What could the men be going to do? A dark foreboding of some great evil came to Ray's heart, as he noiselessly followed on after the four men. Were they about to commit some crime? He did not dare approach too closely, lest his presence should be discovered. And when he reached the tall fence forming the mill yard he had lost sight of them. He listened, but heard no steps; he could not even tell which way they had now gone. He remembered that a ways down that side of the fence on which he was standing there was a small door leading directly to the mills, but it was seldom used. He would go down as far as that, and see if it was closed. He soon reached it, and found that it was firmly fastened. He breathed easier. Perhaps the men were only out on some drunken frolic, after all; and provoked at himself for his needless apprehension, he hurried back to the main street, and went almost on a run up town. When he reached the hill he went more slowly, and at its top he turned and looked down upon the village below. Silence and darkness reigned everywhere. The wind blew terribly, and sent the chilly night air to his very bones. He could not tell why he lingered there, but he did with his eyes fastened upon that part of the darkness which he knew hid the great mills from his sight. Suddenly he gave a great start. He had seen a glimmer of light down near the largest mill. It grew in brilliancy, and then lights flashed forth from three other buildings in the mill yard, and streamed up into the air, fanned by the fierce wind. He could not be mistaken. The Black Forge Mills were on fire, and in that high wind no human power could save them. CHAPTER XV. FIRE AT THE MILLS. Ray acted instinctively, and so did the most natural thing under the circumstances. Screaming "fire" two or three times at the top of his voice, he ran swiftly down the hill toward the mills. Nor did he keep upon the street up which he had just come; but, jumping over the nearest fence, he took the most direct line for the burning building. In three minutes he had reached the east fence of the mill yard, and ran along it, looking for some place to climb over. He had a vague notion that if he could only reach those flames before they got under too great headway, he might subdue them. The fire had not yet gained sufficient force to afford him any light, and he ran along in the darkness until he suddenly struck against a ladder reaching to the top of the fence, with force enough to send it to the ground with a loud clatter, while he fell headlong over it. Before he could rise to his feet, he heard a voice that he knew only too well, saying, apparently from the top of the fence near him: "The wind has blown down our ladder, boys. I just heard it fall. We shall have to jump. Hurry up."