“How are you going out?” called Ned after him.
“Through the roof. There’s a hole big enough there to let out a giant. If you hear three knocks upon the door you can open it, and let me in. All will be right then.”
They held their breath to listen. They heard him for a moment moving about upon the floor of the loft, and then the beating of the rain drowned all further sound.
CHAPTER V.
OUT INTO THE DARKNESS.
It was by the sense of feeling alone, that Dick went up the ladder and moved along the loft with a cautious step.
The darkness was so great that it could almost be felt.
Only here and there above his head, a dull, red light shone on the charred beams, telling that a trace of the fire still lingered there.
But the coals were dim, and gave out no light to serve as a guide to his footsteps.
The rain had well-nigh extinguished them, and if it continued for a few minutes longer they would go out in deeper blackness.
Slowly the scout moved along until he came to a spot where the rain came down without hindrance upon his head.