“Wish you would, Jack, and be quick about it,” urged the other. “There, some of them are riding off right now, and the rest will follow on their heels. Then that last man is to touch a match to the fuse and hurry away. They expect to see the mill go shooting skyward in pieces before they get far off.”
“What d’ye reckon we’ll be doing along about that time, I’d like to know?” chuckled Jack. “Let’s crawl out of this in a hurry, so as to be ready to act. Then when we glimpse that last rider whooping it up in a hurry you’ll see how fast I’ll drop down the old ladder and jump on that burning fuse.”
“Then you don’t think we’d better run for it, Jack? You reckon they might see us and give chase? I guess you’re right about that, too. But listen, isn’t that the clatter of a single horse starting off with a rush?”
“Yes, there goes the man who fired the fuse; it’s time we were on the move if we want to stamp out that slow match,” and Jack as he spoke jumped for the ladder.
CHAPTER III.
THE BATTLE IN THE AIR.
“Let me go first, won’t you, Jack, please?”
There was no time for argument, so the other stepped aside and permitted his chum to pass down the ladder that led from the lower part of the structure. Since haste was a prime object with the boys just then it can be understood that they made record time, and were at the bottom almost “between breaths,” as Jack put it.
“I hear it sputtering somewhere!” exclaimed Amos, excitedly, as he turned this way and that without apparently being able to make any sort of discovery.
“And I can smell burnt powder plainly!” echoed Jack, not content to stand still and look around, but beginning a hasty search.