“Come on, fellows! We’ve got to put that out! There are extinguishers right in the vestibule, and we can break down the door. Lively! We’ve got to fight the blaze, and give the alarm! Ring the bell!”
They needed no other urging. Without another glance at the proctor, who had turned back toward the college, the four lads rushed silently toward the chapel. It was the work of but a moment for their sturdy shoulders to break in the outer door. Then, catching up several chemical extinguishers, they sprang in through the swinging inner portals. There was a lively blaze in the floor, just over the furnace.
“Douse it! Douse it!” yelled Tom, making a jump for it. “Someone ring the bell! Maybe we can’t control it!”
“I’ll do that!” yelled Simpson, and a moment later the deep, solemn tones of the great bell boomed out on the midnight air, while the hungry tongues of fire leaped higher and higher.
[CHAPTER XVI]
ANOTHER CLEW
With a hissing sound, the chemical streams from the extinguishers spurted upon the blaze. The fire died down around the edges of the big hole that had been burned in the floor, but in the centre there was hot flame.
“Can we get it under?” panted Sid, who, having emptied one extinguisher—a small one—ran after another.
“We’ve got to!” declared Phil, trying to shield his face from the fierce heat.