CHAPTER XXIX
TRUE HEROISM
"Well, one thing is certain, I am much worse off now than I was when inthe hands of Lew Flapp's crowd," thought Dick dismally, after trying invain to break the bonds that bound him.
The closet in which he was a prisoner was so small that he couldscarcely turn himself. The door was a thick one, so to break it downwas out of the question.
"Stop your row in there!" called out Dan Baxter presently. "If youdon't, I'll give you something you won't want."
"How long are you going to keep me here?"
"If you wait long enough you'll find out," was the unsatisfactoryanswer.
"It won't do you any good to keep me a prisoner, Dan."
"Won't it? Perhaps you think I'm going to let you go so that you canget the officers to arrest my father," sneered the younger Baxter.
"They are bound to get him anyway, sooner or later."
"They'll never get him if they don't catch him this week."
"Why? Is he going to leave the country?"
"That's his business, not yours," said Dan Baxter, and walked away.
"It's too bad he turned up as he did," remarked Arnold Baxter, when hefound himself alone with his son. "I thought I'd be safe here until Icould slip over to Boston."
"When does that steamer sail for Cape Town, Africa, dad?"
"Tuesday or Wednesday of next week."
"Then all we can do is to keep Dick Rover a prisoner until that time."
"We can't do it, Dan. As soon as he is reported missing this wholevicinity will be searched."
"Do you think they'll find this cottage?"
"Perhaps, although so far I have not been disturbed."
"Tom and Sam Rover came pretty close to locating you, didn't they?"
"They came within half a mile of the spot. But I gave them the slip."
"I wish I could square up with all of the Rovers," went on Dan Baxtersavagely. "They have caused me no end of trouble."
"Better leave them alone, Dan. Every time you try to do something youget your fingers burnt."
To this the son could not answer, for he knew that his father spoke thetruth.
A long talk followed, and then Dan Baxter left, promising to returnbefore noon of the next day. He was to proceed to a town about twelvemiles away and there purchase for his father a new suit of clothing anda preparation for dyeing his hair and beard. With this disguise ArnoldBaxter hoped to get away from the vicinity and reach Boston withoutbeing recognized.
So far the night had been clear, but now a storm was brewing. From agreat distance came a rumble of thunder and occasionally a glimpse oflightning lit up the landscape.
"You'll have a bad journey of it," said Arnold Baxter to his son as thelatter was leaving.
"Reckon I'll have to make the best of it," answered Dan. "But I've gotused to such things, since I've been knocking around the ocean andelsewhere."
Left to himself, Arnold Baxter paced the floor of the cottage uneasily.Age was beginning to tell upon him and he was by no means the man hewas when introduced to the Rovers years before.
"I wish I was out of it," he murmured to himself. "I'd give a good dealto be on the ocean this minute, bound for some place where I can make afresh start."
The storm kept growing in violence until the cottage fairly shook fromthe fury of the wind. There was much thunder and lightning, with somecrashing in the woods close at hand, that caused both Baxter and Dickto start in alarm.
Dick was doing his best to free himself and at last managed to get onehand loose.
He had already found that to attempt forcing the door was useless. Nowhe tried the walls of the closet and then the flooring and the ceiling.
He was much gratified to find that the boards of the ceiling were notfastened down. With a great effort he managed to raise himself andafter a minute of hard work found himself in the tiny loft of thecottage. Here the patter of the rain was strong and the water wasleaking in everywhere.
"I'll have to drop to the ground and run for it," he told himself, andcrawled to where there was a tiny window just large enough to admit thepassage of his body.
It was no easy matter to get down to the ground with one hand stillfastened behind him, and Dick made rather slow work of it. The rainbeat in at the window, and soon he was soaked to the skin.
Where to go next he did not know. To journey far in such a storm wasentirely out of the question.
Dick had hardly gotten to the edge of the woods when a blinding flashof lightning and a ripping crash of thunder fairly lifted him from hisfeet.
"Oh!" he gasped, and staggered to a tree for support. "My, but that wasclose!"
It was not until a moment later that he realized what had occurred. Thelightning had struck the cottage, ripping off a corner of the roof anddescending into the room below. The structure was now a mass of flames.
"The cottage is on fire!" murmured the youth. "Wonder if the Baxtershave been struck?"
The wind quickly drove the fire in all directions until the cottage wasin flames almost from end to end.
Staggering from the effects of the shock, Dick drew closer to thebuilding and then tried the door, to find it locked.
"Help!" came faintly, in Arnold Baxter's voice. "Help!"
"Open the door," returned Dick, forgetting that it was an enemy who wascalling for assistance.
"I--I cannot. I--I am helpless!"
Again Dick tried the door, but without success. Then he leaped for thewindow. Some of the glass was broken, and with his naked fist he drovein the whole sash, and tore down the flapping curtain.
The sight which met his gaze filled him with horror. The room was onfire in several places and in a corner, near the chimney piece, restedArnold Baxter, pinned down by a section of brick and stonework that hadfallen. He had been hit in the head, and from the wound the blood wasflowing.
"Rover, is that you?" he cried faintly. "Don't desert me!"
Without replying, Dick began to crawl in through the broken window. Theair was filled with smoke and he could scarcely see what he was doing.The sparks, too, were flying in all directions and only the wetness ofhis garments kept them from catching fire.
He was soon at Arnold Baxter's side, and with his one free hand hurledthe bricks and stones in all directions. As he worked the fire keptcoming closer, until his face was fairly blistered by theconflagration.
At last the man was free. But he could not raise himself up, and whenDick did it Arnold Baxter fell a limp form in his arm. He had fainted.
Mustering up all the strength that remained to him, Dick dragged theunconscious man to the door. There was a bar to be flung aside and thenDick threw the barrier wide open. It was none too soon, for now thefire was swirling in all directions. Staggering beneath his burden theyouth hurried into the open and then fell flat, with Arnold Baxterbeside him.
"What a close call!" murmured Dick, when he was able to rise. He feltweak in the knees, and his hands and face smarted from the blisteringreceived. He looked at Arnold Baxter. The man had not yet recovered andlooked to be more dead than alive.
Dick remembered having crossed a brook but a short distance away, andto this he went and bathed his burns and brought some water back forArnold Baxter. His other hand had now become free, so he could work tomuch better advantage.
"He has been seriously hurt, that is certain," thought the youth."Perhaps he breathed in some of the flames. If he did that he may neverget over it."
Left to itself the cottage burnt to the ground and then the fallingrain put out the hissing embers. In the meantime Dick did what he couldto restore Arnold Baxter to consciousness, and at last had thesatisfaction of seeing the man open his eyes.
"Oh!" murmured the man. "The fire--"
"You are out of it," answered Dick soothingly.
"Did you--did you haul me out?"
"Yes."
"It was good of you to do it, Rover," said Arnold Baxter, and then hefainted once more.
The Rover Boys in Camp; or, The Rivals of Pine Island Page 29