mate was now free from danger Judd turned about to see what else he could do. The smoke was steadily growing thicker.
He grabbed a towel, saturated it by thrusting it in a pitcher of water on the dresser, and wrapped it about his face; then he turned and rushed into the hall. At the further end, near the stairs, a little line of red flame sputtered. Judd started back, remembering the coil of hose at the other end of the hall, and wondering why none of the students had thought to use it before. But he stumbled across a body lying in the doorway of the room adjoining Cateye"s. He stooped and rolled the body over so that he could see the face. "Pole!" he gasped.
Stepping over Pole"s inert form and into the room, Judd saw Potts lying in a sitting posture, half-dressed, against the side of his bed!
Yells came from the floor below. "Go out the window, guys! We can"t reach you from below! What"s the matter up there? Get a move on!"
Judd secured the rope from under Potts" bed, made another noose and let Potts gently out the window. He looked out on the campus. A great crowd of students had now collected and more were coming from every direction. Some had lanterns.
"Tie one of those lanterns on and send it up!" shouted Judd, hoa.r.s.ely.
"Where are all the fellows? There"s only four accounted for! Ten more up there!" inquired an anxious voice from below.
"Don"t know!" responded Judd, pulling up the rope and taking off the lantern. "I"m lettin" "em down as soon as I find "em!"
Pole"s long, lean form was the next one to slip gracefully over the window sill to safety.
Then Judd rushed into the hall, lantern in hand. The line of fire had increased into a blaze. Two doors down, Reynolds, a soph.o.m.ore, dashed into the hall, clad in pajamas.
"Help!" he cried, wild-eyed. "Max is asleep! I can"t waken him.
Hurry, somebody, quick!"
"Make a noose of your rope an" let him out the window!" directed Judd, "then join me!"
Reynolds disappeared within his room.
Judd hurried to the end of the hall, uncoiled the hose, and turned on the water. At first a feeble stream came forth, but the flow of water steadily increased until it gushed out.
Another student, almost choked with smoke, darted into the hall.
"This is a fright!" he cried, on seeing Judd. "Ned is suffocated and I"m almost done for!"
At this moment, Reynolds, having disposed of his room-mate, dashed across the hall.
"Here, I"ll help you!" he called. "We"ll go to every room and clear the fellows out!"
"That"s the way to do it!" shouted Judd, encouragingly. "I"ll stay here an" fight this fire!"
Dragging the hose down the hall, wetting everything before him as he went, Judd soon neared the source of the fire. It seemed to be centered about the head of the stairs. The first room on the right at the top of the stairs had been used as a store-room. Its door was almost burnt away and inside it was a ma.s.s of flames.
A voice called up from the second floor.
"Thank G.o.d, somebody had brains enough to use the hose at last! We"re keeping the fire from breaking through but the building is full of smoke. Where is the blaze, in the store-room?"
"Yep!" replied Judd, his eyes smarting from the films of smoke and flying cinders.
"Everybody out up there?"
"Gettin" "em out!" Judd did not feel like talking much.
"Good! Keep the water on that blaze and we"ll have the fire out in about twenty minutes. More smoke than anything else!"
Reynolds and McCabe, the fellow he had helped, came running up to Judd.
"They"re all out!" cried McCabe. "Some job, though--most everyone suffocated. I never had such hard work getting awake in all my life!"
"Fetch the lantern," ordered Judd, pushing ahead into the store-room, having extinguished the fire about the head of the stairs.