in tones of
alarm.

"Yes!"

Phil cut the word quick and short. His tone and the instantly still
greater speed of the car told all too plainly where his fears were running.

There was no need to rouse Link Fraley or the officers of Staretta. They
were astir watching the progress of the distant flames. Scores of men had
already gone to join the fire fighters, who, it was reported, had reached
the scene from Jacques' Mills, a settlement to the northwest that lay in
great danger, should the wind change.

The fire had been noticed only as clouds of smoke during the day, Link
Fraley said. In the afternoon messengers arrived saying that the blaze
was gaining great headway. It might yet be confined to a certain swampy
district, thick with dead trees and grass and a rank undergrowth of
rushes, now dry as tinder from the long drouth. It was here the fire
had started. Many men returned with the bearer of the news to aid in the
battle.

With sundown came the wind. There could be no stopping of the terrible
destruction so long as the gale increased, Link Fraley stated. The best
that any could hope for was that the blaze could be kept within a narrow
limit as it swept onward into the wholly unsettled country so saving the
little towns and mills along the railroad line.

But about MacLester--the hearts of the three boys sank like lead. Even
Sheriff Larsen said nothing could be done for him while so great a number
of lives were in jeopardy and every hand was needed to preserve them. He
was sorry--very sorry; but he believed and hoped Dave would escape in
safety, somehow, though there was not a thing that anyone could do at
once to help him or to aid his friends in finding him.

Perhaps he had been lured into the woods for purposes of robbery, or by
Murky, in a spirit of revenge; but even the much-needed attention of the
law to that dangerous character must wait, the sheriff said, until the
great fire could in some degree be overcome.

Awed and alarmed, their every nerve tense with a depth of interest and
anxiety such as few ever experience, the three friends listened to the
conversation of those about them. The principal crowd had gathered before
Fraley's store. Suddenly, from the partially lighted interior, Link
Fraley came. With a nod of his head he beckoned the Auto Boys aside.

"An Indian fellow--Doughnut Dan, they call him--has just come in from
up the line," said he, "and brings word that the fire will get south of
Op