Nan would not run away and Tom did not see her. As he came
plunging back to the stalled wagon, suddenly his foot slumped
into the yielding sawdust and he fell upon his face. He cried
out with surprise or pain. Nan, horrified, saw the flames and
smoke shooting out of the hole into which her cousin had stepped.
For the moment the girl felt as if her heart had stopped beating.
"Oh, Tom! Oh, Tom!" she shrieked, and sprang toward him.
Tom was struggling to get up. His right leg had gone into the
yielding mass up to his hip, and despite his struggles he could
not get it out. A long yellow flame shot out of the hole and
almost licked his face. It, indeed, scorched his hair on one
side of his head.
But Nan did not scream again. She needed her breath, all that
she could get, for a more practical purpose. Her cousin waved
her back feebly, and tried to tell her to avoid the fire.
Nan rushed in, got behind him, and seized her cousin under the
arms. To lift him seemed a giant's task; but nevertheless she
tried.
Chapter XXVII
OLD TOBY IN TROUBLE
The squealing and plunging of the horses, the rattling of their
chains, the shrieking of the wind, the reverberating cracks of
thunder made a deafening chorus in Nan's ears.
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