The boys reached the hotel with their helpless burden and carried the girl upstairs to her room, where Mrs. Sterling had everything in readiness for her reception. Then the doctor took her in hand and the boys withdrew to the lobby of the hotel, where they planned to wait for a few minutes until the results of the doctor's examination could become known.
Now for the first time since the excitement began they had time to think of themselves, and when they looked at each other they could hardly forbear from laughing outright at the picture they presented. They were begrimed with smoke and grease, their clothes were rumpled and soiled, and Bob's sleeve had been split from shoulder to elbow, where it had been caught by a jagged strip of the material of the wrecked car.
"You look like a stoker from the hold of an ocean steamer," gibed
Joe, as he looked at the unkempt figure of his friend.
"It's dollars to doughnuts that you look just as bad," responded Bob, with a grin, as he made a break for the washroom, followed by his chum. In the work of washing themselves, they found that it was not only their clothes and appearance that had suffered. Each had a number of scratches and blisters that they had not felt during the stirring period of rescue but that now made their presence known. But these, after all, were trifles, and they took them as simply a part of the day's work.
They had only a few minutes to wait before the tall figure of the doctor emerged from the sick room and descended the stairs. The expression on his face reassured them, as they hurried forward to hear his verdict.
"There's no danger," he declared, as soon as he came within speaking distance, "though how she got off as easily as she did is almost a miracle. The crushed front and top of the machine acted as a sort of protection for her. The cut on the side of the face must have been made by a splinter of flying glass from the windshield. What she is suffering principally from is shock, and that's no wonder. Even one of you rough and ready youngsters," he added with a smile, "would find it a shock to go flying through a plate glass window."
"Sure thing," said Bob in reply. "I'm mighty glad to know that things aren't any worse with her. I didn't think when we rushed in that we'd find her alive at all."
"You boys deserve great credit for the quickness and decision with which you acted," the doctor said gravely. "The fire might have reached her in a few seconds more. I'm told that the auto caught fire just after you got her out.
"By the way," he added, as he started to leave the hotel, "she has been told of the way you rescued her, and she is very grateful. She wanted me to let you come in so that she could thank you in person, but in her present weakened state I didn't think it advisable. I told her, though, that I would speak to you about it, and that if you so desired you could call on her tomorrow."
"We'll be glad to," answered Bob, and Joe nodded his assent as the doctor with a wave of the hand went down the steps.