attacking the fastened door furiously, while
inside and out that ominous smoke curled in wreaths about him. In
the end, just when it seemed as though all would be lost, of course,
the knight must batter his way in through the broken door, and the
dashing rescue would be complete.

Hugh was beginning to feel nervous, and with a reason. While his
chums' were wholly wrapped up in observing the numerous exciting
incidents that fell under their observation, and connected with the
work of the laboring players, the scout master had made a sudden
discovery that worried him.

It was a very small matter, and would never have been noticed by any
one whose training had not been that of a scout, accustomed to observing
everything happening around him. But small matters may become _deciding_
factors.

The wind had shifted all of a sudden, and besides coming from a new
quarter was rapidly growing in violence. Hugh knew this from the way
the smoke had turned and was now sweeping toward the southeast. This
fact, while trifling in itself, might, as he well knew, assume a
terrible significance when it was remembered that a dozen industrious
supers were playing with fire, and causing it to appear that the whole
wing of the castle were enveloped in flames, real or make-believe.

Hugh had eyes for nothing else after making that thrilling discovery.
He watched with his nerves on edge, and at the same time began to
think within that active brain of his what his plan of campaign must
be should the worst that he feared come to pass.

Those hoarse shouts of the combatants, the clang of steel smiting
steel, the roar of the manager's voice through his big megaphone,
the shrieks of the women connected with the troupe, induced by the
real excitement of the occasion---all these sounds fell upon deaf
ears as Hugh gripped his chum Arthur by the arm and called his attention
to the impending peril, becoming greater with every second.

"The wind, don't you see it's whipped around, and is coming from a
new quarter?" was the tenor of what he called in the other's ear.
"If that fire gets away from those supers it's going to give them a
heap of trouble! Yes, it will chase those fighters out of the passages
in a hurry, and I'm afraid it'll even cut off the poor girl who is
supposed to be locked in that turret room."

"Hugh, look! look!" ejaculated Arthur, in sudden excitement; "Just as
you said, I do believe the fire has got beyond their control a