Jess of the Rebel Trail Part 43

Eben had been rowing only a few minutes when the fire reached the lower end of the island. It burst with a mighty roar from among the trees, and hurled its flames out over the rocks where the women had been huddled but a short time before. They shivered as they watched the fearful sight, and silently clung to each other. But even now they were not beyond danger. The flames, as if angered by losing their human prey, reached out over the water in a final effort to seize the fleeing ones. Showers of blazing embers were poured forth, and fell around the boat, and at times upon the occupants. The women were now kept alert and busy extinguishing these brands by hurling the largest overboard, and by dashing water with their hands and a small baling can over the others. The heat was intense, and at times almost unbearable.

The smoke, too, was blinding and suffocating. This, added to the heat and the roar of the fire, made their position a veritable inferno, from which there seemed no way of escape. So far as they could tell the country all around them was aflame.

Eben uttered no sound, but pulled strongly at the oars. Occasionally he turned his head in an effort to see the mainland toward which he was urging the boat. The fire was sweeping down along the sh.o.r.e, and he could tell by the sound how far it had advanced. In a short time it would be opposite them, and if thus caught between the flames on the sh.o.r.e and those on the island their fate would be sealed.

Almost instinctively now Eben guided the boat, and in a few minutes more it grated upon the beach and brought up with a jerk.

"Get out quick," the lad ordered, as he threw aside the oars and leaped ash.o.r.e.

Without a word the women immediately obeyed, and no sooner had their feet touched the ground than their rescuer caught each by the arm with a firm grip.

"Come," he gasped. "Guess we're in time."

They hurried up the bank, which here was quite steep, and in another minute Eben halted, before an opening in the side of the hill.

"Gee! I struck it right," he panted. "It's the mine. Bend yer heads an' come on. I'll show ye the way."

CHAPTER XXVIII

IN URGENT NEED

When Thomas Hampton laboured so hard in opening up his mine on the sh.o.r.e of Island Lake, he little thought in what manner it would one day be used. He had toiled through long weary months, working with pick and shovel, until he had drifted one hundred feet into the side of the hill. He had sh.o.r.ed up the roof of the mine with poles he had cut and dragged from the forest, until everything was secure to his entire satisfaction. He had the coal unearthed and ready to be brought forth, but little interest was taken in his efforts, and he had no money to carry on the enterprise.

"We shall come into our own some day," he had told his wife not long before his death. "The mine will be used, and success and fortune will be ours."

Mrs. Hampton thought of these words as she and her companions sat huddled there in the darkness at the farther end of the mine. It had been hard groping their way thither, for the ground was rough, and they had no light to guide their steps. But they were thankful for this refuge, and it was good to sit there and rest.

"Guess the fire can't reach us now," Eben remarked. "Wish to goodness I had a match, so's we could see what kind of a place this is. But I left my vest in the car, and the matches were in the pocket."

"What car?" Mrs. Hampton asked.

"Lord Fiddlesticks'."

"You mean Lord Donaster?"

"I guess that's his name, but dad calls him 'Fiddlesticks'."

"And you were with him? Where was he going?"

"Why, he was comin' here, of course. Where'd ye think he was goin'?"

"What was he coming here for?" Jess sharply asked.

"To see you, I guess."

"How did he know where I was?"

"H'm, he found out all right. Ye can't hide from him fer long. He thinks a lot of you, he sure does."

"Where is he now, then?"

"Oh, he skedaddled when he saw the fire. He was 'most scared t' death."

"So he left you alone to save us?" Jess asked. "There was a note of tenderness in her voice.

"Oh, I didn't mind. He'd only been in the way. He's no good."

"And you came right through the fire to help us! We would have been burned alive but for you."

"I'm glad I was in time. Oh!" Eben tried to smother the groan, but in vain. The intense excitement on the lake while seeing from the flames had kept his mind from his burns, but now in the darkness and stillness of the mine it was different. His sufferings increased, and he felt like screaming with the pain. He could sit still no longer.

"You stay here," he ordered, "while I go an' see how things look outside."

"Be careful of yourself, and keep out of the fire," Mrs. Hampton warned.

"Oh, I'll be keerful," Eben faintly replied, as he groped his way along the dark pa.s.sage. "I won't run no risk."

Left alone, the women talked about the fire, and the bravery of their young rescuer.

"Eben is certainly a hero," Mrs. Hampton remarked. "How can we ever repay him for what he has done for us to-day?"

"He must have done it for your sake?" Jess replied. "I am sure he didn't do it for me."

"Why not?" Mrs. Hampton asked in surprise.

"He doesn't like me. I feel certain that it was Eben who threw the stone which hit me that night at the quarry. And then when he came home yesterday and met John and me on the sh.o.r.e he was very angry. He picked up a stick and threw it with all his might. It hit John, but I really believe it was meant for me."

"This is all news to me, dear," Mrs. Hampton replied as she pressed the girl's hand in hers. "What reason has Eben for disliking you?"

"I don't know. But he has acted very strangely ever since those two men were injured at the quarry. He was so pleasant and agreeable before that."

"John met you there that night, did he not?" Mrs. Hampton asked.

"Oh, yes. We were together all the next day, and had such a happy time."

"But what of Eben?"

"I didn't see him at all, and when we went down to the boat in the evening he wasn't there. I asked for him, and one of the workmen said he had run away when he saw us coming. The rest of the men thought it was a big joke and had a great laugh."

Owing to the darkness Jess could not see the smile that flitted across her mother's face. Mrs. Hampton was somewhat amused at the girl's simplicity, although to her the reason for Eben's strange behaviour was quite apparent.

"Eben doesn't dislike you, dear," she told her. "He loves you instead, and loves you so much that he is jealous of John because he thinks he has taken you from him."

"Eben loves me!" Jess exclaimed in surprise. "Why, I never thought of such a thing."

"I know you didn't. But I believe it is true, nevertheless. And I don't blame the boy, for how could anyone help loving you?"