“Tell ’em to jump!” exclaimed Silas Carver.

“They’d break their necks, you fool!” returned his wife.

“Better do that than be burned up!” said the old man.

No one knew what to do—­no one but Ben Barclay.

He seized a coil of rope, and with a speed which surprised even himself, climbed up a tall oak tree, whose branches overshadowed the roof of the ell part.  In less than a minute he found himself on a limb just over the children.  To the end of the rope was fastened a strong iron hook.

Undismayed by his own danger, Ben threw his rope, though he nearly lost his footing while he was doing it, and with an aim so precise that the hook caught in the smaller girl’s dress.

“Hold on to the rope, Jennie, if you can!” he shouted.

The girl obeyed him instinctively.

Drawing the cord hand over hand, the little girl swung clear, and was lowered into the arms of Ebenezer Strong, who detached the hook.

“Save the other, Ben!” shouted a dozen.

Ben needed no spur to further effort.

Again he threw the hook, and this time the older girl, comprehending what was required, caught the rope and swung off the roof, scarcely in time, for her clothing had caught fire.  But when she reached the ground ready hands extinguished it and the crowd of anxious spectators breathed more freely, as Ben, throwing down the rope, rapidly descended the tree and stood once more in safety, having saved two lives.

Just then it was that the poor mother, almost frantic with fear, arrived on the ground.

“Where are my darlings?  Who will save them?” she exclaimed, full of anguish, yet not comprehending that they were out of peril.

“They are safe, and here is the brave boy who saved their lives,” said Ebenezer Strong.

“God bless you, Ben Barclay!” exclaimed the poor mother.  “You have saved my life as well as theirs, for I should have died if they had burned.”

Ben scarcely heard her, for one and another came up to shake his hand and congratulate him upon his brave deed.  Our young hero was generally self-possessed, but he hardly knew how to act when he found himself an object of popular ovation.

“Somebody else would have done it if I hadn’t,” he said modestly.

“You are the only one who had his wits about him,” said Seth Jones.  “No one thought of the rope till you climbed the tree.  We were all looking for a ladder and there was none to be had nearer than Mr. Parmenter’s.”

“I wouldn’t have thought of it myself if I hadn’t read in a daily paper of something like it,” said Ben.

“Ben,” said Mr. Crawford, “I’d give a thousand dollars to have done what you did.  You have shown yourself a hero.”

“Oh, Ben, how frightened I was when I saw you on the branch just over the burning building,” said a well-known voice.

Turning, Ben saw it was his mother who spoke.