"Open!" he yelled.
Kit threw the door wide, and Ted Strong sprang out into the garden, and ran swiftly along toward the rear, keeping close to the wall.
He was firing toward the shrubbery as he ran, and those on guard inside heard yells of agony.
Evidently Ted was making good with his bullets.
There came a return fire from the shrubbery, directed not at the open door, but at the flying figure of Ted.
Stella, Kit, and Carl poured a hot fusillade into the bushes, but did not seem able to silence the fire from them.
Then Stella did a foolhardy thing. Without a word of warning she leaped through the doorway, and stood on the step outside, looking after Ted.
She saw him running weakly toward the corner of the house, where two men were bending over the tar barrel, into which they had put the shavings.
They had set fire to the shavings, and were lifting the barrel to place it against the side of the house.
And now the barrel was blazing like a gasoline torch, and the flame was licking the side of the house.