Ralph Henry Barbour

“ It seemed many, many minutes to Beryl before the volunteer came into sight again, although it was more a matter of seconds than minutes. Suddenly there was a lighter blur in the billowing smoke at the window, and a shout of relief went up from the crowd below. Something white—it might have been a long bundle—much too small, it seemed, to be a human being, was hauled and pushed through the window. The fireman held it while the other man crawled back to the ladder. ”

“ A man with an axe appeared and began cutting away a window-sill. Another man seized the axe from his hand and energetically ripped off clapboards until the hose, momentarily unmanageable, sent a stream against the back of his neck. Thereupon he dropped the axe, rescued his rolling helmet, and disappeared. Beryl found herself laughing weakly, one hand tightly clutching the elbow of a strange man, who was as unconscious of the fact as she. Then, with the hose playing about them, the two rescuers started again up the ladder. ”

“ The glare smote like a blow against her eyes, and the heat was almost scorching. At a little distance the firemen, volunteers from the neighboring town of Thompsonvale, were preparing again to attempt the rescue. A line of hose was brought around a corner, with much shouting and commotion, and a stream began to deluge the side of the burning ell. A falling beam in the gutted end of the building sent the watchers scurrying back as a shower of sparks leaped out from the glowing mass of débris. The men beside Beryl pushed past her, and she stumbled and the remaining bedroom slipper disappeared. ”