Other editions of book The Firebug, A Mystery Story for Boys

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:

Mystery Stories for BoysThe Firebug By ROY J. SNELL1. The Face at the Window2. A Thrilling Rescue3. The False Alarm4. Jerry to the Rescue5. A Shot from Ambush6. The Black Shack7. The Burning of the Zoo8. Mazie and the Tiger9. A Mysterious Island10. Ben Zook11. Johnny Gets a Tip12. The Mystery Man of the Marsh13. Johnny Reports to the Chief14. Johnny’s Dark Dreams15. Ben Zook’s Diamonds16. The Strange Black Cylinders17. The Unanswered Call18. The Return of Panther Eye19. A Den of the Underworld20. Johnny Strikes First21. A Trip to Forest City22. A Startling Discovery23. Forest City’s Doom24. Ferris Wheel and Fire25. The Human Spider26. Safe at Home27. The Contents of the Black Bag28. The Firebug’s Secret RevealedCHAPTER I. THE FACE AT THE WINDOWIt 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.fiction, Adventure, novel, firebug, rescue, alarm, mystery

Roy J. Snell (1878-1959) authored at least 85 Young Adult novels under his own name and as by David O'Hara, James Craig, and Joseph Marino, most of them specifically directed to boys, though he wrote at least one series of mysteries for girls. His tales for younger children, beginning with Little White Fox and his Arctic Friends (1916), are animal Fantasies.

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Johnny felt his face suddenly grow hot. Had he been recognized? This beyond doubt was a den of the underworld. Was this a cry which was but a signal for a “Rush the bulls”?Since he could not tell, and since everyone remained in his seat, he did not move.“If the gentlemen will please hold their bowls,” said the girl, smiling as she handed each his bowl.What did this mean? They were soon to see. Stepping with a fairy-like lightness from floor to chair, and chair to table, the girl made a low bow and then as a piano in a corner struck up a lively air she began a dance on the table top.It was such a wild, whirling dance as neither of the boys had seen before. It seemed incredible that the whole affair could be performed upon so small a table top. Indeed, at one time Johnny did feel a slight pat upon his knee and realized in a vague sort of way that the velvet slippered foot of this little enchantress had rested there for an instant.No greater misfortune could have befallen the two boys than this being seated by the dancer’s table. It focussed all eyes upon them. Their detection was inevitable. They expected it. But, coming sooner than they could dream, it caught them unawares. With a suddenness that was terrible, at the end of the applause that followed the girl’s performance, there came a death-like pause, broken by a single hissed-out word.The next instant a huge man with a great knife gleaming in his hand launched himself at Pant.Taken entirely unawares, the boy must have been stabbed through and through had it not been for a curious interference. The man’s arm, struck by a sudden weight, shot downward to drive the knife into the floor.The next instant, as a tremendous uproar began, there came a sudden and terrible flash of light followed by darkness black as ink.Johnny, having struggled to his feet, was groping blindly about him when a hand gripped his shoulder and a voice whispered: “This way out.”At the same moment he felt a tug at the back of his coat.Moving forward slowly, led by Pant and being tugged at from behind, he at last came to the door and ten seconds later found himself in the outer semi-darkness of the street.Feeling the tug at his coat lessening, he turned about to see Jensie, the dancing girl.“Do you know that she saved your life?” he whispered to Pant. “She leaped squarely upon that big villain’s arm.”“Rode it like I might a mule,” laughed the girl. “And you, Mister,” she turned to Pant, “you are a Devil. You make a terrible light, you then make terrible night. You are a wonderful Devil!” and with a flash of her white teeth she was gone.“Now what?” asked Johnny.“We cannot do better than to follow. They will be out at us like a pack of rats in another minute.”“How about a police raid?” “Not to-night. It wouldn’t do any good. The birds have flown.”At this Pant led the way rapidly out of the narrow alley into more frequented and safer ways.Little did Johnny dream as he crept beneath the covers that night that the following night would see the end of all this little drama in which he had been playing a part. Yet so it was to be.As for Pant, who slept upon a cot in one corner of Johnny’s room, he was dreaming of a slender figure and of big, dark, Gypsy eyes. He was indulging in romantic thoughts—the first of his life. That Gypsy-like girl of the underworld den had somehow taken possession of his thoughts. Many times before had he barely escaped death, but never before had his life been saved by a girl.The Firebug : A Mystery Story For Boys, A Thrilling Rescue, A Shot from Ambush, A Mysterious Island, The Unanswered Call, Ferris Wheel and Fire, The Human Spider

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