The flames were beginning to crackle now, and the fire seemed likely to be a bad one.
Suddenly Socker, who was running about doing nothing, looked at the boiler and cried out:
"Run! Everybody run! The safety valve has caught, and the boiler will blow up! Run! Run!"
The boys needed no second warning. Jack paused for a moment, for the stream from his extinguisher was beginning to quench the flames, but as he saw Socker fleeing from the room, and as he reflected that it would be dangerous to remain, he turned and fled, carrying the apparatus with him.
"Everybody out!" cried Socker. "Get 'em all out! The boiler will blow up!"
The lads, lightly clad, fled through the basement door out into the night. The snow, which had ceased that evening, had started in again, and the storm was howling as if in glee at the plight of the students of Washington Hall, who were driven from their beds by fire.
"Telephone for the town fire department!" cried Dr. Mead, who had been apprised of the fire. He, like all the others, was out in the storm, with a few clothes he had hastily donned.
"They can't get in the boiler-room to fight the fire!" cried Socker.
"Because the boiler will blow up. Something is wrong with the safety valve, and there are two hundred pounds of steam on. The boiler is only meant for one hundred."
"How did the fire start? What made the safety valve get out of order?" asked the principal.
The group of students and teachers, standing in the storm, could now see the bright flicker of flames in the boiler-room. "I don't know," replied Socker. "I was asleep in front of the boiler, waiting to put some more coal on, when all of a sudden I smelled smoke."
"How long before the boiler will go up?" asked Dr. Mead anxiously. "I have some valuable books I must save."
"Don't go back!" cried Socker. "It's liable to go up any minute!"
Dr. Mead returned to the waiting group, his face betraying intense excitement.
"We must get the fire out!" he cried. "Can't some one send word to the village?"
"There's a telephone in Mr. Raspen's house, about half a mile away," volunteered Sam. "I'll run there."
He started off, and just as he did so a series of alarming cries broke out at one of the upper corridor windows of the school.