CHAPTER VI.
THE FIRE.
Wind and weather or the destructive freak of some careless boy had certainly cut off the one avenue of escape for the imprisoned boys from the burning building.
Had not the pit yawned far below the ground surface Will would have trusted to a flying jump in the darkness.
Tom Dalton, utterly overwhelmed, sat huddled together on the floor quaking with terror.
The encroaching fire showed through the cracks so plainly now that they could see each other’s face.
Already the fire was burning the floor beneath them. They could not descend.
“We must climb higher,” said Will, forming a quick resolution. “There is the old stairs yonder. Follow me, Tom.”
The cabin boy obeyed Will’s order mutely, and they found themselves in a large loft at the top story of the building.
Will began to reconnoitre at once, but he found that the distance from the windows to the ground was too great to encourage him to take a dangerous leap downwards.
They might reach the attic or the roof, but that only made their dilemma worse.