Read "Ready About" by Oliver Optic online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Captain Gildrock seemed to sleep the sleep of the just while he was still in the flesh, for he did not immediately appear at the office, as Dory expected. The mansion was some distance from the scene of operations. He heard the earliest peals of the bell on the dormitory; but, unfortunately, Mrs. Dornwood had also heard it, and had been terribly excited by it. The explosion had roused her from her slumbers, though the distance made it less effective at the mansion than at the dormitory.
The good lady was almost in hysterics; and it had taken the captain some time to quiet her, though at last he was able to leave her in the care of Marian. She was sure that the students would all be burned to death, her son among them; for the idea of any other calamity than fire, had not occurred to them.