The Firebug

By
ROY J. SNELL

The Reilly & Lee Co.
Chicago

Printed in the United States of America

Copyright, 1925
by
The Reilly & Lee Co.
All Rights Reserved

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I The Face at the Window 7

II A Thrilling Rescue 20

III The False Alarm 34

IV Jerry to the Rescue 48

V A Shot from Ambush 63

VI The Black Shack 76

VII The Burning of the Zoo 86

VIII Mazie and the Tiger 98

IX A Mysterious Island 104

X Ben Zook 116

XI Johnny Gets a Tip 125

XII The Mystery Man of the Marsh 134

XIII Johnny Reports to the Chief 142

XIV Johnny’s Dark Dreams 148

XV Ben Zook’s Diamonds 155

XVI The Strange Black Cylinders 171

XVII The Unanswered Call 181

XVIII The Return of Panther Eye 190

XIX A Den of the Underworld 197

XX Johnny Strikes First 208

XXI A Trip to Forest City 220

XXII A Startling Discovery 229

XXIII Forest City’s Doom 237

XXIV Ferris Wheel and Fire 243

XXV The Human Spider 255

XXVI Safe at Home 261

XXVII The Contents of the Black Bag 269

XXVIII The Firebug’s Secret Revealed 275

THE FIREBUG

CHAPTER I
THE FACE AT THE WINDOW

It was midnight. The room in which Johnny Thompson sat was a place of odd noises and strange flashes of light. Here in the corner a tick-ticking was followed by a yellow light that curved upward, over, then down; upward, over and down again. A gong sounded from overhead. A shadowy form moved across the floor. Instantly came the clatter of a score of instruments sounding as one and a score of yellow lights curved up, over and down; up, over and down again. After that a voice said:

“Cross and Fifty-fifth Streets. The Arlington Flats. The Arlington Flats. Cross and Fifty-fifth Streets.”

There followed twenty seconds of silence; then in a hollow tone, as if coming from the heart of a tree, there sounded the repeated words:

“Cross and Fifty-fifth Streets. The Arlington Flats. Cross and Fifty-fifth Streets.” Then again there was silence.

All this while, on a great board above and before him, Johnny saw a hundred and fifty glowing spots of light. The spots of light seemed like eyes—red, white and green eyes that stared and blinked at him. Even as he looked, two of them blinked out—a red one and a white one.

As he read the meaning of those extinguished lights he again caught the click-click from the corner and saw again the yellow light shoot up and over and down.

This time, however, he heard a voice from another corner say:

“Johnny, that’s one of yours. School at Fourteenth and Van Buren.”

With one bound Johnny was out of his chair and across the room. The next second found him aboard an elevator, dropping through space. Ten seconds from the time the alarm had sounded he was in a long, low built, powerful car, speeding westward.

It would have