“Fire! fire!” yelled Pepper and Jack. “The old boathouse is burning up!”
The alarm was soon a general one, and it was not long before Captain Putnam appeared upon the scene.
“I am afraid the old building is doomed,” said the master of Putnam Hall. He was the calmest man present. “The Hall hose will not reach to this spot. We can try our buckets, though.”
Some weeks before the boys had formed a bucket brigade, as it is termed, and they had the drill down to perfection. At the word from Captain Putnam they ran for their buckets and formed a line from the barn to the burning building. At the barn there was a big tub of water, and this was kept filled by some, while others passed along the buckets. Thus an almost steady stream of water was poured on the growing fire.
“I say, let us use snowballs!” cried one cadet, who was not in the bucket line, and in a twinkling the snowballs began to fly.
IN A TWINKLING THE SNOWBALLS BEGAN TO FLY
“We are going to get the best of that fire yet,” said Dale, passing the buckets to George Strong, who was throwing the water on the conflagration.
“It looks so,” answered the teacher.
It soon began to snow. The flakes were thick and wet, and this put an additional damper on the fire. Presently the flames died down and ten minutes later the last spark was extinguished; and the excitement came practically to an end.