CHAPTER IX
TOM IS RESCUED
The Deep Forest Throng needed no urging to flee from the place of the mysterious explosion. Their prisoner, helpless as he had seemed, had proved too much for them. Slipping and stumbling along in the darkness, the masked lads had but one thought—to get away before they saw more of that blue fire, and the force of the concussion.
"Gee! My eyebrows are all singed off!" cried Sam Snedecker, as he tore loose his mask, which had been rent in the explosion, and felt of his face.
"And my hands are burned," added Pete Bailey. "I stood closer to the fire than any of you."
"You did not! I got the worst of it!" cried Andy. "I was knocked down by the explosion, and I'll bet I'm hurt somewhere. I guess—Oh! Help! I'm falling in a mud hole!"
