"Shut up! Don't you mention smoking to anybody, or I'll just about half kill you!" hissed Slugger. "Now mind! not a word, if you know when you are best off!" and then he gave Codfish's arm such a twist that the little cadet screamed with pain.
Not to be suspected of what they had done, Slugger and Nappy mingled with the other cadets and did their full share in working on the lines of hose; but there were really more cadets than were needed for this labor, so they had little to do. Codfish also tried to take hold, but he trembled so that he soon had to give up, and then he ran back into the Hall, where he sat on the stairs, half sobbing.
By this time there was little more than smoke to be seen in the upper part of the gymnasium. The teachers and the cadets still continued to play water into the building. Some now began to open all the windows, realizing that a draft could not do much harm. Then, as the smoke began to clear away, they began an investigation, so that the last spark of the fire might be extinguished.
"I guess it's about out," announced Professor Brice presently. He had worked hard, and his face and hands were streaked with black.
"I think you are right, Brice," answered Colonel Colby, who had also mounted to the upper floor. "We may as well bring up a few buckets of water, and then turn off all the hose. There is no use of flooding the building, especially in this cold weather. As it is, I think the boys will have a skating pond below by morning," and he smiled faintly.
"Do you suppose this started from the heating plant?" questioned the teacher.
"Not at all!" was the low reply. "But we won't speak about that now, Brice," added Colonel Colby significantly; and thereupon the young teacher understood and said no more about the matter.
The cadets were sent below, and Colonel Colby and Professor Brice, aided by a couple of the hired men, made a close examination of the spot where the fire had taken place. It had been confined almost wholly to three boxes, loosely filled with excelsior, and two barrels containing straw and waste paper.
"It was a mistake to put such inflammable material up here," said Colonel Colby to Mr. Crews, the gymnasium instructor.
"I realize that now, Colonel Colby," answered Silas Crews, and his manner showed how much the fire had upset him. "But, you see, it was this way. We got some of that new gymnasium material in only a couple of weeks ago, and we weren't altogether satisfied with it—if you will remember. I said something about sending it back. Well, it came in those boxes and barrels, and so I just put them up here, thinking that maybe we'd want to use them in sending the stuff back. If it hadn't been for that, I'd have cleaned the boxes and barrels out and burnt the stuff up."