"The whole place is ablaze!" cried Tom. "Get up, Sid!" and he pulled the bedclothes from his still sleeping chum. CHAPTER XIX THE FRESHMEN DANCE "Here, quit!" cried Sid, making an effort to pull back the coverings on which Tom was yanking. "Let a fellow alone, can't you? Quit fooling! This is no freshman's room!" "Get out, you old duffer!" yelled Phil. "The place is on fire!" "Who's on the wire?" asked Sid, thinking some one had called him on the telephone. "I don't care who it is. I'm not going to answer this time of night. I want to sleep. Tell 'em to call up again." "Fire! Fire! Not wire!" shouted Tom in his ear, and this time Sid heard and was fully awake. He caught a glimpse of the clouds of lurid smoke pouring in from the corridor. "Jumping Johnnie cake! I should say it was a fire!" he cried. "Come on, fellows, let's get some of our stuff out! I want my football pictures," and with that Sid rushed to the wall and yanked down the only bit of ornamentation he cared for--a lithograph of a Rugby scrimmage. "Come on!" he yelled, grabbing up a pile of his clothes from a chair. "This is all I want. Let the books and other stuff go!" "But the sofa! The chair!" cried Tom, who had peered out into the hall, only to jump back again, gasping and choking. "We can chuck them out of the window." "That's right. Can't hurt 'em much," added Phil, who was getting into his trousers. "Grab hold, then. But wait until I button my vest," ordered Tom, who was fumbling with the garment, the only one he had grabbed up. He had switched on the electric light, and the gleam shone through a cloud of the reddish smoke. "What's the matter with this blamed thing, anyhow?" he cried, as he fumbled in vain for the buttons. "You've got it on backwards!" cried Sid, who had tossed his clothes out of the window, following them with the picture, and was now ready to help his chums. "Great Jehosophat!" cried Tom. "So I have!" He yanked off the garment and tossed it into a corner. Then, clad only in his pajamas, he started to carry the old armchair to the window. It was almost too much for him, and Sid came to his aid. "Let that go, and get the sofa out first!" cried Phil. "The chair can fall on that. Say, listen to the row!" Out in the corridor could be heard confused shouts, and the sound of students running to and fro. Every now and then some one would cry "Fire!" and the rush would be renewed. "The whole place must be going!" cried Sid. "Hurry up, Tom, shove it out! Maybe we can save some other things." "Better save ourselves first!" exclaimed Phil. "The stairs and halls are all ablaze!" He came back from a look into the corridor choking and gasping. "We've got to jump for it! Shove that chair out, then the sofa, and pile the bedding on top. That will make a place to land on." "Here she goes!" shouted Tom, and he and Sid shoved their precious old chair from the window. It fell with a great crash to the ground, two stories below.