"It's the end of the world!" came, in a hollow voice, through the keyhole. "The end of the world!"
"Mercy on me! It's an earthquake, that's what it is!" burst from the befuddled teacher, and then as the bed was jerked high in the air once more, he rolled over in the blankets and slid down to the lower end, where one foot got caught between the brass bars.
"Get out of the building, Mr. Haskers!" came a cry through the keyhole. "It is going to shake to the ground!"
"Yes! yes! It must be an earthquake!" groaned the bewildered pedagogue. "Oh, will I ever get out alive, I wonder!"
The top of the bedstead was bobbing up and down, like a ship on an angry ocean. In the darkness Job Haskers was completely bewildered, and he firmly believed that an earthquake had struck Oak Hall and that the building was in danger of collapsing. With a cry of fright he tumbled out on the floor, and threw the covers, in which he was wound up, aside. He tried to find the door, but the top of the bedstead was now in the way.
"The fire escape--it is the only way out!" he muttered to himself, and as the boys continued to jerk the bedstead around, he ran to the window and threw out a rope, fastened to a ring in the floor. Then out of the window he bounced and slid down the rope with a speed that blistered his hands.
"He has gone out of the window!" cried Roger, who had his eye glued to the keyhole. "Wait a minute, fellows!"
"Quick! We must take away the cord," said Dave, and in a trice the door of the bedroom was unlocked, the bed shoved into place, and the cord removed. Then the students scampered away, turning down the light as before.
Once on the ground Job Haskers lost no time in getting away from the building. Each instant he expected another quake that would bring that noble pile of bricks, stone, and mortar to the ground. But the quake did not come.
"Queer!" he murmured, presently. "Didn't anybody else feel that awful shock?"
"Hi, you, throw up your hands, or I'll fill ye full o' buckshot!"
The cry came from behind him, and it caused Job Haskers to leap with a new fear. He turned, and in the gloom of the night saw a man approaching with a gun pointed full at him.
"Don't--don't sho--shoot me!" he gasped.
"Up with yer hands!" came from the man. "I cotches ye that time, didn't I? Now, wot are ye, a ghost, a burglar, or a student on a lark?"
"Wh--who are yo--you?" stammered Job Haskers. "Did you--er--feel the earthquake?"
Instead of answering the questions, the man came closer, until the barrel of his shotgun was within a foot of the teacher's head. Then he gave a cry of astonishment.
"Why, if it ain't Mr. Haskers! Wot in the world are you a-doin' out this time o' night, sir?"
"Lemond!" faltered the teacher, as he recognized the driver for the Hall. "Did you--er--did you feel the earthquake?"
"Earthquake? No, sir."
"It is strange."
"Did you feel any of 'em, sir?" Horsehair had lowered his gun and was gazing fixedly at the teacher. "Say, you ain't walking in your sleep, are ye?" he questioned, abruptly.
"No, no--I--er--I am sure I am not," stammered Job Haskers, yet in secret he pinched himself to make certain. "I was--er--in bed, and I thought I felt an earthquake--the bed swayed, and I heard a cry----" The teacher stopped suddenly. "Perhaps it was those rascally boys!" he cried, abruptly.
"Boys! Did they play a joke on yer? They wouldn't be above it, sir--they are as full of 'em this term as ever, sir. How did you git out o' the building--down that rope?"
"Ye-as. You see, the bed moved--or I thought it did--and blocked the doorway, and I----But never mind, Lemond, don't say anything about this. I'll go in." And the teacher started rapidly across the campus. He was, of course, in his bare feet, and was finding his pajamas anything but warm in this frosty fall air.
"You can't get in that way, 'less you have a key!" called out Horsehair.
"I have no key," and Job Haskers stopped abruptly.
"I can let ye in the back way."
"That will do. Come, let us hurry--I am getting cold."
The back door was gained, and Job Haskers entered and felt his way up the semi-dark stairs. As he reached the upper hallway he found himself confronted by Doctor Clay, who had come in rather late, and who had been on the point of retiring when certain strange sounds had disturbed him and caused him to start an investigation.
"Why, Mr. Haskers, where have you been?" asked the doctor in astonishment. "I heard a noise, but I did not know you were stirring."
"I--er--I imagined some of the students were skylarking," faltered the assistant.
"Did you catch anybody?"
"No, sir,--they were too slick for me."
"This skylarking after hours must cease. Have you any idea who they were?"
"Not--er--exactly. I had some trouble early in the evening with Porter, Lawrence, and Morr, and they may be the ones. If you please, I'll take a look in their room."
"Do so, and if anything is wrong, have them report to me in the morning," said Doctor Clay, and retired once more to his room.
Moving swiftly through the hallway, Job Haskers reached his own room and threw open the door. He made a light, and gazed around in great perplexity. Everything was in perfect order excepting the bedclothes, which were just as he had left them. He walked slowly to the window and drew in the rope that was used for a fire escape.
"Strange! Strange!" he murmured to himself, as he scratched his head. "I was sure the bed moved. Can I have been dreaming after all? I ate a rather heavy supper, and my digestion is not as good as it used to be."
He put on his slippers and donned a dressing gown, and thus arrayed sallied forth once more, this time in the direction of the dormitory occupied by Dave and his chums. He approached on tip-toe and opened the door quickly and noiselessly.
But the students had had ample time in which to get to bed, and every one was under covers and apparently sleeping soundly. To make sure they were not shamming, the teacher came in and gazed at one after another closely. Then, with a face that was a study, he left the dormitory again and walked slowly to his own room.
"Is he gone?" asked a voice in the dormitory, after a full minute of silence.
"Yes, Phil," answered Dave. "But don't make any noise--he may come back."
"Say, that was the richest joke yet!" chuckled Ben.
"How he must have looked, sliding down that rope in his pajamas!" exclaimed Sam.
"If I dared, I'd really send in a theme to-morrow on 'Earthquakes,'" piped up Polly Vane.
"Do it, Polly; I dare you!" cried Macklin.
"I will--if you'll let me sign your name to it," answered the girlish student, but at this Chip shook his head vigorously.
"I'll bet old Haskers is as mad as a hornet," was Phil's comment. "Well, it served him right, for the way he treated us," he added.
"I guess we needn't go to the doctor to-morrow with any complaint," said the senator's son. "We have squared up."
"I'd like to know what Haskers really thinks of the shaking up," said Dave. And then he turned over to go to sleep, and the others did likewise.
The feast and the fun had tired the boys out, and the majority of them slept soundly until the rising bell rang out. Dave was the first