This Hodge pulled down and wrapped round his head, protecting his hands with it also as well as he could.

Then he measured the stairway and its direction with a quick glance, and made a wild dash for the fire.
He went up the stairway at a run, with his clothes scorching and the protecting cotton cloth bursting into flame.

It was a desperate spurt, but Hodge went through the fire, and with a bound threw himself beyond it, and felt, rather than knew, that he was in some kind of hall, where the fire was not so bad.

He pulled aside the flaming cloth, pitched it from him, put up his scorching hands to shield his eyes, and looked about.
"Merriwell!" The cry was one of joy.
"Merriwell!" This time the exclamation held the tone of fear and dread.

Frank Merriwell was lying in this space, which Bart saw now to be a wide corridor.