CHAPTER XXII
THE LAST OF PREP HALL
Sheridan School's main building was shaped like a "U." Beginning as athree story brick building it had grown, rather like Topsy. Wings hadbeen added as the school grew. The original building which had been theold Seminary for young ladies was now only one long side of the "U."Mimi knew it as Prep Hall. The back end of the original first floor wasthe dining hall. The one story kitchen had been tagged on later.
She knew, too, that the whole ell of Prep Hall was so old it was aregular fire trap. Since this was the last year for preparatorystudents there had already been talk of tearing this old ell down.Plans for remodeling had been submitted to Dr. Barnes. As soon as theswimming pool was finished, modernizing Prep Hall was the next thing onthe building program.
For one terrifying moment Mimi stood transfixed, holding tight to thecolonial railing of the roof. She strained forward. The smoke wasrolling now. She did not want to broadcast a false alarm. She must besure. When she first glimpsed the smoke she thought the cooks might bestarting breakfast fires in the old coal ranges. Any doubt she mighthave had, fled now. A blaze leaped skyward and Mimi acted.
As a complete picture of his past life runs through the mind of adrowning person, so in that frantic moment of hesitation a completeplan of what she must do electrified Mimi into action.
Without grabbing her terry cloth robe or without awakening the girls onthe roof whom she knew were safe for the time being, she leaped throughthe window. Two things she must do and every second's delay could meanthe loss of life and property.
First she must reach the office!
Through the window, out the door of Tumble Inn, patter, patter down thehall to the first stairs. So far so good. She knew every inch of theway. Taking two steps at a time she reached the landing safely. Buthere she stumbled.
Overstepping the first step of the next flight, she fellbumpety-bumpety-bump all the way to the bottom, like the garbage cansin Green Cap Week. When she was smaller she had got spankings forplaying on the stairs and bumping from top to bottom very much like herpresent sitting down manner.
The instant she touched the first floor, she fled to the office. Notime to count bruises now.
As she feared, the office was locked. There was only one thing to doand Mimi did it. She had to get to the telephone. She could not wastetime fumbling in the semi-darkness for a hatchet or club. Doubling upher first as hard as she could, she swung with all her might and mainand smashed the glass window. The sound of shattering glass should haveawakened every sleeper but it only echoed dully through the desertedfirst floor.
Disregarding her smarting and stinging hand she clutched the telephone.
She did not know the number of the fire department!
She knew the fire drill formation perfectly. She could have gone out ofthe building from the study hall or from Tumble Inn blindfolded. Shehad enjoyed the fire drills all year. They broke into the drearyroutine. Knowing how important they were, she had heeded and learned,every instruction; but here was something the instructor hadoverlooked--the fire station telephone number.
Mimi was only stumped for a second, however. She had had other andfuller instructions on what to do in case of fire. She dialed theoperator, and, with great effort, kept her voice clear so there couldbe no misunderstanding.
"Operator, operator," Mimi said. She must keep cool and say distinctly_where_ the fire was, instead of merely yelling "Fire, Fire" as mostpeople did when the operator answered.
"Please report a fire. Sheridan School. Prep Hall."
"Fire--Sheridan School--Prep Hall--" the operator repeated tersely. Thedrowsiness left her voice on the first word.
"Right," Mimi affirmed; then without waiting to hang up the receiver,she flung the telephone from her and was off on her second and moreimportant task. Any person, neighbor or someone out in the country,might see the blaze and turn in the fire alarm but she, Mimi, was theonly person awake and she was the one who must arouse the wholedormitory. She had known this before she left the roof. She had notwasted a step or a second. From the broken office window she ran asfast as she could and pounded loudly on Mrs. Cole's door.
"Mrs. Cole! Mrs. Cole," she called loudly. "Fire! Fire!"
The instant Mrs. Cole answered she was on her way again. With allspeed, she must reach the basement--and set off the alarm bell!
The corridors were long and dark like some of the passages in MammothCave. On she ran and then down, down, down the back flight of stairs tothe basement. With a steady hand she threw the alarm switch.
Not until after the fire was over did Mimi understand the risk she ran.The janitor's part of the basement where all the bells were was _underthe kitchen_! But none of this now; she had still another task. Shemust rouse the girls. She knew how soundly some of them slept. She hadseen Betsy sprawl across the bed after a soccer game and sleep throughnoise which Cissy would say was "loud enough to wake the dead." No onemust be left asleep now. No one!
As she came up the steps out of the basement she could smell smoke.Soon the crackling and popping could be heard.
Amid all the confusion which followed Mimi coolly and systematicallyraced up one corridor and down the other, opening doors, shoutingnames, and making sure all beds were empty. She did not pass up a Prepdoor.
Lights were appearing. Girls were clinging to each other crying. Somegrabbed armfuls of clothes as they fled; others carried dresserdrawers, or weekend bags and were spilling things leaving a trail oflingerie and toiletries behind. Once Mimi stumbled in a pile of clotheswhich had been dropped. They tangled her feet but she shook them free.She must go on--and on!
All was chaos. Not a single instruction which had been given duringfire drills was carried out by the frightened girls. Startled out oftheir sleep by the most dreaded cry of all--"Fire, fire!"--they werepanic stricken. To get out quickly was their only thought. Some jumped.A few used the rickety old fire escapes but most of them followedblindly after the first two who had run for the stairs.
Mimi had begun her room search on the third floor and was working down.By the time she had reached the third floor from the basement her hearthad been pounding wildly but she did not check her speed. The smoke wasthick as fog. It burned her eyes and gagged her.
"Gretchen, are you out?"
She saw the empty bed.
"Caroline, fire!"
Mentally she checked off another empty bed.
She was tottering now but she was nearly through. Two more rooms andshe would run outside herself. Could she make it?
Crash! Crack! Screams! Sirens!
Unaware that she was the object of a frantic search by the firemen whohad glimpsed her pajama-clad little figure racing wildly from room toroom, she finished her task. But where was the door? A great gust ofsmoke enveloped her. She put her hands in front of her and felt alongblindly, but her hands met solid walls.
"I am trapped," she cried frantically. "Help, help!"
Her breathing was becoming more and more difficult. When panic hit her,she became tired all over. Her legs wobbled. The arms which had flungopen fifty doors and the hands which had turned on the alarm bell wereuseless now. They could not find an exit. Her eyes were red and runningand she had squinted them to keep out the smoke until she could notopen them wide. She, who had never fainted in her life, feltconsciousness slipping away.
There must be air at the floor. "I'll lie down till I get some oxygenin my lungs. But suppose I can't get up? I'd be trampled to death.Oh--oh--please God--I must find a way out!"
As the great blackness bore down on her to crush her to the floor, itwas rent by a stream of water. Firemen were bringing their hose to playon this part of the building and a saving stream of water came inthrough the open door and sprayed Mimi's face.
There! There! A door---- Right by it all the time and couldn't find it."I--can--get--out!"
Wet pajamas clinging to her exhausted little body, the knuckles of herrig
ht hand bleeding, smoked and smeared almost past recognition, Mimistaggered from the crumbling building.
Somewhat revived by the hose bath--she had followed the hose stream toget out--the rush of outside air, fresh and free from smoke, clearedMimi's mind.
The girls on the roof! How could she have forgotten them! She hadturned to re-enter the toppling building when she was grabbed frombehind.
"Take it easy, kiddie."
The fireman's voice was kind and soothing but Mimi pulled and jerked.Feeling her resist and believing she was out of her head from fright,he lifted her in his arms. Mimi kicked her legs and screamed. All eyescentered on the struggle. Mrs. Cole rushed over and hugged Mimi,fireman and all! She was crying.
"I'm going back, I tell you!" Mimi screamed, shoving Mrs. Cole away."Mrs. Cole! Betsy! Madge! Jill!--the girls on the roof!"
With difficulty she sputtered out the story of the roof garden party.
"They're safe, every one of them--they jumped----" Mrs. Cole wasn't abit ashamed of the tears that were streaming down her pasty white face."You--you Mickey--M--Mimi--You are the only one we could not find!"
"Me?" She had to try hard to keep from laughing hysterically. "I knewabout the fire first. I turned in the alarm!"
Mimi cuddled against the fireman, and relaxed. She was tired, so tired.Her support gave way with her. At a sudden crash, and cries from therear of the building, the fireman dropped her like a hot potato. Shewas safe and he was needed elsewhere. Mrs. Cole took Mimi's arm and ledher over to where the rest of the girls huddled in the graying dawn.Many of them hugged Mimi. Sue and Chloe cried, but Betsy said:
"I knew you were all right but I couldn't make them believe me. I triedto make Sue be a hound and ferret you out by smell. She's so keen onthat mange cure she could have smelled it above smoke or----"
"Betsy, please, I can't k-k-kid now--I'm too----"
Mimi herself was crying now.
Silently the girls and resident faculty members stood on the front lawnand watched the flames gut the old wing of the building. Their clothes,books, and their personal valuables were going up in flames and theywere helpless. They were glad to escape with their lives. Only Mimi'sprompt, clear-headed action had made that possible. They did not knowthat yet, but when they did, they were deeply grateful. Tall flames,mountains of smoke, smashing glass, trucks pumping, great streams ofwater battering the walls. A fearsome, awful spectacle.
Now all heads turned the way the fireman had run who had held Mimi. Hewas returning now at a run, shouting orders to the waiting ambulanceunit. Some one was hurt.
Who could it be? the girls and townspeople who had gathered in greatnumbers asked each other. Every one connected with Sheridan was safeand accounted for, even the cooks and janitor.
The ambulance men were bringing some one on a stretcher. Police foughtback the crowd and cleared the way.
"Get back, you idiots. Make room! Make room!" Mimi could hardly keepfrom screaming. Daddy had taught her long ago _never_ to add to thecrowd and confusion of an accident. To help, one must go away from itrather than toward it, if help had already arrived. It was selfish andcruel to rush in merely to find out what was going on, when a life wasat stake.
Mimi could not see the details and she did not move closer to find out.Nor did she find out until the next morning that it was other than afireman hurt.
Breakfast, which consisted of fruit, cereal and milk served cafeteriastyle, because this morning Sheridan had neither kitchen nor diningroom, was in progress when Madge edged up to Mimi. The girls werestanding in groups eating. It was hard to recognize them in theirborrowed clothes. Things the college girls let them have swallowed mostof them.
"You didn't believe me last night, did you?"
"No, and I don't now. There couldn't be such a thing as death bells."
"That fireman who got hurt last night was twenty-nine years old. Themorning _Dispatch_ says so!"
"But he's not dead, only hurt."
"No but he's in the hospital and he may die!"
Mimi wavered. No, she wouldn't believe that, but no use to argue. Letit go. She couldn't change Madge and she had rather not talk aboutdeath bells. The most horrible night of her life was over and she wouldrather forget.