AN ALARM IN THE NIGHT
The day passed as usual, Percival saying no more about trying to
discover the miscreants who had sought to injure Jack's boat, and
Jack being too busy to think of it.
That evening they had visitors from a fine house in the neighborhood,
the owner of which, quite a wealthy man, complimented Dr. Wise on
the good character of the boys, adding in rather a pompous manner:
"I must say, Doctor, that since you have been encamped on the river
I have had nothing to complain of on account of your boys. Most
boarding school boys are inclined to be mischievous, and to cause
a good deal of annoyance to persons living in the neighborhood, but
I must say-----"
"The Academy is not an ordinary boarding school, Mr. Vanderdonk, and
the character of the young gentlemen in my charge-----"
"I beg your pardon, sir, but your pronunciation of my name shows
that you do not quite understand the way it is divided. It is Van
der Donk, with an equal emphasis upon each syllable, not Vanderdonk,
with the accent on the first. I am most particular about the
pronunciation of the name, which is that of one of the earliest
settlers of the Hudson valley, and a very distinguished one, I may
say. I am exceedingly proud of my origin, pardonably so, perhaps,
but still most proud."
"Dr. Wise does not care anything about genealogy, Father," spoke
up Miss Margaret, daughter of the proud descendant of the Van der
Donks, "and you should not have spoken of the Academy boys as
boarding school boys. They attend a military Academy, the fame of
which is as great as that of your ancestors. Everybody along the
Hudson valley knows the Hilltop boys and any young gentleman might
be proud to be one of them."
Miss Margaret was a very pretty girl, a bit spoiled, perhaps, but
the idol of her father and the puzzle of her mother, who wished her
to be a young lady of society, and was greatly grieved because she
preferred doing something by which she could earn her living if
necessary.
"Far from saying anything against the character of the Hilltop boys,
my dear," said the father, "I must say that I find them a very fine
set of young gentlemen. Why, we have not had our lawn tramped over
by them, nor our fruit trees pilfered, nor have we suffered from
any annoyances which boarding school boys are prone to commit upon
neighbors. I am really-----"
"Why, Father, you speak as if the boys were from a primary school,
and had not learned the first rules of manners," laughed Margaret
gaily. What do you expect, Father dear? That the boys shall be
young ruffians?"
"Well, perhaps not that, my dear," replied Van der Donk loftily, "but
the city boys who come out here-----"
"The poor fellows never saw a tree before in their lives, and
they just wanted to make love to them," interrupted Margaret,
again laughing in the gayest fashion. "Could you blame the poor
unfortunates for wanting to shin up them and pick peaches and
apples and everything else? The only fruit they had ever seen
was stale and on city stands, and when they saw the real article
it was no wonder that they wanted it. You could not blame them."
Then Miss Margaret admired the boats, and accepted Jack's invitation
to take her out on the river, her father and mother accompanying
her, of course, and Percival going along to talk to the old folks
and give Jack a chance to devote himself to the young lady.
Jack was quite taken with the girl whom he considered very natural
and a good deal better company than her father who was forever
trying to impress everybody with the renown of the Van der Donks,
past and present, and after the company had gone Dick said to him:
"Very pretty girl, Miss Margaret, and has lots of sense, but what
a tiresome old bore that father of hers is."
"Yes, indeed," laughed Jack, "but there and many persons who parade
their blue blood and fine ancestry before the world just as much
as he does. What is he, pork merchant or something like that?"
"Pretty good, Jack," said Percival with a grin. "He was a butcher
at one time, but don't mention it if you don't want to earn his
everlasting scorn. It is never spoken of. He is one of the wealthiest
men along the river, and employs a man to do nothing but cut off
his stock coupons. They may invite us to the house, although they
are a very exclusive sort and are supposed to associate only with
millionaires, and the descendants of the oldest and best families."
"The girl does not seem to have any of that nonsense," said Jack,
"and she is really very pleasant company. By the way," with a
smile, "she did invite me to the house, but I guess you did not
hear it."
"Well, well, you are coming on, Jack!" exclaimed Dick. "Of course
she would invite you. Why not?"
"And she asked me to bring you, Dick," with another chuckle. "That
is all right, too, isn't it?"
"Why, of course!" and Dick grinned again. "We will go as soon
as we can, Jack."
The visit to the fine house back of the river was made sooner than
the boys anticipated, and in a most unexpected and unusual fashion.
It was about twelve o'clock at night, and everything was quiet
in and about the camp when all at once there was a wild alarm,
a sudden ringing of bells and shouting of voices, and Bucephalus
tore through the camp shouting at each tent:
"Wake up, sah, dere am a big fiah, wake up!"
Jack and Percival were the first to be aroused, and to run out of
their tent at the sudden alarm.
"There is a fire somewhere!" exclaimed Jack, smelling smoke and
seeing a light in the sky.
"It is up at Van der Donk's," cried Percival. "That is the direction,
I am sure. Hurry and get dressed, Jack. We may be needed."
Other boys were now coming out, asking questions, staring this way
and that, rubbing their eyes or standing in a bewildered fashion,
and wondering what all the commotion was about.
A messenger came running into the camp from the big house asking
for help to put out the fire, which had just been discovered, and
which had already gained considerable headway.
The fire was, indeed, at Mr. Van der Donk's, and it was feared that
the fine mansion with its costly furnishings would have to go, as
there was no fire engine company within a mile or more, and it
would be hard to get word to them at this time.
"Stir yourselves, boys!" cried the little colonel, bustling about
half dressed. "We can at least form a bucket brigade. Form the
lines quickly, Percival, and get the boys to moving."
Jack, Dick and others quickly got the boys out, and, not more than
half dressed, most of them, they quickly formed in good order, and
went on the double quick out of the camp and toward the big house.
Every boy had a bucket to draw water from the river for washing
purposes, and now they each seized one and went on the run toward
the house.
It was a matter of a few minutes only to reach it, and once there
Jack and Dick formed them into a double line reaching from the
house to the well, and to an artificial pond on the grounds.
Once the line of buckets got started the boys went into the house,
on the balconies and everywhere convenient, and the work went on
rapidly.
Bucket after bucket was passed to the boys at the end of the lines,
and passed back empty after their contents had been dashed upon the
flames, the work going on rapidly.
The boys had been at work nearly ten minutes and had done much to
stay the progress of the flames if not to subdue them when a fire
company from Riverton arrived, and with a lot of noise and bustle,
but with very little system, got to work to put out the fire.
Then their engine would not work, orders were misunderstood or not
obeyed, and there was a great deal of confusion, during which the
Hilltop boys worked steadily on and soon began to show the effects
of their efforts, the flames being under control in many places
and entirely out in a few.
Jack was hard at work taking bucket after bucket, and throwing
water on the flames that poured from a corner of the piazza roof
when Margaret ran up to him, almost fainted in his arms, and gasped:
"My baby brother! He is in the room up there in the extension. No
one has thought of him. Save him, Jack!"
"Yes, just as soon as---here, Billy, Arthur, take my place. I must
go up to the extension."
One of the boys quickly took his place at the head of the bucket
line, and he ran inside and up the stairs to the room indicated
by Margaret, covering his mouth with his hand to keep from breathing
smoke.
He found the door, burst it open, and saw a bed in a corner with a
small child asleep.
Seizing the infant he wrapped it in the blankets, pressed it close
to him, and rushed out and down stairs to the open air.
"Here you are!" he cried, and a nurse ran up to him, and took the
baby from his arms.
"Oh, thank you, thank you a thousand times!" she cried hysterically.
"I do not know what I would do if the baby was lost. I shall lose
my place."
"H'm! thinking more of herself than of the baby!" sputtered Percival,
who had run to support Jack. "Are you all right, old man?"
"Yes, but it was a close shave. Look! the place is all in flames now.
It was lucky I went up there when I did."
"You are very brave," said Margaret, running up to him and seizing
his hand. "I do not know how to thank you."
"Never mind trying, Miss Margaret," said Jack simply. "I am glad
that I was able to do something. How was the child overlooked?"
"Every one supposed that the nurse had attended to him. She is
always with him at night. I suppose she was frightened and left
him, and then at the last moment thought of him."
The girl nearly fainted again in her excitement, and fell against
Jack's shoulder, Percival raising her and saying:
"There, there, brace up. It is all right, and Jack Sheldon has
shown himself a hero as he has done many times before."
"I shall never forget him!" exclaimed Margaret, and then her father
and mother took her away, and the boys continued their work.
The fire company was getting down to business by this time, but if
the Hilltop boys had not made a good beginning for them they could
have done nothing.
The fire was, before long, under control, and, although considerable
damage had been done, the house was saved.
The boys were presently marched back to the camp, and Jack and
Percival sought their tent, tired out and excited.
"Hello! what is this?" exclaimed Jack, as he was undressing, seeing
something drop out of his trousers pocket.
It was a lady's gold watch.