ng house,
and mentally calculating just what chance any one still inside those
walls would have of coming out alive.

"Unless he was rattled in the bargain," said Jack. "Lots of people leave
things for others to do. Fred may have thought his mother would fetch
Lucy out; and on her part she took it for granted Fred had taken care of
his sister the first thing."

"Gee whiz! I wonder, could that happen, and the poor thing be in there
right now," Toby exclaimed, looking horrified at the idea.

"Listen to all that squealing over among the women, will you?" Steve was
saying.

Indeed, a fresh outburst of feminine cries could be heard. Apparently
something had happened to give the women new cause for fright. Some of
those around Fred turned to look. They could see the women running this
way and that like a colony of bees that has been disturbed.

"They certain sure act like they might be looking for somebody!"
asserted Toby. "See how they ask questions of everyone they meet. Jack,
do you think Fred's mother could have just learned that something had
happened to her boy; or would it be Lucy they miss for the first time?"

"We'll soon know," said Jack, firmly, "because here comes one of the
women running this way like a frightened rabbit."

Eagerly, and with their pulses bounding like mad, they awaited the
arrival of the woman. Many others had also turned to greet her, sensing
some fresh calamity, before which even the burning of the poor widow's
cottage would sink into insignificance.

"Is she here, men?" gasped the woman, almost out of breath. "Have any of
you seen Lucy Badger? We can't find her anywhere. Is that Fred there on
the ground? He ought to know, because his mother says he must have taken
his sister from the house."

They all turned toward Fred. He still sat there looking white and weak,
though he was evidently recovering by degrees from his swoon after being
hit on the head by some falling object. He looked up in sudden anxiety
as he heard the woman speaking.

"What's the matter, Mrs. Moody?" he asked, trying to get on his knees,
though the effort was almost too much for his strength. "What's that you
said about my sister Lucy? Oh! isn't she with mother and Barbara? I
thought sure I saw her in the crowd while I was working trying to save
some of the furniture mother valued."

"We can't find the girl anywhere!" the woman cried, in anguish, "and
perhaps she's still in there, stupefied by the smoke, and una