"I see, Crews. Well, after this, I want you to be careful and not do anything like that again."
"But I don't see how the boxes and barrels caught fire, sir," went on the gymnasium instructor perplexedly. "We had no light up here, and I don't see how they could catch from that little steam radiator over there. Why, that radiator hardly gets warm!" It may be mentioned here that the radiator had been placed on the upper floor of the gymnasium because there had once been talk of partitioning this part of the floor from the rest and making of it a meeting room for one of the cadet clubs.
"I'll make an investigation later," answered Colonel Colby. "For the present, as the steam heating plant seems to be in perfect order, you had better start the fire up well, so that we can dry things out here. Otherwise, all the pipes may freeze up, and that might give us more trouble than this fire."
"Yes, sir. I'll see to it, sir," said Silas Crews hastily. "And I'll have this whole place cleaned up the first thing in the morning. And I'll also have the broken windows fixed."
As soon as he returned to the school, Colonel Colby sent for Randy and Fred. He questioned them closely about the cigarette smoking indulged in by Slugger, Nappy and Codfish.
"You two are quite sure that you were not smoking yourselves?" he demanded sternly.
"We don't smoke, sir," answered Randy promptly.
"Did you light any matches while you were upstairs in the gymnasium?"
"No, sir. We had no need for a light," returned Fred.
"Have you any idea how this fire started?"