Judd hurried to the end of the hall, uncoiled the hose, and turned on the water. At first a feeble stream came forth, but the flow of water steadily increased until it gushed out. Another student, almost choked with smoke, darted into the hall. "This is a fright!" he cried, on seeing Judd. "Ned is suffocated and I'm almost done for!" At this moment, Reynolds, having disposed of his room-mate, dashed across the hall. "Here, I'll help you!" he called. "We'll go to every room and clear the fellows out!" "That's the way to do it!" shouted Judd, encouragingly. "I'll stay here an' fight this fire!" Dragging the hose down the hall, wetting everything before him as he went, Judd soon neared the source of the fire. It seemed to be centered about the head of the stairs. The first room on the right at the top of the stairs had been used as a store-room. Its door was almost burnt away and inside it was a mass of flames. A voice called up from the second floor. "Thank God, somebody had brains enough to use the hose at last! We're keeping the fire from breaking through but the building is full of smoke. Where is the blaze, in the store-room?" "Yep!" replied Judd, his eyes smarting from the films of smoke and flying cinders. "Everybody out up there?" "Gettin' 'em out!" Judd did not feel like talking much. "Good! Keep the water on that blaze and we'll have the fire out in about twenty minutes. More smoke than anything else!" Reynolds and McCabe, the fellow he had helped, came running up to Judd. "They're all out!" cried McCabe. "Some job, though--most everyone suffocated. I never had such hard work getting awake in all my life!" "Fetch the lantern," ordered Judd, pushing ahead into the store-room, having extinguished the fire about the head of the stairs. The forceful stream of water soon produced a telling effect on the flames. There was a loud hissing noise and white clouds of steam. Then the last tongue of flame slowly died out and all was darkness, save for the light shed by the lantern. "Hurrah, we're heroes!" grinned McCabe. The smoke was still treacherously thick. Neither Judd nor Reynolds saw any humor in McCabe's exclamation at that moment. Judd continued to pour water into the charred room. Some students at the second floor landing ventured up cautiously. "Smudge over?" asked one. "Mostly!" replied Judd. "That sure was a bad one for so little a fire. Four of the nine fellows who were suffocated haven't come to yet!" "How's Cateye?" demanded Judd. "He's one of 'em!" was the reply. "Here,--somebody, take this hose! Quick! I'm a goin' down stairs," cried Judd, "This smoke's too much for me! ... Say, fellows,--where is Cateye now?" "They took him to dorm number two!" Judd waited only long enough to pull a pair of trousers on over his nightshirt, and to push his big feet into a pair of slippers. He forced his way through eager crowds of questioners and elbowed many fellows from his path.