CHAPTER XII
ALMOST A DISASTER
"I wouldn't risk it if I were you, Linda," Cora persisted.
"Oh, what's the use of talking to you!" exclaimed Linda angrily. "Youhaven't got enough sense to understand. I wish I hadn't told you a wordabout it," and she turned her back upon her chum and refused to sayanother word.
Cora, daring for once to be angry in her turn, left the room, and Lindasoon forgot her in gloating over the fright she was plotting for Nan.
The next morning after the eleven o'clock recitation had begun, Lindamade a pretext for leaving the room. She slipped down into the basementand then came back to her seat to await developments.
Meanwhile, the well-ordered routine of Lakeview Hall was proceeding asusual. The hands of the great clock in the English recitation roompointed to a quarter of twelve, and sidelong looks were being cast at itin pleasurable anticipation of the noon hour.
Bang!
Suddenly the crash of a loud explosion filled every one with terror. Thebuilding trembled to its foundations. Clouds of steam poured up from thebasement.
A wild cry rent the air.
"What's that?"
"Sounded like an explosion to me."
"Maybe it's an earthquake."
"Oh, see the smoke."
"The school must be on fire!"
"I'm going to get out of here!"
"Oh, yes, let me out; I don't want to be burnt alive!"
"Fire! Fire! The Hall is on fire!"
In an instant a panic was on. The teachers alone and some of the oldergirls kept their heads. The younger pupils rushed for the doors in afrenzy of fright.
The English teacher ran to one of the doors of her recitation room andheld it fast. But there was another door in the room, and toward thisthe frightened girls poured in a mad stampede. Just outside was thestairway with several sharp turns, and if the fugitives jammed up on oneof the landings it might mean maiming or death for some of them.
Quick as a flash, Nan Sherwood acted. She sprang to the danger door,slammed it shut and put her back against it. The tide surged up againsther. The younger girls clawed at her, scratched her hands, did all intheir power to force her away from the door. But she held her place withdesperation, though her clothes were torn, and her hands were bleeding.
Then through the crowd came Linda Riggs, bowling the smaller girls outof her way, her face as pale as death and her eyes almost bulging out ofher head with fright.
"Let me get out, Nan Sherwood!" she screamed, tearing at her with allher might. "Let me out! Let me out! I'll die! I won't stay here to beburned to death! Get away from that door! Let me get out!"
She tore at Nan and struck her in the face. She was a strong girl, anddoubly strong now in her rage and fright. But Nan braced herself andstill held the door, though her strength was fast ebbing.
Just then help came. Rhoda Hammond and Bess Harley caught hold of Lindaand pulled her away. They thrust her into a seat and held her down,while Laura and others of the older girls pacified and soothed theyounger ones.
The worst was over. The steam had thinned out and drifted away. Thepupils slowly went back to their seats at the command of the teacher andsat there, sobbing and moaning and weak from excitement. But the panichad been quelled.
Now that the crisis had passed, Nan felt her strength leaving her, andshe had scarcely enough left to get back to her seat. She almost fellinto it when at last she reached it.
Just then, Dr. Prescott, who from the moment of the first alarm had beenin other parts of the building, helping to quell the excitement, enteredthe room. She took her stand beside the teacher and held with her abrief conversation in which she learned what had occurred in the room.Then she spoke a few quiet words of assurance, telling the girls thatthere had not been, and was not now, any danger and warmly commendingthe bravery and self-control of the teacher and the older girls. Shethen dismissed them.
A refreshing half-hour in their rooms did the girls a world of good, andwhen the lunch gong sounded they gathered about the table in somethinglike their normal spirits. It is true that none ate very much, buttongues flew fast in comment and conjecture.
"How could it have happened?" was the many-times-repeated question. Wasit the janitor's fault? He must have forgotten to turn off the draftsperhaps, and the accumulated gas had exploded.
"Probably something was wrong with the safety valve," conjectured Rhoda,building better than she knew.
"Well," said Nan, as at last they rose from the table, "I hope they'llfind out what did cause it so that it will never happen again."
Naturally, there were no more lessons that afternoon. The girls gatheredin groups in the corridors or in each others' rooms excitedly discussingthe stirring events of the morning.
Nan lay upon the couch in her room, resting after her exertions, whenGrace, who had been telephoning to Walter, came in bursting with news.
"What do you think I heard downstairs!" she cried before she was fairlyin the room. "Doctor Beulah thinks that it wasn't an accident at all,but that the whole thing was caused by some one tampering with theboiler."
The girls all spoke at once.
"Oh, that couldn't be!"
"Who'd have any object in doing a thing that might have cost lives?"
"Isn't it awful!"
"Anyway," Grace went on as soon as they gave her a chance to speak,"they say that a heavy cord had been tied to the valve to keep it downand the broken ends of the cord were found hanging from it."
The girls were stupefied with astonishment.
Suddenly Laura started up and walked excitedly about the room.
"There's this much about it!" she exclaimed. "If some one did do itpurposely, Doctor Beulah will soon find out when it was done, and why itwas done--_and who did it, too_," she added significantly.
Laura knew by the expression on all the faces that the same thoughtthat had been in her mind when she spoke those last words was in theminds of the other girls, too.
If two very depressed and frightened girls in another room could haveheard them, their spirits would have sunk still lower.
"What did I tell you!" cried Cora wildly. "I begged you not to do it.And what did you make by it? Disgraced yourself and only made NanSherwood more popular than ever."
For once, Linda was silent. Cora made the most of her chance to get backat Linda for her high-handed treatment of her. She went on mercilessly:
"I was so ashamed of you," she said. "You made such a show of yourself.I didn't think you could be such a coward."
"Well," whined Linda, "I had more to live for, with all my money, thanthey had."
"That sounds like you," gibed Cora disgustedly. "Well, I pity you ifDoctor Beulah finds out you did it. And she will, you can just depend onthat."
In the meantime Bess, with some other girls, visited the basement tolook at the wreckage. When she came back she had a queer look on herface. She called Nan to one side.
"See what I found," she said and held out a small handkerchief with adaisy worked in one corner. "It was in the basement, close to thewrecked boiler."
Nan looked at the bit of linen and started. She remembered having seenLinda Riggs with such a handkerchief more than once.
"But Linda may have dropped it down there since the explosion," shesaid, quickly.
"I guess not!" drawled Bess. "This looks like a bit of real evidence tome."
"Oh, Bess--don't say anything--at least not till you are sure."
"I won't. But I'll remember it."
At this moment the gong sounded a summons to the main assembly hall, asummons which the girls obeyed with alacrity.
Knowing as they did that an examination of the steam plant had beengoing on, and their interest and curiosity quickened by the rumors theyhad heard, it was not long before every seat was filled and all eyesturned expectantly on Dr. Prescott. She sat there, rather pale, butdignified and well poised.
"What is she going to say?" each girl asked herself. The tension was a
tits height, the silence could almost be felt, when Dr. Prescott began tospeak.
"A thorough examination has shown us," she began, "that the steam plantis very badly damaged, though we hope that it may be possible to repairit in a short time. But the investigation," she went on, "has revealedthe almost unbelievable fact that there was no accident, but adeliberate plan or trick. Who conceived it or why, is not yet known, butwe will spare no effort to find the guilty party and bring him or herto punishment. I am very thankful that the injury was confined to thesteam plant and that no one was hurt, as might easily have been thecase.
"I am very proud of the presence of mind and bravery shown by theteachers and many of the students. Many of the younger girls and all theolder ones, with one shameful exception"--she paused, and all eyes wereturned on Linda, who sat cowering in her seat--"showed remarkableself-possession, and I take this opportunity to thank them all. Ihesitate to mention any names, but I must single out Nan Sherwood, who,by her prompt action and cool courage, contributed in so large a measureto avert the dreadful consequences of a panic."
With these words she dismissed them.
As the girls left the assembly hall they broke out into a Babel ofexcited comment. Dr. Prescott, crossing the hall on the way to heroffice, placed her arm over Nan's shoulders and thanked her personally.Nan's heart swelled at the earnest words of praise, for Dr. Prescott'sgood opinion was highly valued.
"Of course," the doctor added with a whimsical smile, "the three-daysentence is remitted for you and your friends."
She passed on.
"Isn't she just splendid!" exclaimed Grace.
"And how nicely she seemed to manage the whole situation," remarkedRhoda.
"She's a peach!" declared Laura, slangily.
"I should say she is! And so is somebody else I know," agreed Bess, asshe drew Nan's arm through hers.