"Turn out!"
The boys leaped to their feet, and the professor came tearing out of the bedroom, ran into the table, which he overturned with a great clatter of dishes, reeled backward, and sat down heavily on the floor, where he rubbed his eyes, and muttered:
"I thought that fire engine was going to run me down before I could get out of the way."
"Fire engine!" cried Frank Merriwell. "Who ever heard of a fire engine in the heart of the Florida Everglades?"
"Oi herrud th' gong," declared Barney.
"So did I," asserted the professor.
"I heard something that sounded like a fire gong," admitted Frank.
"Pwhat was it, Oi dunno?"
"It seemed to come from beneath the head of the bed in there," said Scotch.
"An' Oi thought I herrud it under me couch out here," gurgled Barney.