But the girls were locked in the barn when the fire broke out, and necessarily must be rescued.
"Touch her off!" cried the manager at the proper point, and Sandy set fire to a pile of hay and straw inside the barn. This would make considerable smoke, and smoke always shows up well in moving pictures.
"Get ready with the water now!" called Mr. Pertell. "I want a lively bucket brigade scene here!"
Sandy and his force, of whom Wellington Bunn was one, ran back and forth from the water barrel, carrying the filled buckets and splashing the contents on the flames.
The fire was now at its height.
"All ready for the rescue!" ordered the manager. "Up with the ladder and get after the girls, Paul. Mr. Sneed, you're in on this."
Up the ladder climbed Paul, and with an axe he began chopping away at the roof. This was the place prepared beforehand, and Ruth and Alice were to be drawn up through the hole that went down into the secret room where the money box had been found.
"Quick!" cried Paul, as he made the splinters fly. This was only for the effect, as the section on the roof was all ready to come away. "Hurry up, Sneed!" called the young fellow. "It's getting pretty hot here. We'll have to follow each other closely down the ladder."
"We can't get away from here any too soon for me," the other answered. "This is the worst yet."
In another moment the secret room was exposed. Ruth and Alice were in it, a little afraid, after all, that something might happen.