"Where did you leave him?" demanded the intrepid rescuer.

"Over in the corner--the box on the floor--Bennie was naughty, and he had to be punished!" she cried at the top of her shrill voice.

Ty immediately disappeared, while his three chums below waited with astonishment written on their faces, not knowing what it all meant.

"Did you hear that, Elmer?" demanded Landy, plucking at the wet sleeve of the other. "She said the baby was in a box! Don't that beat the Dutch, though? Whatever could she have been thinking of to do such a thing?"

"It wath the thillieth ever!" declared Ted, "thtuffing a baby in a box jutht like he wath a rag doll!"

"Hold on and see," said Elmer, who must have had some sort of suspicion as to the true state of affairs.

All eyes were riveted on that window. Seconds pa.s.sed as before, and the boys began to get nervous again because Ty failed to appear. Had he found the baby really smothered? Was he attempting to carry the poor little darling down the stairs through all that dreadful smoke?

"Oh, look! look!" cried Landy.

There was no need of his saying this, because everyone near by had been watching that window eagerly, and no doubt saw what was happening just as quickly as the fat boy did; but then Landy was so worked up with excitement that he could not restrain himself.

Yes, Ty was there in full sight again. This time he was leaning from the window, and seemed to be holding something in his arms.

"Hold on there, Ty," shouted Ted, feeling a thrill of horror, as he fancied his fellow scout must be about to heave the poor little innocent darling from that second story window, in the hope of somebody catching it before it could reach the ground. "Give uth a thanthe to get under firtht."

"Yes, hold your horses, old fellow!" panted Landy, as he started forward with outstretched arms.

But, singular to say, Ty seemed to pay little or no attention to their demands; though Elmer was sure he could see a broad grin on the blackened face of the one who leaned out of the window to get away from the smoke.

"Here, take your baby, little girl!" he shouted hoa.r.s.ely, as he began to lower away on a strange rope, which Elmer decided he must have made by tearing a sheet into long strips, and tying these together.

Something came down, foot by foot--something that struggled, and made frantic attempts at getting free from the encircling rope.

"Wow! it's a pup!" shrieked the astonished Landy.

"Well, I do declare!" echoed Ted.

Elmer laughed aloud, as he started once more at the task of emptying several buckets that had meanwhile arrived at the end of the human chain. For wise Elmer had guessed the truth before the moment when the other two made their discovery.

The little girl darted forward and s.n.a.t.c.hed the small woolly dog up the moment it touched the ground. She began to hug "Bennie" with all the ardor of an indulgent little mistress; and, then freeing him from the torn sheet, ran off toward the women as if to show her recovered prize to her mother.

"Now come down yourself, Ty!" shouted Elmer. "Don't you think of going back by way of the stairs, d'ye hear?"

Ty waved his hand. Perhaps his voice was utterly gone by this time, thanks to the smoke and his exertions. They saw him swing out of the window; and Elmer understood from this that at least the scout had considerable power left in his arms and lower limbs.

Now his feet were on a little ledge that ran along the face of the house above the lower windows. Ty had noticed that a shutter was partly open and meant to make use of this in his descent. It was a clever idea, and did the boy great credit in the way of judgment. A veteran fireman, accustomed to such things, could hardly have conceived a better plan of campaign.

Once his feet were planted on top of this, Ty gave a sudden move, and they saw him slipping down until his ready hands caught the upper edge of the heavy blind. After that he dropped to the ground in a heap, to quickly stagger to his feet once more.

"Hurrah for Ty!" shouted Landy, making the high sign of fellowship in the direction of his chum; for he was too busily engaged just then to think of abandoning his buckets in order to rush to Ty's side so as to shake hands with the hero of the occasion.

What if it was only a miserable little woolly pup that he had managed to save from possible destruction; it would have been all the same had it been the real baby that the child had given him to understand was in peril. And Ty need never feel ashamed of his brave act. It shed new l.u.s.ter on the name of the Hickory Ridge Boy Scout troop; and Elmer was determined that when the account was written up, there should be no hint of humor in the same that might reflect in any way on Ty's act.

Immediately Ty got busy again, and proceeded to fight the fire with renewed vigor, though the poor fellow did look as though he had almost reached the end of his resources. Twice did Elmer tell him to drop out, and try to recover; but for once Ty refused to obey orders, under the plea that, as they were not really in uniform, it was not obligatory on his part.

"Now something is going to happen!" said Landy, as he brushed past Elmer while warmly engaged; and at the same time he pointed across the open s.p.a.ce to where a party of stout farm hands had burst into view, running as fast as they could toward the fire.

"More bucketh coming, boyth!" called Ted, who had seen that each one of the newcomers was armed with at least one big pail; which fact proved that they must have suspected the cause of the wild alarm before they left home, and had provided in this wise manner against a dearth of vessels for fighting the flames.

When those fellows got busy, hurrying up from the friendly creek, each with a fresh supply of energy, and a pair of big buckets that were filled to the brim with the liquid so needful in order to check the spread of the flames, things began to look more cheerful.

"Now we've got it on the run, fellows!" cried Landy, almost hysterical through sheer weakness, and his grim determination not to give up so long as he could put one foot before the other.

"Thay, look at that giant bringing a wath boiler full of water at a time!" exclaimed the delighted Ted, almost forgetting to lisp, so great was his excitement. "When he geth thtarted, it'th good-by to the old fire. Whoop! hear it thizzle, would you! Hit it again, mithter; it never will be mithed! Now it'th your turn, Elmer. One, two, three, and thet 'em up again in the other alley! We win, boyth, we win!"

CHAPTER XIII.

HOW THE SCOUTS WON OUT.

THE newcomers, whose coming the boys had noted with pleasure, certainly showed signs of knowing how to fight a fire in the country. In the first place, they had brought their tools of trade along with them, in the shape of buckets. Doubtless they remembered that on former occasions the fire had gained headway simply on account of a lack of receptacles for water.

Then they knew the brook, and that an abundance of water could be had for the taking. Last of all every man was full of vim, judging from the way they started in to whoop things up.

Besides, their coming seemed to invigorate those already on the ground, and who, by reason of long service, were nearly exhausted.

"'Everybody's doin' it,' fellers!" gasped Landy, as he staggered forward with his sixteenth bucket, and gave the contents a fling.

"It'th a burning thame, what we're doing to that old fire, don't you know?" laughed Ted, who followed close on the fat boy's heels.

"Keep it going another round, boys," shouted Elmer; "and by that time, I reckon, there won't be any more need of water. We've saved the house, even if it is damaged a little with water and smoke and fire. That's the ticket, Ty; you're making a record worth while to-day, old fellow! Once more to the breach; then it's rest for yours."

"All out!" cried Landy, in another minute, as he dropped his bucket and sank in a limp heap on the ground, a sight that would have caused his good mother to throw up her hands in horror.

But Landy was proud of having had a chance to prove his right to the name of a Hickory Ridge Boy Scout. He grinned, and looked particularly happy; for he knew that when the history of the saving of the Brady home was written, his name would surely have a place of honor among those who partic.i.p.ated in the good work.

By this time there were fully forty people present. How the news got abroad it would be hard to say. Some of the farmers in that neighborhood had telephones, and in this way it may have been pa.s.sed along the line; but there were many other methods in which the fire could have made itself manifest.

New people kept arriving every few minutes; while a few went away again to attend to the urgent business of getting in their late crops.

The four scouts remained in a bunch, talking matters over, and trying to recover a little from their tremendous exertions before returning to the camp.

"Thay, how d'ye thuppothe the old thing got thtarted?" Ted asked, with the natural curiosity of a boy.

"That's so," echoed Landy. "It must have been an accident don't you think, Elmer?" for even in such a matter as this they seemed to turn to the patrol leader for information.

"I'm sure I can't say, fellows," replied Elmer. "At this time in the morning the hands on a farm are out in the fields, and the women washing up the breakfast things. Perhaps they've got a gasoline stove here, and somebody was careless. It happens now and then."

"But here comes Mr. Brady over this way; he may know what started the old blaze," remarked Ty.