Nick Carter found Sam Cole’s cabin a smoking ruin, and by the small tongues of flame that sprang up only to die away in a second, he saw a figure sitting near the edge of the burning hut.
There was no mistaking the person.
“Tambourine!” the detective cried.
The figure leaped to its feet, and the little fellow was at his side in a moment.
“Who set it on fire?”
“Skip’s bones are in the ruins somewhere; he was dead, but poor Dell Ladley and Dick Denton were burned alive.”
“This is horrible!” exclaimed Nick Carter. “How was it you escaped?”
“I was out of the hut at the time,” answered Tambourine, “or I would have been served like the rest.”
Jack went on to tell him all he had learned of the affair from the incendiaries.
“What did you bring the dog for?” Jack asked, when he had finished his narrative.