“I—I—it makes me think of a—a phrase I never really understood before——” he began.
“Sure! Same here!” exclaimed the Shark. “It’s—er—er—it’s ‘A singed cat’—or ‘A burnt child’—one or the other—‘dreads the fire.’”
Sam’s laugh was a little tremulous. “Ho, ho! ‘Devouring element’—that was what I was thinking about. But you’re on the right track, too, Shark. We’re in a fair way to be singed and maybe burned, if we try to stay here longer.”
[THE BOYS FELT AS IF THEY STOOD BEFORE AN ENORMOUS FURNACE]
It was no more than the truth. So great was the heat that the boys, even though they were at a considerable distance from the leaping flames, [felt as if they stood before the discharge pipes of an enormous furnace]. Sam retreated a pace. So did his companion. Then, together, they turned and started back toward the lake.
It was their intention to keep close to the shore and make their way to the camp—if that had still escaped destruction—in the hope of saving the effects they had left in the tent, and then to rejoin the others of the club. They made haste, running when the ground permitted; and came in sight of the water, with no more serious incident than a tumble for the Shark, whose foot caught on a root. On the lake shore, though, they had a reminder of their still unsuccessful quest of the mysterious stranger.
There was a clearly audible crashing of brush very near them. Both boys stopped in their tracks. For an instant they peered into the dim thickets, whence the sounds proceeded. Then, by a common impulse, they sprang forward. The great fire was forgotten, and their one thought was to overtake the person who seemed to be in such fear of detection.
CHAPTER XXI
ROUSING THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Step’s long legs carried him over the ground at a great rate, but Poke did not fall far behind, when the chums started to rouse the people of the settlement near the pavilion. They hurried through the woods, reached the road which wound round the end of the lake, and came presently to a farmhouse, which, naturally enough at that hour, was as dark as the trees before it.