"We are up against it," replied Bert, speaking more calmly than would
have been possible for most lads. But Herbert Dare was unusually cool-
headed, a fact which later stood him in good service.

"Maybe the stairs are safe now," suggested Vincent.

It needed but a look at them to show that they were almost burned
away.

"No escape there," decided Bert.

"Isn't there an end door?"

"One, up in the loft, but it's thirty feet from the ground and that's
too much of a jump. Besides, we can't get into the loft now. It's a
mass of flames."

"Then we've got to jump through the big doors and take our chances
with the fire!" declared Vincent.

"Wait a minute," advised Bert.

He looked about him, seeking some means of escape. It would be
dangerous to try to leap through the doors. They would fall into a
mass of burning straw, which would scar them terribly, as would also
the falling cataract of ignited wisps. Yet there was no other way.

Then a daring idea came to Bert. He remembered reading about a man who
once escaped in a similar manner from a burning barn.