NO LOSS WITHOUT GAIN
The few rods that lay between Patsy and the dormitory seemed miles.
Flinging open the massive front door at last, she bounded into the
corridor. To her dismay, no sounds of excited voices or running feet
were to be heard. She could not even smell smoke.
Stopping only long enough to peer into the big living room which was
deserted of occupants, she dashed down the long corridor to the heavy
double doors leading into the dining room. As she swung one of them
open and darted through, a strong smell of burning wood assailed her
nostrils.
Instantly she turned and fled back to the corridor. Under the stairs
hung a large gong. Next second it was clanging out its harsh command to
fire drill. Like every other modern institution of learning, Yardley
had its fire drill in which every person in the dormitory was obliged
to take part.
[Illustration: “We--can’t--go--that--way,” declared the matron in a
choking voice.]
Patsy’s next act was to dart to the telephone. Though her voice
quivered with excitement, as she asked Central to turn in the fire
alarm, her head was clear and her mind in good working order. She hoped
her classmates would show no signs of panic.
Soon the steady tramp, tramp of feet announced that the fire drill
was in progress. Down the stairs and into the main corridor filed a
procession of girls, some fully dressed, others with long coats thrown
on over half-fitted negligees. Though a buzz of voices filled the air,
the girls lined up on each side of the corridor in orderly fashion to
await further developments.
By this time the matron, Mrs. Ainslee, had gained the corridor and had
promptly taken charge of the situation.
“The back of the dormitory is on fire!” were Patsy’s first words to the
matron. “I saw it from the campus. I had gone out to mail a letter.
I rang the gong and turned in an alarm to Central. It’s very serious
on account of the way the wind’s blowing. If the Alden Hose Company
doesn’t get here quick the fire will spread so fast that nothing can
stop it. I think we ought to get together all the buckets we can and
fight it until the fire engines get here.”
“A good plan,” approved Mrs. Ainslee. “Girls,” she called out in a
clear, resonant voice, “the rear of the dormitory is on fire. First
I’m going to call the roll to be sure you are all here. Next I need
twenty-four girls, eight to each floor, to go after the fire buckets. I
will ask the first twelve on each side at this end of the lines to go.
Stop at the second floor bath room and fill up the buckets. We may be
unable to get to the kitchen faucets. As soon as the buckets are filled
report here for duty. The rest of you will wait until these girls have
started upstairs, then file out of the house and onto the lawn.”
Turning to Patsy she said: “Stay here with me, Miss Carroll. I need you
for another purpose.”
With this she hurried to her office on the same floor, returning with
her register. The roll called and everyone responding, she directed her
attention to the bucket brigade. They were soon started in good order
for the stairs. As soon as the last girl had set foot on the stairs,
the two lines began to move toward the door. Following, Mrs. Ainslee
watched them safely outside, then returned to where Patsy stood
waiting.
“You and I will investigate the fire and see what can be done,” she
said briefly, and started down the corridor toward the dining room. In
spite of the heavy doors the smoke had now become noticeable even in
the corridor. Throwing open one of the double doors, a dense cloud of
smoke poured over both women, causing them to draw back in a hurry,
eyes and throats smarting.
“We--can’t--go--that--way,” declared the matron in a choking voice,
as she swung the door shut. “We’ll have to fight the fire from the
outside. I’m afraid we can’t do much. It seems to have gained a good
deal of headway in a very short time. I am going to ask you to stand
in the corridor, Miss Carroll, while I go outside. As the girls come
downstairs with the buckets, count them. Send them out doors and to the
rear of the dormitory. I shall be there to tell them what to do. When
the last one is safely out, then join me.”
Left briefly to herself, Patsy wondered what her chums thought of her
in her new position as assistant fire chief. She had seen them in the
line, but had had no chance to exchange a word with them. She knew
Beatrice to be one of the bucket brigade, and so waited impatiently
for her return.
“Oh, Patsy, it’s terrible!” Beatrice called down to her chum, as she
began the descent of the lower flight of stairs, bucket in hand. “I
got this bucket at the end of the hall near a window. I looked out
and saw the back of the dormitory. It’s a mass of flames! Unless the
fire company comes soon the whole place will go and we’ll lose all our
clothes and belongings. I managed to snatch my handbag and yours from
the chiffonier. One of the girls outside is keeping them for me.”
“You dear, thoughtful thing!”
Bee had now reached the foot of the stairs. Setting down the heavy
bucket, she paused just long enough to return the hug Patsy gave her.
Then she picked up her bucket and hurried on.
One by one the bucket brigade appeared, only to disappear out the
front door. Patsy kept careful watch until the twenty-fourth girl had
vanished. By this time the smoke in the corridor was steadily growing
more dense. She doubted if the brigade would be able to return for a
second supply of water. It was high time for her to be moving on, she
decided.
As she ran down the front steps of the dormitory and around the corner
of the building toward its rear, she could well understand why the
corridor had begun to fill with smoke. The rear of the dormitory was
now wrapped in flames.
Lined up as close to the fiercely blazing structure as they dared
stand, the members of the brigade were rapidly passing their buckets
on to half a dozen girls who, under Mrs. Ainslee’s direction, were
valiantly throwing the contents of the buckets on the flames.
The burning section of the dormitory was much lower than the main part
of the building, being only two stories high. It might as well have
been four stories for all the impression that the amateur fire fighters
could make on the flames. Endeavoring to dash the water upon the
conflagration from a safe distance, a large portion of it fell on the
ground.
While they toiled desperately at their hopeless task, the welcome
clanging of bells and the chug-chug of motors announced the arrival of
the Alden Hose Company on the scene.
With thankful hearts, the bucket brigade promptly vacated their posts
to make way for the firemen, who soon had a hose connected with the
nearest water main and playing vigorously upon the flames.
Despite their gallant efforts, the wind was against them and the
fire had gained too much headway prior to their arrival to be easily
quenched.
None of the Yardley girls ever forgot that night. Drawn up in a body
at one side of the campus they watched in terrified fascination the
conflict raging between fire and water.
It was between half-past nine and ten o’clock when Patsy discovered the
fire. It was after one in the morning when water finally reduced the
fire to a state of inactivity. At least two-thirds of the dormitory had
been demolished, leaving only the charred rafters. The front part was
still intact, due to the unceasing toil of the gallant fire fighters.
They would stick to their posts until there remained no further
possibility of the fire taking on a new lease of life.
Over in Yardley Hall a weary company of homeless girls were endeavoring
to make themselves comfortable for the rest of the night. Aside from
money and small valuables, which the majority had had forethought
enough to hastily snatch up when the gong had sounded, everything
belonging to them had gone up in smoke.
The pecuniary side of their losses was not troubling them. There was
hardly a girl at Yardley who had not come from a home of affluence. The
discomfort they were temporarily obliged to endure was another matter.
There was also much wild conjecturing going on among the castaways as
to what effect the disaster would have upon the school’s routine of
study.
Lounging wearily on a long oak bench in the corridor, the Wayfarers
were discussing the situation amid frequent yawns.
“I guess we’ll just have to stay here until morning,” Patsy was
ruefully informing her chums. “It’s after two now and we’ve no other
place to go. I’m awfully sleepy, too, but this bench is no place to
sleep.”
“Some of the girls have stretched out on the benches in the
class-rooms,” declared Mabel. “We might as well do the same. Where do
you suppose we’re going to eat breakfast? I’m hungry now.”
“We’re going to eat it in Alden,” announced Patsy positively. “The
minute daylight comes we’ll hop into my car and drive to the village.
I’m hungry, too. Wish it was morning now.”
“This is going to make a big difference in our Easter vacation,”
reflectively remarked Beatrice. “We’ll probably be allowed to go home
to-morrow. With the dormitory gone there’s no other place for us to
stay until it’s rebuilt. Of course it will be, and it won’t take very
long to do it. It isn’t as though it had been burned to the ground. The
frame work’s there and the front of it is all right.”
“How long do you suppose it will take to rebuild it?” asked Patsy
eagerly. Bee’s remarks had set her to thinking.
“Oh, five or six weeks,” hazarded Beatrice. “A gang of skilled workmen
can rebuild it very quickly.”
“Five or six weeks,” mused Patsy.
Of a sudden she straightened up from her lounging attitude, her gray
eyes very bright.
“Girls,” she said impressively, “do you know what this means to us?
It means Palm Beach after all. Miss Osgood has been foiled by fire.
Doesn’t that sound exactly like a movie title? Anyway, there’s no loss
without some gain. It’s not very pleasant to be driven from home in the
middle of the night and have all one’s clothes vanish into smoke. I’m
sorry it happened, of course. But since it _did_ happen, it certainly
didn’t happen for the worst, so far as the Wayfarers are concerned.”