"Grit! Through the window!" cried Dick in amazement. "Why—how——?"
"Ray went in after him!" called George Hall.
"There's the dog."
At that instant the cadet inside the powder house thrust Grit out of the window. The brute fell harmlessly in a heap on the grass, but sprang up a moment later and rushed toward the fire-fighting cadets.
"Here, old man!" cried Dick, and the dog went into a demonstration of joy, fawning all over his master, while the youth hugged the ugly but loving animal close in his arms, the hose being grasped by ready hands as he let go of it.
"Come out, Dutton, come out!" cried Major Webster. "Come out at once."
Hardly had he spoken than there sounded from within the powder house a dull explosion. It was not a hard one, and no evidences of it could be observed outside the structure. But the cadets and professors looked at each other in alarm, their faces lighted up by the dancing flames. They all knew what it meant.
"The beginning of the end!" remarked the colonel gravely. "Get back, everyone! I order it!"
"But Ray Dutton is in there!" cried Dick. "He may be injured and can't get out. I'm going to save him!"
The young millionaire sprang away. Grit started to follow.