"It's a real fire this time!" cried Hunt, snatching up a garment and
beginning a very hurried toilet, Max doing the same, "and now we'll have
a chance to show how well we understand the business of putting it out."

"And we must try to do credit to our training here in the Academy,"
added Max.

An hour or more of great excitement and exertion followed, then, the
fire extinguished, the brigade returned to the Academy, and the lads to
their sleeping-room, so weary with their exertions that they were very
soon sound asleep again.

The experiences of that night furnished Max with material for an
interesting letter to his father and the rest of the home folks.

"I didn't know the cadets were taught how to put out fires," remarked
Grace, when her father had finished reading aloud, to his wife and
children, Max's story of the doings of the cadets on that night.

"Yes," the captain said, "that is an important part of their education.
There are a great many things a cadet needs to know."

"I suppose so, papa," said Lulu, "and though Maxie doesn't say much
about his own share in the work, I feel very sure he did his part. And
aren't you proud of him--your eldest son?"

"I am afraid I am," replied her father, with a smile in his eyes. "It
may be all parental partiality, but my boy seems to me one of whom any
father might well be proud."