"Where are my darlings? Who will save them?" she exclaimed, full of anguish, yet not comprehending that they were out of peril.
"They are safe, and here is the brave boy who saved their lives," said Ebenezer Strong.
"God bless you, Ben Barclay!" exclaimed the poor mother. "You have saved my life as well as theirs, for I should have died if they had burned."
Ben scarcely heard her, for one and another came up to shake his hand and congratulate him upon his brave deed. Our young hero was generally self-possessed, but he hardly knew how to act when he found himself an object of popular ovation.
"Somebody else would have done it if I hadn't," he said modestly.
"You are the only one who had his wits about him," said Seth Jones. "No one thought of the rope till you climbed the tree. We were all looking for a ladder and there was none to be had nearer than Mr. Parmenter's."
"I wouldn't have thought of it myself if I hadn't read in a daily paper of something like it," said Ben.
"Ben," said Mr. Crawford, "I'd give a thousand dollars to have done what you did. You have shown yourself a hero."
"Oh, Ben, how frightened I was when I saw you on the branch just over the burning building," said a well-known voice.
Turning, Ben saw it was his mother who spoke.