"The fire must have made him crazy," said Jack. "Go on, Mark, it's getting hot up above!" Mark did not linger on the ladder and soon the two boys were in the street, surrounded by an excited crowd. "Are you hurt?" asked several. "I guess not," replied Mark. "What caused the fire?" "Some sort of an explosion," answered a policeman. "Part of the hotel was blown up. If you boys wish you can go to a station house where you'll be comfortable until morning." "I guess we will," said Mark. They started to work their way through the crowd but did not notice that the strange man followed them. The fire was now burning fiercely, and once they had gotten clear of the press the lads halted to look at the spectacle. The hotel was now a mass of flames and the firemen were kept busy. What with the puffing of engines, the whistling of the steamers, the roar of the flames, and the shouts of the crowd, pandemonium reigned. The boys watched the fire for some time. Gradually the flames came under the control of the men and the leaping tongues died out. "I guess we'd better go to the police station," suggested Jack. Mark agreed this would be a good thing to do, as both of them felt rather chilly in the night air with only half of their clothes on. They inquired their way of the first policeman they saw, and he volunteered to escort them. "Sure an' you'll have plenty of company," he said. "The hotel was full an' the people have no place to go except to the lock-up. Some swells will be glad to take a place behind the bars to-night I'm thinkin'. I wonder how some of those English aristocrats will like it?" "English aristocrats?" repeated Jack. "Are any here?" "Sure. There's a lot of them burned out. Lord Peckham was stoppin' at the hotel with a big crowd of people, an' their apartments was all destroyed. Some of 'em went to the police station." The boys followed their uniformed guide through the streets of Easton, and were soon at the station house. There they were received by the sergeant in charge, while the matron gave them each a cup of hot coffee, a large pot of the beverage having been brewed. "I'll have to give you boys one bed between you," said the sergeant. "We're rather crowded for room to-night." "Anything will do us," said Jack with a laugh. Just then there was some excitement at the entrance of the police station. "I tell you they're in here! I will see them!" a voice exclaimed. "I want them arrested at once!" "Go easy now," counseled the doorman as he tried to hold back a short, stout, excited man who was pushing his way into the station. "There they are!" exclaimed the man, pointing to Jack and Mark. "Why those boys are from the burned hotel," said the doorman. "I know it! They are the very ones I want!" "What do you of us?" spoke up Mark. He recognized the man as the one who had called to him as he and Jack were escaping.