He, Braddy, ought not to stay round and hear all the arrangements for a celebration which was to be in his honor. The nine was supposed to keep modestly out of the way, and know nothing whatever about it.
"Come on, Bing!"
But Bingo didn't "come on," he has business of his own to transact. The Freshman fire, his first fire, must be a success, and he knew where a good fence was. Quick as thought he dropped behind his brother, and was soon lost in the crowd, then he made a break for the street. At the corner he met Dave Hunter.
"Hullo! where you going?"
It was a secret, but he told, and Dave, like "Ducky Daddies," "Cocky-locky," etc., in the old Grimm fairy-tale of Henny-Penny, said, "Then I'll go too."
It was a full hour later, and the Freshmen were crowding about the old cannon, round which a pile of boards, fence rails, barrels, etc., were stacked, all ready to light. The resources of the town had been about exhausted, and the raiders were returned "bringing their sheaves with them." Roman candles and fire-crackers still went off at intervals in different parts of the campus, but they were only a side issue, the fire was the real business of the evening. The college was there almost to a man, and the cheering for and by '98 was "frequent and painful and free," or would be to one whose nerves were below par; to a healthy enthusiast it was soul-stirring and exhilarating.
Even the upper classmen added their thunder from well-trained iron lungs when the old wagon containing the victorious nine came up, dragged by a lot of wild, reckless, muscular Freshmen. Only true heroes could so calmly have imperilled their lives, for these bold young spirits were actually standing up and singing, as the wagon lurched and pitched and wobbled over curbstones, and down into gutters, and up again. But fortune favors the brave, and they reached the fire without a single accident, and were halted at the cannon's mouth in the front row. Everything was ready, yet there seemed to be some hitch. The crowd began to get impatient.
"What's the matter?" they cried. "Why don't you light her up?"
"We're waiting for Braddy," came back the answer.