Frank bounded toward the door, but it closed with a slam, and he recoiled helplessly from the shock of striking against it. Again and again he flung himself against that door, but it refused to yield, and he realized that he was a helpless prisoner in the burning building, abandoned to his doom by those dastardly ruffians. There was another door, and Frank tried that, but it was as solid as the first. He looked for windows, but the only one he could see was in the roof, far above his head. “Cooped up!” he muttered. “Done for! Left to roast!” It was a terrible position. He could hear the crackling of the flames as they gained headway, and the smoke came pouring into the room so thickly that it threatened to strangle him. He coughed and choked and hurled himself again and again against the doors, till he was weak and battered and hopeless. “Somebody must see this fire,” he muttered; “but they will get here too late to save me! The jig is up!” He was in despair. Then came a sound at one of the doors! Then it was flung open, and a coughing, strangling girl staggered into the room. “Daisy Blaney!” he shouted, joyously. “Come!” she gasped. “Hurry! If you don’t, we’ll not get out of here! The old building will be all afire in five minutes!” He followed her. The light of the flames showed her seeming to plunge into the thickest of the yellow, rolling smoke. He reached some stairs and fell clean to the bottom. There she got hold of him and dragged him out into the open air. Both were coughing, but, as she worked to set his hands free, she said: “I had to do it! It was the only way I could save you.” “Had to do what?” he asked. “Set the fire.” “Did you do that?” “Yes.” “Daisy, you are all right! It was the best job you ever did!” “We must hurry!” she panted. “The fire will be seen! We do not want to be found here! Men will come and ask questions.” His hands were free, and he rose quickly. She sprang up. “This way,” she whispered, and he ran after her, as she darted round the building, from the upper windows of which there now came a reddish glare. “I know how to get away from here,” she said. “This old building is on the outskirts of the town.” He trusted everything to her, and they ran on through the darkness, cutting across lots till they reached a distant street. Then they heard the cry of fire from another direction, and they knew the first alarm had been given. A few moments later the fire alarm sounded. They were fortunate in escaping observation till the home of Daisy was reached. “I’ll not forget what you have done for me to-night, Miss Blaney,” declared Frank. “You saved my life!” “You did quite as much for me,” she asserted. “I believe you saved me from a life of wretchedness. You made me understand just where I was drifting.” “You are a brave little girl! I shall remember how bravely you stood up before those ruffians.” “But they were too many for me. I could not fight them all.”