Dave Porter and His Rivals: or, The Chums and Foes of Oak Hall

"Second the motion!" cried several others.

"Give us something on 'How to Learn Without Studying,'" suggested Shadow.

"Or 'How to Do Algebra While You Sleep,'" said Ben.

"Or 'How to Make Haskers Reform,'" suggested Luke.

"Don't ask him to speak on the impossible," broke in Plum. "You'll never get Jobey to reform – it isn't in him."

"I'm too full to make a speech," said Dave, with a smile. "Besides, we don't want any noise up here, or we'll be spotted sure."

"I know what we ought to do!" cried Phil.

"What?" asked a chorus.

"Pay old Haskers back for the mean way he treated us. Can't we do something to him while he is asleep?"

"We sure can!" answered Roger. He looked at Dave. "What shall it be?"

Dave thought for a moment, and then a broad grin overspread his features.

"I wonder if we can manage it," he said, half to himself.

"Manage what, Dave?" asked several, eagerly.

"I think we can do it – if some of you fellows will furnish a stout line. Several fishing lines twisted together will do."

"But what do you intend to do, Dave?"

"Make Job Haskers think there is an earthquake, – that is, if he is in bed and asleep, and we can get into his room."

"Oh, he must be asleep by this time," said Sam.

"And here is a stout cord. I used it for flying my big kite," added Ben.

"Then, come on, and we'll give Job Haskers a surprise. But don't make any noise, or we may get caught."

CHAPTER XII

AN EARTHQUAKE FOR JOB HASKERS

The door to the hall was cautiously opened, and the boys looked out. The coast appeared to be clear, and Dave tiptoed his way out, followed by his chums. A faint light was burning, as required by the school regulations, and this kept the students from bumping into anything.

All knew the location of the apartment occupied by Job Haskers, and it did not take them long to reach the door to it. Here they paused to listen intently.

"He is in there and asleep," whispered Dave.

"Yes, and snoring," added Roger. "That shows he won't wake up very easily."

"We'll wake him up, don't fear – if my plan works," replied Dave, with grim humor.

With great caution the door was tried and found to be unlocked. Then, scarcely daring to breathe, Dave stepped into the apartment, with Roger and Phil behind him, clutching at his arms. The light in the hallway was near by, and Dave motioned for it to be turned up, so that he could see around the room.

Job Haskers's bed had been turned around for this term, so that the head was next to the wall beside the doorway. It was a new brass bedstead, ornamental but light.

With deft fingers, Dave doubled the cord provided by Ben, and tied one end to the head railing of the brass bedstead. The other end of the cord he carried to the doorway, and threw up through the transom, which swung upon side pivots.

"Good, I see your plan now!" murmured Phil. "I reckon we'll give him an awakening all right enough!"

As soon as the boys in the hallway had secured the outer end of the doubled cord, Dave stepped out of the room again, followed by Roger and Phil.

"Why not lock the door?" whispered the senator's son. "The key is here."

"Just what I intended to do," answered Dave, in an equally low voice.

The door was closed and locked, and the students all gathered in front of the portal, each with his hand on the cord.

"I wish we could dump him out of bed," muttered Plum.

"We'll give him a little quiver first," said Dave. "He won't know what to make of it. I don't think he'll notice the cord. It is just the color of the wall."

They pulled the cord taut, and then raised the head of the bed an inch or two. Then they let it drop.

"Oh – er – who is that?" they heard Job Haskers murmur. "Is it time to get up, Swingly?" He mentioned the name of the school janitor, who had orders to rouse him when he was over-sleeping.

Of course there was no answer to the teacher's question. He waited for a moment, and then turned over in bed, as if for another snooze.

"Now we'll give him a sharp jerk," whispered Dave, and the students caught hold of the cord with vigor. Up came the head of the bed about a foot and swayed violently towards the door.

"Hi! hi! What's this?" roared Job Haskers, sitting bolt upright, and gazing about in bewilderment.

"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.