At the same moment another body shot from a window of the first burning house, and this person, too, was rescued.
“After all, the water is a good thing,” remarked Blake, as he hastily oiled the motor. “They couldn’t jump on the hard ground, but the flood saves them, even if it does destroy their houses.”
“They are certainly having their own troubles,” observed Joe.
“We’ll help them all we can!” cried the manager. “Get out some of the life preservers, boys, and the cork rings. It may be that we shall need them.”
They had provided themselves with these appliances before starting off on their trip, and Blake and Joe now took them from the lockers and laid them where they could be gotten at instantly.
“I saw a fire once,” remarked little Charlie, who was an interested observer of the fearsome scene.
“Did you?” asked C. C., who had taken a great liking to the small chap. “Where?”
“Our barn burned up,” the child went on, “but pa, he got our horse out, and the cow.”
“He must have lived on a farm,” said the actor to the boys, “and yet that upside-down house we took him from didn’t look like a farm dwelling. It was more like a city place.”
“He may have lived on a farm when he was younger,” observed Blake. “I wonder if we’ll ever find his folks?”