In the meantime a perfect fusillade of blows had been showered on the door outside. Jimsy awoke just as the last of the three midnight intruders vanished through the window. His first instinct was a hot flush of shame over the feeling that he had betrayed his trust.
Then to his ears came the voice that had alarmed the Cassells and their tool.
"Roy! Jimsy! Are you there?"
"It's Peggy!" gasped Jimsy.
"And Jess," he added the next instant, and simultaneously there came the pounding of a stick on the door.
"This is an officer of the law. Open up at once."
Jimsy, dazed by his sleep, had not till then noticed the blazing pile of litter. Now he did so with a quick cry of horror. The stuff was blazing up fiercely. Already there was an acrid reek in the air.
"The place is on fire!" he shouted.
The next moment there came a violent assault on the door and the crazy lock parted from its rotten fastenings as a man attired in a police officer's uniform burst into the place. Behind him came two wide-eyed frightened girls. The leaping flames lit up their faces vividly.
"It's fire sure enough!" cried the police officer.