Dr. Raymond and the rest of the teaching staff came up just then to make arrangements for the sleeping quarters of the boys who had been turned out of their rooms. Some were doubled up in rooms that had been left intact, and others were taken over in the adjoining wing, where some spare cots were installed for their use. None of the boys felt that they could sleep any more that night, but they obeyed orders just the same, and as a matter of fact all of them were asleep long before morning dawned.
Having seen them all provided for, the doctor went back to his quarters, but not without first having a word with Bobby and Fred.
“Again the school and myself are under a debt to you, Blake,” he said. “You have shown again the quality of which I spoke to you two weeks ago, that of quick thinking. There is no doubt that if you and Martin had not acted as you did in regard to Cartier, he would have died in the flames.”
“I never thought much of nightmares,” Bobby said to Fred, later on, as they crept into bed, “but I sure am glad I had that one. That dream alligator that nearly had his teeth in me was the best friend I ever had.”
“Yes,” agreed Fred, “and I’ll tell the world that he was the best friend Rockledge School ever had.”
CHAPTER VIII
AN UNEXPECTED VACATION
The boys bad been told before they retired that there would be no lessons the next day, and the breakfast hour was put one hour later, to the satisfaction of all but Pee Wee, who was inclined to question the wisdom of the arrangement. To put off a meal on any pretext was to him a violation of the proper order of things. Still, as it occurred to him later, there was some satisfaction in the thought that he would have a better appetite and be able to eat more; and this reconciled him to the situation.
Of course there was only one topic of conversation among the boys during and after the meal. The fire had banished everything else from their minds and conjecture was rife as to what changes if any it would make in the routine of the school. The incidents of the night were gone over from every angle, and the part that Bobby and Fred had played was more discussed than any other feature.
The boys made an inventory also of their personal losses. In most cases that was not great. One or two had forgotten watches or scarf pins in the confusion, but cherished the hope that some of these might be found in the debris when the ruins had time to cool.
“I hope you didn’t lose your joke book, Billy,” remarked Shiner.