“Let’s get away!” suggested Leslie, hastily.
“I’m with you!” Dick snapped out, and with that both started at headlong speed, making in the direction of that bright and ever increasing light.
One good thing was that they would not have very far to run, for the Brandon place, as well as that of the deacon adjoining, was only a short distance from the modest home of the Horners.
Hardly had they started when they became aware of the fact that others besides themselves were heading toward the scene of the conflagration. Swiftly moving figures could be discovered in the half darkness, and all converging toward the same spot.
Sounds, too, began to be heard. Whenever that metallic clang started in Cliffwood, as the hammer was beaten on the suspended steel rim of a railway locomotive driving wheel, it aroused the most intense excitement.
People could be heard shouting across back fences, asking one another where the fire could be. Doubtless, the one thought in the minds of all was that with that rising north wind it would prove to be a bad night for a conflagration.
The alarm still continued to sound. Men came dashing out of houses wearing their enameled fire hats, and perhaps hastily drawing on their leather coats. The fire-fighting department of Cliffwood, like most towns of its size, was a volunteer one, the members serving as a duty they owed to the community.
“Faster, Dick!” gasped Leslie, as the two boys hastened along. “She’s bulging up like everything, don’t you see? And it’s sure enough that place!”
Dick knew that already, for he had the lay of the land well fixed in his mind. It meant that Billy, yes, and Billy’s little mother as well, might be in dire danger, for the cruel flames would be no respecter of persons.
So the boys ran at even a faster gait than before, if such a thing were possible. When, presently, they arrived at the gate of the Brandon place, it was to find that others were ahead of them. Quite a group of people could be seen in the grounds, staring at the spectacle presented by the burning house, exchanging all manner of comments, but really doing nothing to save life or property, from lack of a leader.