That worthy stepped out of range very quickly, and gazed after his boys, who, taking Tom at his word, whistled to the dogs, and made the best of their way into the cane.
“You had better go, too, Luke,” said my companion. “Time’s almost up.”
He turned the muzzle toward the outlaw again, and the latter, beginning to see very plainly he was in a dangerous neighborhood, followed after the boys, and quickly disappeared from our view.
“I had an object in sending them away,” exclaimed Tom. “Don’t you see that the smoke from the fire is settling toward the ground? When it gets thick enough to conceal our movements, we’ll drop down from this window, and take to our heels. I know it is a desperate plan, but we are not going to stay here and be roasted.”
During all this time the fire had been gathering rapid headway, and now great sheets of flame began to shoot toward the sky, and dense volumes of smoke rolled past the window. It gradually filled our prison, too, and before many minutes passed, we could see the flames shining through the cracks in the door.
And this was not the worst of it. Luke Redman and his boys must have suspected the plan we had determined upon, for as soon as the smoke concealed the window, they came out of their hiding-places, and the sound of their voices told us that they had stationed themselves at the foot of the cliff, to cut off our escape.
Our situation was becoming really alarming. The smoke filled our prison until we could scarcely breathe; the air was hot and almost stifling; the perspiration rolled down our faces in streams; and thin tongues of flame began to appear under the door.
It required the exercise of all the courage I possessed to stand there inactive, but my companion had shown so much generalship that I knew it was best to be governed by his movements.
At last even he could endure it no longer, for when the roof of the cabin fell in with a crash, and the sparks arose in thick clouds, and the door of our prison, which had been smoking for the last five minutes, suddenly burst into a mass of flame, Tom began to bestir himself.
“Our last hope is gone,” said he. “Here it is almost dark, and the settlers have not yet arrived. We can’t stay here any longer,” he added, as a portion of the door fell down, giving us a view of the roaring mass of flames below. “Climb out of the window, Joe, and the instant you touch the ground, run for your life. We can do no good now by sticking together, and each one must look out for himself.”