CHAPTER XVII.
THE FIRE
It was nearly midnight when the boys came over the hill, and the half-moon was just sinking out of sight. They strolled down past the hotel, whistling a college tune in chorus. The hotel stood out, a big, black, indefinite object in the enveloping darkness, for the lights had been out for nearly two hours, and the guests were supposed to be all abed.
“Hulloa!” exclaimed Henry Burns, pointing to a faint gleam that shone from a basement window. “John Carr has forgotten to put out his lamps in the billiard-room. Old Witham will give him fits when he finds them burning in the morning. Wait a moment, and I’ll just slip in through this window and put them out for him. If the colonel should find them, just as likely as not he would discharge John for wasting five cents’ worth of oil.”
So saying, Henry Burns, with the best of intentions, shoved up the sash and crawled into the billiard-room in the basement.
The boys stood around the window, waiting for him to return, but one and all thrust their heads into the open window as Henry Burns suddenly gave a whistle of surprise.
“Say, fellows,” he called, turning the lights up stronger instead of extinguishing them. “Look what John Carr’s done. He’s left all the balls and cues out, instead of locking them up. Wouldn’t the colonel be furious? I’ll tell you what we’ll do. Old Witham always drives us out of the billiard-room, so we’ll just stop and play one game now and I’ll make it all right with John Carr. He wouldn’t care, and he will be glad enough to have things put to rights, so Witham won’t find them out in the morning.”
George Warren, as the eldest of the brothers, demurred at first. “We’ve been up to enough pranks this summer,” he said, “and we don’t want to get into any more trouble.”
“But we’re not going to do any harm,” persisted Henry Burns. “We’ll only play one game, just for the lark of playing at this time of night, and to get ahead of old Witham; and then we’ll put everything away shipshape and put out the lights, and no harm done.”
It did not take much argument to influence them; and in a moment they were all inside, each equipped with a cue, and engaged in the forbidden game. The time passed faster than they knew, and one o’clock found them there still.
But, late as it was, a most unusual hour for any Southport dweller to be astir and abroad, there were at least three individuals who were not abed and asleep; and with these three we shall have to do in turn.