other with questions as to which room her baby had been in.
Fortunately Jack had once known a boy living in the old Bradley mansion;
so that the interior of the house was not strange to him.

"Our bedroom--it is the corner one where the tower stands. The one that
has the alcove!" the lady managed to cry, as she caught his arm, and
looked, oh, so pleadingly, in his boyish, determined face.

After that Jack would have risked anything in the attempt to save that
innocent little one. He rushed off without saying a word. Several put
out a hand to stop him, under the belief that it was useless, since that
portion of the building seemed to be a mass of flames by now. But Jack
dodged them just as he did when running with the ball on the football
field.

When he dashed into the house, disappearing in the volume of smoke that
poured from the open doorway, a groan went up from the great crowd; for
they doubted as to whether he would ever be seen alive again.

CHAPTER XV

THE HONOR BRAND

"He's gone!"

"Who was that boy?" called the foreman of the fire company, as he came
running up, waving his speaking trumpet.

"Jack Stormways, the lumber man's boy!" some one answered.

"Well, he's a good one, all right; but I'm sorry for his mother!" said
the experienced fire-fighter, as he looked anxiously at the flames
pouring out from several windows directly under the room next the tower.

Paul had dropped out of the line. He could not pass another bucket after
seeing the chum he loved so well plunge into the doomed building. From
right and left he heard many things spoken, and presently understood what
it was induced Jack to attempt what seemed so like a foolhardy thing.

So it would have been, had the object of Jack's attempt been the securing
of valuables, no matter what the amount. But a human life counts for
more than earthly riches; and a brave soul never stops to consider the
risk when a fellow being is in peril of a terrible fate.

Jack found himself in the midst of dense smoke as soon as he plunged
across the doorsill. He had foreseen this, and with a wisdom beyond his
years made simple preparations to combat the evil.

On the way to the door he passed close by one who carried a bucket
of water, and some happy inspiration caused him to snatch out his
handkerchief and dip it into the cool liquid, not wringing it out to
any extent.

This he clapped over his nose, so that in breathing the wet cloth would
keep m