"Look!" cried Hugh suddenly. "There goes a man!"
Without waiting to see what the others were going to do he dashed off in pursuit of a figure which could be seen scuttling away through the trees. Two of the detectives joined in the race and one of them fired two shots from his pistol at the fugitive. In reply the man suddenly wheeled and shot once at his pursuers. Bob heard the bullet whine past close to his head. He also had caught a fleeting glimpse of the man, and one look was enough to convince him that it was the fake detective with whom he and Hugh had struggled that morning.
A moment later the man was out of sight, Hugh and the two detectives still after him, shouting and calling to him to halt. Meanwhile the fire in the house roared and blazed.
"She's a goner," said Sergeant Riley. He stood beside Mr. Cook and Bob as they watched the burning building.
"I guess she is," remarked Mr. Cook. "There's nothing we can do."
"Nothing," agreed the sergeant.
"It's not much loss anyway," said Mr. Cook.
"No loss at all," exclaimed Bob. "It's a gain if anything, for it makes one less place for spies and plotters to meet in."
"But any evidence that might have been in there is destroyed," said Riley.
"I never thought of that," said Bob. "That's probably why they burned it."