CHAPTER IX



TOM IN TROUBLE


"Look out, the flagpole is coming down!"

"Stand from under, or you'll be killed!"

Crack! came from the pole, and now many saw that it was breaking off
close to the ground. Some of the students had clung to it during the
contest, and the strain had been too much for the stick, which was
much rotted just where it entered the ground.

Those on the outside of the crowd ran away with ease, but not so those
who were hemmed in. Two of the smallest of the freshmen, Billy Dean
and Charley Atwood, could not move fast enough, and one fell over the
other, and both went down.

"Save me!" gasped one of the lads.

"Don't let the pole come down on me!" screamed the other.

The flagstaff was falling swiftly, and Dick and many others saw that
it would fall directly across Dean and Atwood unless its progress was
stayed.