For an instant, Allan stared stupidly at those red tongues of flame, licking merrily about the door—then, in a flash, he understood, and his pulses seemed to stop. The robbers had set fire to the station! It was in this way they proposed to get rid of the evidences of a crime far more serious than robbery. And thus, too, they hoped to get rid of the only witness of that crime not implicated in it—and then Allan remembered—it was not the robbers, it was Dan Nolan who had left him here to die—Nolan who had been told to place him in safety, and who had pretended to do so! He remembered Nolan’s last words, the chuckle which had accompanied them,—all this passed lightning-like through the boy’s mind, as a drowning man, in the moment before he loses consciousness, sees before him his whole life, in a kind of wonderful and fearful panorama.

And, indeed, Allan was as near death as any drowning man—and a death infinitely more horrible. Only for a breath did he lie there passive, ? 271 ? staring at the flames; then he strained and tugged at his bonds, regardless of torn flesh, of bleeding wrists, of aching muscles, but the knots held firmly. Finally, still tight to the chair, he managed to turn upon his hands and knees and to drag himself, inch by inch, toward the door which opened into the waiting-room. Would he reach it in time? He scarcely dared hope so, for the other door was crackling and smoking, threatening every instant to burst into a sheet of flame.

He did reach it, somehow, and raised himself to turn the knob and open it, when from behind him there came a blood-curdling yell, the smoking door burst open and a frantic apparition plunged through the sheet of flame, snatched open the other door before which Allan crouched, and, catching the boy by the collar as it passed, hurled itself on across the waiting-room and through the outer door to safety. There it dropped the boy heavily beside the track, and threw itself into a pool of muddy water, left by the rain of the evening before. In this it wallowed and rolled, as though enjoying the utmost luxury of the bath, and Allan, watching it, began to fancy it some kind of monstrous amphibian.

But at last the monster rose, shook itself, and a hoarse voice issued from it.

“Thought they had Jed Hopkins, did they? Shoot him an’ burn him—bound t’ git him some way! Not this time, gentlemen! Oh, no, not this time,” and Jed rubbed his hand over his head, leaving ? 272 ? himself almost bald, for his hair had been scorched off.

He stood an instant watching the flames. Then he remembered Allan, and strode toward him.

“Hello, kid,” he said. “What’d they do to you?”

The gag prevented Allan from uttering more than a hoarse grunt by way of answer.

Jed stooped down and looked at him more closely.

“Gagged, by gum!” he said, and reaching around behind the boy’s head, had the gag loose in a moment. “Not dead, eh?” he asked.

“No,” answered Allan, smiling despite his wounds. “Only knocked up a little.”

“An’ tied up, too,” added Jed, seeing the ropes for the first time. “I thought there was something queer about you when I dragged you out, but I didn’t hev time t’ stop an’ inquire what it was. There you are,” and he drew a knife from his pocket and severed the ropes. “Kin you stand up?”

He helped the boy to his feet, and after a moment of uncertainty, the latter was able to stand alone.

“Oh, I guess you ain’t much hurt,” said Jed, cheerfully. “Where’d all this gore come from?” and he indicated the boy’s shirt, the front of which was fairly soaked with blood.

“From my nose,” answered Allan, smiling again.

“Oh, that’s good fer ye!” Jed assured him. “Banged you on th’ nose, did they? Break it?”

? 273 ?

“I don’t know,” and Allan touched it tenderly. “It’s pretty sore.”

“Let’s see,” said Jed, and seizing the swollen organ, he wiggled it back and forth, not regarding the boy’s pained protest. “No, it ain’t broke,” he announced, after a moment. “Hurt any place else?”

“I think not,” Allan replied, feeling himself all over. “Nothing more than a few bruises, at least. But aren’t you hurt? I thought you were dead.”

Jed passed his hand over his head again, and laughed.

“So did that feller who put his pistol to my head an’ pulled th’ trigger,” he said. “You see, they all piled on me so that it wasn’t fer some time I could git an arm loose an’ git my gun out.”

“I thought the station was coming down,” Allan remarked, “from the noise you made. It felt like an earthquake.”

“Yes, we did bump around considerable. Well, when I got my gun out, I jest fired it into th’ air sort o’ haphazard, an’ winged one o’ them.”

“Through the hand; it was he who shot at you.”

“He didn’t take no chance,” said Jed. “He made a lucky kick in th’ dark an’ caught me right on th’ wrist an’ knocked th’ pistol clean out o’ my hand. Then I felt th’ cold muzzle of a revolver pressin’ agin my head, an’ I reckoned Jed Hopkins’s time was up. Then I didn’t know no more till th’ fire begun t’ burn one hand, an’ that woke me up.”

? 274 ?

“But how does it come you weren’t killed?”

“Mebbe my skull’s too thick fer a ordinary pistol-ball t’ make a hole in. But I remember jerkin’ my head away, an’ I reckon th’ ball hit me a kind o’ glance blow, jest enough t’ stun me. You kin see how it parted my hair fer me.”

He held down his head, and Allan saw, furrowed in the scalp, a raw and bleeding wound.

“If you happen t’ have a handkercher in yer pocket,” Jed added, “mebbe you’d better tie it up till I have time t’ git it sewed t’gether.”

Allan got out his handkerchief and tenderly bandaged the wound as well as he was able.

“I reckon I’ll be bald fer quite awhile,” remarked Jed, when that operation was finished. “You see, my hat was knocked off in th’ scuffle, an’ my hair was jest ketchin’ fire. I reckon I didn’t come to any too soon.”

“Well,” said Allan, “I’m glad you came to when you did, not only for your sake, but for my own. You saved my life, too, you know.”

“Oh, shucks!” Jed protested. “Not a bit of it. You’d ’a’ got out all right. But I’m wastin’ time. I’ve got t’ hike away on th’ trail o’ them robbers. Hello! Here comes help!”

The station was by this time almost wholly in flames, which shot high into the air and were reflected on the clouds. The light had been observed in the village and everybody turned out of bed, awakened by the shouts, and started for the scene ? 275 ? of the fire. The volunteer fire company, which possessed an antiquated hand-pump engine, got it out and yanked it along over the muddy road, although, if they had stopped to think, they would have known that there was no............