"For gracious' sake, Deck, what are you going to do?" cried Artie.
"Going to that fellow's aid."
"But it's not safe to enter the building. The fire is working this way just as hard as it can."
"I'll risk it, Artie; I don't want to see that poor fellow die like a rat in a trap."
"Yes, but—but—"
"There is no time to waste, Artie," answered Deck, and breaking away from the hold the captain had taken, he leaped for the wide-open door of the mill.
"If he goes, I'll go too," cried Artie, and started to follow the major; but strong hands held him back.
"One is enough," said Captain Abbey. "I trust he is successful."
Captain Richland shook his head seriously. "The fire is sweeping to this quarter of the building with great swiftness," he remarked.
Into the building rushed Deck, to find himself at once in an atmosphere charged with smoke, yet not so heavily but that he could see about him. To his left was a rough wooden stairway with an iron rod for a hand-rail. Leaping for this, he began to mount the stairs three steps at a time.