"Oh, Ruth! I can't reach it!" wailed Helen, who was really trying to pull down the curtain.
Ann ran with a bowl of water and tried to splash it over the burning curtain. But the bowl tipped backwards and part of the water went over Heavy, who was just trying to struggle to her feet.
"Oh! oh! wow!" gasped the plump girl. "I'm drowning! Do you think I'm afire, Ann Hicks?"
Some of the others were sane enough to laugh, but the more nervous girls were already in tears, and the fire was spreading from one curtain to the other. There was a smell of scorching varnish, too. The window frame was catching!
In the very midst of the confusion, when it seemed positive that the whole school must be aroused, there came a commanding rap upon the window pane. It was not the gentle signal of the tick-tack—no, indeed!
"Will you hear that?" gasped Belle Tingley. "Miss Picolet's up."
"No!" cried Ruth, from the other end of the room. "Open that window, Ann! It's Roberto. He's climbed the fire-escape."
"My goodness me!" gasped The Fox. "I never was so glad to see a boy in all my life! Let him in—do!"
No sooner said than done. The girl from Silver Ranch had her wits about her. She snapped open the catch and raised the sash.
Into the room bounded the Gypsy lad. He had seen the flames from the ground and he immediately knew what to do when he got inside.