CHAPTER XX.
THE FIRE DRILL.
"Young ladies," said Miss Plympton one morning in March, "I fear that ina measure I have been lax in certain duties imposed upon the pupils ofGresham."
A groan from somewhere in chapel, no one knew just where, was theeloquent response to this statement. We had actually passed January andFebruary and plunged into the middle of March without getting into anyvery bad messes. The philosophical among us could look forward to thefirst of June and release from the stringent rules that bound us. I, forone, was not philosophical at all but had a feeling that I was to spendthe rest of my life doing things by the clock and knowing a year aheadjust what I was to have to eat for every meal.
I know I do a lot of talking about food but it seems to me thatsomething you have to contemplate three times a day is a ratherimportant factor in life. I used to feel if they would only get mixed upand give us on Tuesday what they usually gave on Wednesday that I couldbear it better.
"The duty of which I speak," continued Miss Plympton, ignoring thegroan, "is the fire drill that should be regularly practiced and, Iregret to say, has not been. The building is as nearly as possible afire-proof one. Nevertheless, I deem it prudent that we engage in thisdrill."
"What a bore!" growled some of the girls.
Others welcomed the news with pleasure, "Anything for a change!"
"The fire alarm, as all of you perhaps know, is six short taps of thegong--a pause--and six more. When the alarm rings, which of course itwill do without warning, I expect every pupil in the school to get outof the building with as little noise and confusion as possible. Indeed Idemand no noise at all and no confusion. No one is to go to her room forany purpose whatsoever if the fire alarm should ring while she is inclass or otherwise employed. If she should be in her room, she is toleave it as expeditiously as possible and not return to it untilpermission is given."
"And let my deer skin and pictures burn up?" exclaimed Dum under herbreath. "Nit!"
"'Tain't a real fire, goosey!" said Dee.
"Yes, but it might be."
"Silence!" tapped Miss Plympton. "Now I have warned you of an alarm inthe near future and I want to see who is to show the most presence ofmind. I want to see who will be out of the building first but with nonoise or confusion."
"You notice she didn't say how she required us to get out of thebuilding, by what route, I mean, and you watch me! I am going to get outmy own way," Dum whispered to me as we were dismissed to our classrooms.
"Well, I'm game. I'll go any way you do."
"Good! I bet you will, and of course Dee will, too."
We feverishly awaited the threatened alarm and the fire drill that wasto follow. Gresham was a big building and the 125 girls in it should beable to get out without any great confusion.
"If they only ring it while we are in our rooms we can work our schemeand beat all the girls to the open," said Dum.
We had decided not to let Mary and Annie in on our plan as Annie wastrying very hard not to get any demerits. Mr. Pore treated bad marks ona report very seriously, while our dear fathers did not look upon a badmark as something that could not be lived down.
"DONG! DONG! DONG! DONG! DONG! DONG!" a pause and then six more dongs.
It was a few minutes before supper, so close to it, in fact, that for amoment we thought it was the gong for that frugal repast. We were justtrying to doll up a bit after a very strenuous game of tennis, the firstof the season as the courts had not been fit to use because of the manyrains we had been deluged with. We had had some sheets tied together fordays, ever since Miss Plympton had given warning about the fire drill.We had determined to astonish and delight her by the quiet and orderlyway we would get out of the building. Dum began rapidly taking downpictures and wrapping them up in her beloved deer skin, the one she hadshot and Zebedee had tanned and made into a rug for her. Dee tied thesheets tightly to the radiator while I gathered up the bits of jewelryand knotted them in a handkerchief. This we had rehearsed and knew howto do it in a moment. When Dee got the sheets tied, we were ready forthe descent. Dum was to go first, as it was her scheme. With her bundleflung over her back by a strap, she grasped the improvised life line andslid safely to the ground. I followed, giggling so I came very nearlosing my grip. When I got to the end of the last sheet, I must say Ihated to let go. I looked down and the ground seemed miles away. It wasreally only about six feet. Dee had taken up more in the knot she hadtied around the radiator than we had allowed for in our calculations.
"Drop," came hoarsely from Dum. So drop I did, wrenching my anklepainfully in the fall.
Dee came down like a movie actress and then we scurried around thehouse in time to beat all the whole school out on the lawn. My anklehurt like fury but I grinned and bore it. While Miss Plympton had notdesignated the manner of our exit from the building, we well knew thatif she got on to our mode of egress we would hear from her and that notin endearing terms.
She was standing near the great front door on the gallery, but it wasdusk and we were able to sidle close to the wall and have all theappearance of coming out of the building.
"Why, young ladies, you are very prompt," she said approvingly. "Are theinmates on your floor out of their rooms?"
"We--we--we don't know."
"We reckon they are."
"We did not stop to see."
The girls by this time came trooping out, some of them half dressed,getting ready for supper as they were when the gong sounded. They werevery gay until they saw Miss Plympton; then they sobered down.
Several of the more excitable ones were weeping, certain it was a realfire.
Mary and Annie were the very last to appear. They, it seemed, had lostmuch time trying to find us. They were sure we would not have gonewithout warning them and so would not desert us.
"We looked everywhere for you!" cried Mary when she spied us. "Where onearth have you been?"
"Shhh! We'll tell you later!" I whispered.
Annie was much flushed and excited and looked as though she, too, hadfeared it was a real fire.
"I hated to leave my box," she said to me in a low tone. "You see, thoseare all the clothes I have and all I'll be likely to have for many aday. I was afraid it was a real fire and was very much frightened aboutyou, my friends." The poor little thing burst out crying and we allturned in and comforted her till she began to laugh.
All this time my ankle was killing me. I stood on one foot but thethrobbing was intense, and then I knew the time was coming when MissPlympton would order us back into the building, and how I was to walk Idid not see. It had been all I could do to get from around the corner ofthe school after my fatal drop, and now that the excitement that hadbuoyed me up had subsided and I knew I was going to have to walk on coldfacts, I did not see how it could be done. I was game, game enough foranything. What I dreaded most of all was giving Tweedles away. MissPlympton had seen us arrive together and if I had a sprained ankle,whatever I had done to get it they must have done, too.
"As soon as Lady Plympton gives the command, fly up to 117 and pull inthe sheets," I whispered to Dum. "I've hurt my ankle and shall have totake things easy. Dee will help me get in, and please whisper to MaryFlannagan to get on my other side." I thought it better to have Dee staybehind where some sort of ready finesse might be needed.
They got me in--I don't know just how. I have never imagined greateragony than I went through. I never uttered a single groan, however,although I felt like shrieking. Before we made our painful way to thestairs, Miss Plympton disappeared into the office, and then Mary and Deepicked me up bodaciously, making a chair with their hands, and they gotme up to 117 in short order. The girls who were on our corridor justthought it was part of our monkey shines and did not question thereason.
When I got to 117, of course I fainted. That was what I had beenexpecting to do all the time. It was a mercy I had not done it before. Ihad felt the cold sweat breaking out on my upper lip, which is a sureforerunner of a faint. I had never
really fainted before. I had beenknocked silly several times, once on the ice when Mabel Binks had bumpedinto me and knocked me down, but this faint was one that was simply theoutcome of pain.
It was a blessed relief from the agony I had been in and I did not thankwhoever it was that put household ammonia under my nose and doused myhead with cold water. I felt as though I should like to stay faintforever.
"Did you get the sheets in out of the window?" I stammered when Istruggled back to life.
"Yes! Yes!" and a relieved giggle from Dum.
Dee was busy turning over the leaves in her "First Aid to the Injured."
"Let her lie down, put a pillow under her heart! There! Now which footis it?"
"Never mind which foot it is now! There goes the supper gong! Annie, youand Mary had better skidoo out of this room or you'll get so manydemerits you won't be out of bounds to go home in June. Dee, you justunlace my left shoe and let me keep it upon the bed. Dum, please get outmy nightie for me and then all of you go down to supper and tell thepowers that be that poor little Page Allison was so excited over thefire drill that she had hysterics and had to go to bed without hersupper." The long speech was too much for me and I came near going offagain. "Go on! If you don't, we'll all get found out and then what?"
Tweedles said they had never sat through such an interminable meal asthat one.
"Nothing but soda biscuit and stewed prunes and corn beef hash! But youwould have thought it was the finest course dinner it took so long!"gasped Dee. "Let me see your poor foot. Gee, it's swollen!"
"Isn't it a blessing it's Saturday night and no study hour? Now Dee andI can wait on you and get you comfy."
"But, Dum, I don't want to keep you from dancing in the Gym. It is lotsof fun and you know it."
"Fun much! How could I enjoy myself when I know you are up heresuffering?"
"Well!" said Dee, consulting her book again, "the first thing is to soakit in very hot water, as hot as you can stand it. Go on, Dum, and fillour pitcher before the once-a-weekers get started on their tub nightorgy." We always called the girls who took baths only on Saturday nightthe "once-a-weekers."
My injured member was put to soak in such hot water that I trembled formy toe nails. Dee stood by with a pitcher ready to pour more in and"hot" it up as soon as it got to the bearing point. After a good halfhour of soaking, Dee poured cold water over it and then put on as neat abandage as any surgeon could have done I feel sure. It seemed too tightto me, but Dee insisted that it would loosen up and I must bear ittight.
"You know if a doctor had hold of you he would put it in plaster. I amafraid maybe we ought to 'fess up and call in a doctor. It might be avery serious thing to neglect it."
"Nonsense! I trust your bandaging more than I would old Dr.Stick-in-the-mud's, here at Gresham. You know he would not do anythingquite so modern as put it in plaster."
Dee carried the bandage well up on my leg to keep it from puffing outover the top and then I was put tenderly to bed.
"I can't see that because I've got a sore foot it is any reason I shouldhave to go hungry," I whined. "I am so empty I could easily eat up mybandage."
"Don't you dare!"
"Oh, honey, I am so sorry! I don't know why we did not think to sneakyou something. You looked so pale and wan when we left you to go tosupper that somehow I never connected you with the thought of food. Tothink of your being hungry!" and Dum's hazel eyes got moist.
"But then's then and now's now! I reckon I can hold out 'til morning,however."
One of the peculiarities of boarding school is that if you are sick atall you are supposed to be too sick to eat. If you are really very badoff, so far gone you have to be put in the hospital, then you are fedup. If a girl skips a meal from indisposition, nothing is done about herfood by the housekeeper, but if her roommate chooses to sneak some ofher own supply up to the sufferer, although it is supposed to be againstthe rules to take any food from the table, at a time like that theinfringement is winked at.
The girls were afraid to get out the alcohol lamp and make me a cup ofinstantaneous chocolate as we were almost sure one of the teachers wouldcome to see how I was before they turned in for the night. As it was,they had hardly got the bowl of hot water out of the way and the roomto rights before Miss Ball knocked on the door. She had a dainty tray offood for me.
"I didn't think hysterics would last so long you would not wantsomething to eat, Page," she said archly, laying a little stress onhysterics. "I cooked this for you on my chafing dish."
The teachers, of course, used alcohol lamps all they chose. It was anice cup of chocolate, with a marshmallow on top in lieu of whippedcream, two shirred eggs and a stack of buttered crackers.
"Oh, Miss Ball, you are so good!"
We felt sneaky indeed not to tell Miss Ball the truth, the whole truth,and nothing but the truth concerning our escapade, but we knew it wouldbe her duty to report us and the chances were she would do her duty. Sowe kept mum while I devoured the very good supper.
I was pretty certain that Miss Ball did not give very much credence tothe hysterics dodge. She knew me too well. I was not the hystericaltype. She was too much of a lady, however, to question me andunderstood girls well enough to know when to let them alone.
"Isn't she a peach, though?" was Dee's comment after the kind youngteacher had gone off bearing the empty tray. I had devoured the lastcrumb, feeling much better in consequence.
"Page," whispered Dum, after lights were out, "do you think you will beable to bear your foot to the ground by to-morrow?"
"I can't tell. I am feeling lots better now and there is no telling whata night's rest will do for me. We shall just have to take no thought ofto-morrow. 'Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.'"
"Yes, just let to-morrow look after itself," yawned Dee. "We got out ofthe window and beat all the girls out of the building, and if one of usgot a sprained ankle in consequence, we still have the glory of beingout first and the thrill is still with me of sliding down that sheet.I'd like to do it again. That reminds me, I have not had time to untiethe sheets. I'll do it in the morning to destroy all traces. Good ni--"
But all of us were asleep before she got out the ght.