Then Jack caught a glimpse of the spreading fire through the half-open surgery door, and the sight clearly startled him.
“You rascal,” he shouted. “You’ve set fire to the store.”
Clymer, fairly frantic at the idea that he had been caught in the act of not only destroying the doctor’s establishment, but also a human life, struck the boy a heavy blow in the face.
Half stunned, Jack partially released his hold on Clymer, and the villain, taking advantage of that fact, wrenched himself free, tripped the lad up and rushed out of the garden into the street and disappeared.
Jack, however, pulled himself together in a moment, and seeing that Clymer was beyond his reach he banged open the surgery door and rushed inside that he might ascertain the extent of the danger.
The glare of the fire showed him the ghastly countenance of Gideon Prawle turned toward the ceiling.
“Wake up! Wake up, Prawle! The place is on fire!” cried Jack, seizing the man from the West and shaking him roughly.
But Prawle never made a move of his own accord, but lay like a log in the boy’s grasp.
“What’s the matter with you? Wake up!”
Jack grabbed him with both hands and pulled him up into a sitting posture.