Dan Carter And The Haunted Castle Part 18

The boys were dismayed as they drew closer to see that the Castle was enveloped in a wispy smoke which seeped out from the woods.

Furthermore, a light breeze was blowing toward them.

"The Castle will be sure to go unless that fire can be checked fast!"

Brad gasped.

The boys now were close enough to be certain that the smoke did not come from a brush pile.

"Dan, we've got to work fast!" the older boy directed, halting abruptly.

"We can't do anything here alone and without equipment. We've got to call a fire department."

"The city engine won't come this far out."

"Then call Mr. Hatfield and Burton Holloway! Have them round up the cubs, and bring all the equipment they can muster."

"The nearest phone must be at that farmhouse we pa.s.sed," Dan recalled.

"I'll get there as fast as I can."

Brad ran on alone toward the Castle. As yet he could see no flames, but the air was acrid with fumes.

"Ross!" he shouted, thinking that the Den 1 boy might be somewhere in the woods. "Ross Langdon!"

His call went unanswered. But now Brad distinctly could hear the crackle of flames.

Following a path which led from the rear of the stone building into the woods, he found the smoke thicker.

Then ahead, he saw a fiery, uneven line of flame.

Dried gra.s.s and leaves had ignited. The flames already covered an area nearly twenty feet across and were spreading rapidly.

Tongues of fire licked greedily at the bases of the trees, but so far had not eaten deeply into the wood.

The smoke and heat halted Brad. He realized his utter helplessness.

No water was available. He had no tools or anything with which to fight the fire.

"I've got to do something!" he thought desperately. "But what?"

Brad moved back into the cleared area by the Castle. The gra.s.s was green here and free of brush and leaves. If the fire could be checked at the edge of the woods, the building would be spared.

On the other hand, should the tall trees catch, nothing could stop the fire until it had done untold damage.

Sparks borne by the wind now were flying toward the stone dwelling. One fell into a tiny pocket of leaves and began to blaze.

Brad pounded out the flames and scattered the leaves with his rake. But other sparks were beginning to drop.

"The Castle will go unless I can get help fast!" he told himself. "May be someone at the adjoining estate has some equipment."

Brad started at a run across the cleared s.p.a.ce and then on into a field of stubble.

Unexpectedly he tripped over a pile of boards and fell flat on the ground. His extended hand groping over the top of the boards, encountered only yawning s.p.a.ce.

Scrambling to his feet, Brad saw that the fall had saved him from a much worse disaster. The loose boards only half-covered a deep pit.

"Gos.h.!.+ That was a narrow escape!" he exclaimed. "I could have tumbled in."

Brad gave a quick glance down into the pit and then did a double take.

Water!

"It's an old well!" he thought. "Now if only we had buckets-"

The boy started on, running toward the estate where he and Dan so rudely had been dismissed by the gardener.

Reaching the road, he was just turning into the lane when a truck halted beside him.

"Say, buddy, where's the fire?" the driver asked him.

Brad saw that it was a telephone company truck bearing five or six linesmen in addition to the man at the wheel.

"There's a brush fire over behind that stone house," he informed, pointing toward the area of billowing smoke. "I need help and I need it fast!"

"Hop in!" directed the driver.

The truck roared down the road and turned in at the castle grounds. Smoke now was so dense that the building scarcely was visible.

"We'll never get it stopped now!" Brad cried.

"Maybe we will," the truck driver encouraged him. "A trench may be the ticket. We've got a couple of spades somewhere in the truck."

"But if those trees get a good start, the entire forest area will go,"

Brad pointed out. "Those estates farther down the road will be in danger too."

Piling out of the truck, the linesmen ran to the scene of the fire.

"The smoke is heavy, but the fire hasn't spread too far-yet," the truck driver appraised the situation. "The flames are thin and could be beaten out with blankets-if we had 'em. Or water-"

Brad told him about the well.

"Fine, but we have only one bucket in the truck. That will be about as much use as spraying with an atomizer!"

As the telephone men were getting what equipment they had from the truck, Dan Carter came running up.

"Did you get hold of Mr. Hatfield?" Brad demanded.

"Yes, and Mr. Holloway too. They'll be out here p.r.o.nto with all the equipment they can get on short order. But it looks pretty hopeless."

"I'm afraid so," Brad mumbled. "Oh, it makes me sick to stand helplessly by and see the Castle destroyed. We may get the blame too."

The linesmen, having no blankets, had made use of a heavy canvas carried in the truck to protect equipment.