The first thing Dick did was to cast his eyes hastily around. He was, of course, looking for some sign of the handsome little chap and his mother, Tilly. When that sweeping look failed to find either of those in whose welfare he was so deeply interested, Dick again felt a coldness in the region of his heart.
A great shouting down the road announced that the fire laddies were coming on the run with the machine. They would be on hand in a few minutes, Dick realized, but at the same time it was evident that even seconds were precious, and might cost those in peril their lives.
Leslie gripped his arm just then.
“See there, isn’t that she, Dick?” he cried, huskily, for he was laboring under great excitement, and it was really a wonder he could speak at all.
“I don’t see her,” Dick replied, anxiously, as he scrutinized the little group at which his chum was pointing his finger.
“Oh! I didn’t mean Billy’s mother,” Leslie hastened to explain. “I meant the woman she has stopping with her to help with the work.”
Dick saw now, and was off like a flash, leaving his chum to follow at his heels. If any one would know about Billy and his mother, surely Mrs. Kelly should. She was trying to answer the numerous questions being showered upon her by those around; but since virtually no one knew that there had been a tenant in the Brandon house they could not realize the extreme gravity of the situation.
Dick pushed his way into the group. He seized hold of the excited woman’s arm, and there was something so like authority in the boy’s action that Mrs. Kelly stopped crying and turned toward him.
“Where are Billy and his mother?” demanded the boy.
The woman turned and pointed at the burning house, one end of which was by this time a mass of flames.