“Why, hello, Paul! I thought you were going on the sleigh-ride!” returned Harry.
“None of our crowd are going, because Mrs. Masterson wasn’t able to chaperone us to-night. Instead we are going to have a candy-pull over at my house, and I came over to get you. So put your duds on and come along.”
At first our hero thought of refusing, then he reconsidered his idea, and accompanied the fellow who was later to be his most intimate chum to his home, where he found all the boys and girls who were to have been members of Viola’s sleighing party, even to Annabel; and pleasant, indeed, was the evening which he passed.
As they bade Paul’s mother and the boy good night and went out on the piazza, Mildred suddenly cried:
“Oh, look at that red spot in the sky!”
Instantly the others turned in the direction towards which the girl was gazing.
“It’s a fire!” exclaimed Misery. “It’s a bad night for one, too, with the wind blowing, and it’s so cold it will be hard to get any water.”
“Where is it? Why doesn’t someone give the alarm?” exclaimed several of the boys and girls.
“It’s over toward the bluff leading up to the school.”
“Perhaps it’s only a manifestation of the aurora borealis!” exclaimed Annabel.