A rope dangled from the beam above the door to the ground below. It ran through a pulley, and was evidently used to hoist and lower materials into and out of the factory.
Joe Strong, with an exclamation, suddenly darted forward toward the building, which, in spite of the streams of water poured against it, was now on fire.
“What are you going to do?” cried Harry, reaching out his hand to hold back his chum.
“Get that man—the professor!” answered Joe.
“But you—you can’t do it!” protested Henry.
“Can’t I? You just watch me!” cried Joe, as he broke into a run. He was headed straight for the dangling rope that hung from the beam. It was right in front of the open door, where the motionless form of the magician lay.
Joe Strong was going to the rescue.
CHAPTER IV
JOE’S FEAT
There was so much going on—firemen and eager volunteers working at the hose and apparatus, railroad men and factory employees endeavoring to get out of the danger zone a car loaded with explosives, others removing from the factory and store-houses some of the powder, still others rushing here and there, uselessly shouting—there was so much of this sort of thing going on that, for a moment, no one noticed Joe Strong except his four chums.
But the lad had no sooner reached the foot of the dangling rope than others saw him, among them some firemen.