“What’s that mean, Thad?” demanded Allan, as he clutched the arm of his chum, at the same time sitting up.
“I don’t know,” replied Thad shortly. “There must be something wrong up at the farmhouse. The other fellows are stirring now, so let’s crawl out of this in a big hurry, Allan!”
Both scouts made all haste to escape from the tunnel under the hay, kicking their way to freedom. No sooner had they gained their feet than they started out of the barn, for the haymow was under the shelter of a roof.
Only too well did Thad know what was the matter, when he burst from the door of the barn, and saw that the darkness of the night was split by a glare from up in the direction of the farmhouse on the rise. Through the bare branches of the trees he could see tongues of flames.
“The house is on fire, Allan!” he shouted. “We must get all the boys out, and do what we can to fight the flames. Hi! everybody on deck—Giraffe, Step Hen, Davy, and the rest of you, hurry out here and lend a hand! You’re wanted, and wanted badly into the bargain!”
CHAPTER VI.
SCOUTS TO THE RESCUE.
Feeling sure that the rest of the scouts, as well as Hiram, the overgrown country boy who worked on the farm, would be along shortly, Thad and Allan seized upon a couple of buckets, filled them at the watering trough near by, and hastened toward the burning building.
The farmer, partly dressed, was doing valiant work already, and his wife kept up a constant pounding of the pump, filling buckets as fast as the man of the house emptied them.
When the two scouts got to work things began to look more hopeful, though with the flames making such rapid headway it promised to be a hard fight to win out.
Thad wondered why the fire should have gained such a tremendous headway, but later on the mystery was explained, and he understood the reason. When kerosene is dashed around it offers splendid food for fire, once the flame is applied.