"You saved my life, old man, but for mercy sakes, how did you get here?"
"It's too long a story to tell now," replied Bob, "let's try to get out of this crowd."
Although many tried to detain them, the two boys managed to slip away just as a fire engine, with a great ringing of bells, dashed on to the scene.
CHAPTER XIV.
ON THE KIDNAPPER'S TRAIL.
The two boys were pretty well tired out from the strain through which they had just passed and they both had several bad burns on their hands, which, now that the excitement was over, began to assert themselves. They had not walked far when they saw a small park, where were some benches, and Jack proposed that they sit down and rest up a bit. As he knew that Bob had been taken to Boston, naturally the latter was the more surprised of the two on seeing his brother there, and as soon as they were seated on a bench Bob said:
"Now, Jack, tell me all about it, quick, and then I'll give you an account of my racket."
So Jack, starting from the time Bob disappeared, told him all that had happened. When he reached the point where we left him, he said:
"I tell you what, Bob, when I found that those rascals had varmoused and left me locked in that burning house, I was scared. I pounded on the door and yelled till I was hoarse and when no one came I was about ready to give up. By this time the room was pretty full of smoke, and my eyes smarted so that I could hardly keep them open and the floor was so hot, that I had to fairly dance, and it was getting hotter every minute. I had managed to get my clothes on by this time and started to see if I could kick a hole in the door, but it was too strong and I could make no impression on it."
"Couldn't you cut a hole in it with your knife?" asked Bob.
"I thought of that, but I had lost my knife somewhere. Well, just as I thought that all hope was gone, I remembered that there was a hole about two feet square in the ceiling at one end of the room. It was fully eight feet from the floor, but I took the cot and leaned it against the wall and managed, by climbing up on it, to reach the edge of the opening and climb up through. I found myself in an empty room running the entire length of the house. There was a stairway at the other end and I ran to it, but the smoke was pouring up in clouds and I could see that the stairs were ablaze and the room below full of fire, so I didn't dare to risk it. I thought then it was all up with me, but it was a little cooler up there and I managed to get one of the front windows open, and you know the rest. I tell you, Bob, old man, you never looked so good to me as you did coming up that ladder with the rope in your hand. I think I should have jumped in another two minutes. But, now tell me all about yourself. Where have you been and how did you get away?"