“Three cheers for Hixley High!” shouted Gif Garrison, and they were given with a will. Then followed a cheer from the high-school students for those of the military academy, and then the crowd started to disperse.
“Oh, boys! some celebration to-night, what?” cried Randy Rover, and in the exuberance of his spirits he turned several handsprings on the grass.
“You bet we’ll celebrate!” exclaimed his cousin Fred.
“Say! we ought to shoot off the old cannon for this,” burst out Andy Rover. He referred to an ancient fieldpiece located on the front lawn of the school.
“Too dangerous,” interposed his cousin Jack. “That old cannon is too rusty, and it would fly into a million pieces.”
“Yes, but we might——”
It was a loud explosion coming from a considerable distance. The cadets, as well as all the others gathered on the ball field, looked at each other in surprise.
“What could that have been?” questioned Fred Rover.
“Sounds like a big cannon going off,” answered Walt Baxter.