CHAPTER XXV.

IN THE GLARE OF FLAMES.

For a fragment of time,--while a man might have counted ten,--there was absolute silence following the shattering report of the bomb. Then came a babel of cries, shouts and women's screams. Hastily throwing on whatever clothes came first, the two boys rushed out of the wrecked room.

But they did not do this without difficulty, for a mass of fallen plaster and debris blocked the door. In the corridor, an electric light still burned, and the force of the explosion appeared to have spent itself at the end of the passage where the boys' room was situated.

"Wha--what happened?" stammered Bill, as they gained the corridor.

"It was a bomb, a bomb dropped from a Zeppelin," answered Jack, equally moved. "What a fiendish bit of business."

"I only hope they don't drop any more," Bill cried, as they hurried to where the stairway should have been.

But it was not there.

A great section of it had been blown to kindling by the force of the explosion. It was at that moment that Jack became aware of an acrid, sharp smell very different from the reek of the lyddite with which the shell had been loaded. It was a few minutes before he realized what it was,--fire!

He looked behind them. A red glare lighted up the corridor, and even as he gazed, a sheet of flame burst from a doorway further down the passage. Below them, there was bustle and shouting in plenty, but apparently they were the only guests quartered in that part of the hotel.

Jack looked grave. The position they occupied was a very dangerous one. The gap in the stairway was wide and they were trapped with that chasm in front and the flames behind them.

"What are we going to do?" gasped Bill, turning pale.

"I don't know; we are in a bad fix, Bill," confessed Jack. "Perhaps,--hello!" he broke off, as the tiny figure of a pretty little girl emerged from a room which adjoined the one they had just vacated.

The tot held in her arms a doll and her eyes were wide with dismay.

"Oh, man, what has happened?" she gasped.

"Something very terrible, little girl," answered Jack, "but are you alone?"

"Oh, no, my mamma's in the room. She's sick, I think."

"Great Scott," groaned Jack, "this is serious. It was bad enough before, but now----" He looked at Bill desperately.

"We've got to get that woman out of there," said Bill.

"Yes, but how?" cried Jack desperately. "There's no way of bridging that gap."

"I've got a plan that might work," said Bill.

"Are you going to save us?" asked the tot in a trembling voice.

"Yes, dear. Don't be frightened. Stay here while we bring mamma to you."

"Oh, I'm scared," wailed the child, but she obediently sat down on a chair to await the boys' return.

Inside the room they found a handsome, middle-aged woman lying half dressed on the floor, in a faint. Apparently, she had risen and begun dressing hastily when the first shock of the bomb came, but the effort had been too much for her, and she had collapsed. The boys picked her up as gently as possible and tried to revive her, but their efforts met with no success.

Outside, the glare and roar of the flames were increasing. There was no time to be lost.

"There's only one thing to do," said Bill seriously.

"And that is what? I'm stupid," confessed Jack.

"We must make a rope of bed clothes and lower her and the child down."

"Good. I believe we can get out of this."

They hastily tore the clothes of the two beds in the room and made a long rope of them. When this had been done, they took a turn of their "rope" round the marble pillar at the head of the wrecked staircase. But then came a fresh difficulty. There was no one on the floor below, though they shouted to attract attention. Obviously someone would have to be there to catch the woman and untie her when she was lowered.

"You go," said Jack. "I guess I'm strong enough to lower you."

"And leave you here in danger of the flames?" protested Bill, for it was getting uncomfortably hot now, and the smoke was blinding.

"I'll be all right, if we hurry," said Jack. "Go ahead, Bill, there's not a minute to be lost."

"I know, but----"

"Never mind any 'buts'--it's a matter of life and death."

So Bill reluctantly looped the "rope" under his arms and then Jack lowered the young engineer to the next floor. This done, Jack had a hard task in front of him. He had to fasten the life-line round the woman and lift her to the edge of the gulf.

This he accomplished by knotting the rope to the marble pillar, tying it securely at just such a length as would allow its unconscious burden to be suspended over the gap in the stairway. This was accomplished. She was lowered, and in a short time the woman was received by Bill, who released her from the line with all speed. Then came the little girl's turn. She was terrified at the idea, but at last Jack, with the loss of much valuable time, succeeded in persuading her to make the attempt.

But the delay had made his position terribly dangerous. The fire was so intensely hot now that its breath scorched him. The smoke was so dense, too, that breathing was difficult.

"I'll have a close shave of it," thought Jack, as he glanced behind him and prepared to lower the little girl.

As before, the feat was successfully accomplished, and then came Jack's turn. As he slid nimbly down the rope that had done them such good service, the flames actually singed his garments. He was none too soon in reaching the lower floor, for he had hardly landed when the fire reached the pillar to which the line was secured and burned through its fabric.

"Well, 'a miss is as good as a mile,'" said Jack, "but that's about as close as I want to come to being roasted alive."