The Essential Edward Stratemeyer Collection. Stratemeyer Edward

had not told the others about this big fellow, not even Dave, for they wanted the explosion of that to be a surprise.

      "It will sure make them sit up and take notice," said Phil to Roger, as the pair hid the big cannon cracker away in the automobile garage.

      "We'll set it off back of the kitchen," answered Roger. "It won't do any harm there."

      On the night of the third the boys retired somewhat early, so as to be up bright and early for the glorious Fourth.

      They had been sleeping less than an hour when a sudden cry awakened them.

      "Fire! Fire! Get up, boys! The garage is on fire, and I am afraid the gasoline tank will blow up!"

      CHAPTER VIII

      FIRE AND FIRECRACKERS

      "What's that!"

      "The garage on fire!"

      "Say, look at the blaze!"

      Such were some of the cries, as the boys tumbled out of bed, one after another. A bright glare of fire was dancing over the walls of the rooms.

      "It's some brushwood behind the garage!" announced Dave, as he poked his head out of a window to look. "It's that big heap the gardener put there yesterday."

      "He shouldn't have placed it so close," said Luke. "Why didn't he rake it to some spot in the open?"

      All of the boys were hurrying into their clothing as fast as possible. The alarm had been given by Senator Morr, and by the chauffeur, who slept in a room of the barn next to the garage.

      "Oh, Roger!" gasped Phil. "That big cannon cracker!"

      "I was thinking of it, Phil!" returned the senator's son, hurriedly. "We must get it out somehow!"

      "If it goes off it will wreck the building!"

      "Yes, and the gasoline tank with it!"

      The tank in question was not underground, as would have been safer, but was located in a bricked-up place at one side of the garage. In the storehouse were two barrels of gasoline, and also some lubricating oils. If that storehouse caught, it would certainly make a hot and dangerous blaze.

      Pell-mell down the stairs rushed the youths, one after another. In the meantime Senator Morr was dressing and so were the others of the household.

      "Be careful, boys! Don't go too close!" warned Mrs. Morr.

      "Watch out for an explosion!" puffed her husband. The senator was so stout that dressing in a hurry was no easy matter for him.

      When the boys got out in the garden they found the chauffeur and the gardener at work, trying to pull the burning brushwood away from the garage. The flames were crackling merrily and the sparks were flying in various directions.

      "I'm going in and get that big cannon cracker," said Roger to Phil, in a low voice, so that the others might not hear.

      "I'll go with you, Roger. Be careful, though, the sparks are flying all round that doorway."

      "I've shut everything!" bawled the chauffeur, as he saw Roger at the big sliding doors. "Better not open up, or the fire will get inside."

      "I've got to go in, Jake!" answered Roger. "I've got to get something out."

      "What?" asked Dave, who was close by.

      "Never mind, Dave. It's something that can't be left in there," and so speaking Roger slid open a door and hurried inside the garage. Phil came directly behind him.

      On the floor, in a corner, was a box with ordinary firecrackers in it--about two hundred packs in all. On top of this was a package in paper containing the big cannon cracker.

      "Lookout!"

      "It's on fire!"

      Thus yelled both boys as they saw that the flames from the brushwood had made their way into a corner of the garage, just where the firecrackers had been placed. For an instant they hesitated, then both leaped forward again and commenced to stamp out the fire.

      It had caught at a corner of the box containing the smaller firecrackers and was also at the paper containing the cannon cracker. This Phil caught up, knocking the fire away with his hand.

      "What are you after, anyway?" The question came from Dave, who had followed his chums into the building. Buster, Shadow, and Luke were outside, at the rear, helping to pull the brushwood away and stamp out the flames.

      "Firecrackers--a box full!" cried Roger. "We must get it out!"

      "A giant firecracker!" added Phil. "Big enough to blow down a house!" And he held up the package and then made a dive for the outer air, for the garage was now full of smoke.

      Dave understood on the instant, and stooped to pick up one end of the burning box. Roger took the other end, and thus they ran from the garage.

      Crack! crack! crack! It was the small firecrackers in the box that were beginning to go off, the pieces flying through a lower corner of the burning box.

      "Into the back yard with it!" cried Roger. "Keep it away from the buildings!"

      "All right, this way!" answered Dave, and then the pair made for something of an open lot behind the kitchen of the mansion and there threw the box on the ground. Crack! bang! crack! went the firecrackers, going off singly and in bunches, until all were shot off.

      "It's a pity we didn't save 'em," said Roger, mournfully.

      "It's a grand good thing they didn't go off in the garage," returned Dave.

      "Well, I saved the big cannon cracker anyway," said Phil, as he walked up at that moment.

      "Where did you put it?" questioned Roger, quickly.

      "Over there, in a corner of the fence. I didn't want to take any chances, otherwise I might have taken it to the barn."

      "Better leave it outside, where it can't do any damage," said Dave.

      While talking, the three boys had been running back to the garage. There they found their chums and the men at work, including Senator Morr, all hauling the burning brushwood away and pouring water from a small hose on the flames. The most of the fire was out, so they found little to do. Only one corner of the garage had been touched, and for this the senator was thankful.

      "But it was careless of you, James, to put that brushwood there, so close to the building," he said to the gardener, "Don't do it again."

      "If you please, sir, I didn't put the brushwood as close as that," replied the gardener, stoutly. "Somebody else did that."

      "What!" cried the senator, in surprise.

      "I said I didn't put the brushwood so close to the garage, sir," repeated the gardener. "I put it right there," and he pointed to a spot about fifteen feet from the rear wall of the building. "I was going to burn it up first thing in the morning,--that is if the young gentlemen didn't want the stuff for a bonfire at night."

      "But who did put the brushwood up against the garage?" demanded Senator Morr.

      "I'm sure I don't know," put in the chauffeur. "But what James says, sir, is true--he put the heap out there--I was working around the garage when he did it."

      "Do you mean to insinuate that this fire was set by somebody?" cried the senator, quickly.

      "I don't know about that, sir," answered the chauffeur, while the gardener merely shrugged his shoulders. He was an old man and one who had been trusted by the Morrs for years.

      "If what you say is true, I'll have to look into