A DASTARDLY PLOT
In a moment all was excitement, confusion, panic. If Nan and Jo had not acted quickly, probably the gymnasium would have gone up in smoke.
As it was they, with Miss Romaine, a score of teachers, the head janitor and the other men about the place reached it in time to fight the fire with hand grenades and, eventually, conquer it.
Taken at the start, the fire was not allowed to gain much headway. It started in the north end of the gymnasium, insidiously crept along the woodwork, reaching for the heavily beamed ceiling.
Streams of chemicals played hissingly upon the flames, beating them down gradually but relentlessly. A great sigh of thankfulness greeted the defeat of the last feeble, sullen flame.
The janitor picked up a lamp from the debris.
"This is what started it, ma'am," he said, turning to Miss Romaine. "Some one must have been here with this thing lighted and then kicked it over in his hurry to get out."
Miss Romaine glanced at the faces of the girls, some frightened, some merely excited, and she suddenly assumed her air of authority.
"All the danger is over, girls," she said in a tone that did not permit of argument. "Go back to bed and to sleep at once. I will have no further discussion of this unpleasant happening to-night."
So it came about that the girls did not hear of the additional theft of articles from the gymnasium and the boathouse until the following morning.