Page:Boys of Columbia High on the River.djvu/105

 CHAPTER X

A PLOT FRUSTRATED

" get busy here, Bones! Where's the buckets? Turn in the alarm!"

"Oh! they've gone and done it! The house is burning up! Our boats will all be lost!"

Buster himself was compelled to find the telephone, and clap the receiver to his ear as he shouted:

"Give me fire headquarters! This is the boat club house, and itsit's [sic] on fire! Be quick!"

No reply coming he was staggered with a sudden terrible suspicion.

"They've even gone and cut the wires, so we can't telephone for help. Here, take a bucket and pitch in, Bones! Perhaps we can keep it down till some of the boys come. And yell for all you're worth while you work!"

The two boys dashed out of the house. What they saw thrilled them, for one side of the fine building seemed to be a mass of flames, which were eagerly eating up toward the roof. Rh