"Can you get up?" Tom asked. Shadrack gasped and shook his head. "Hold on tight! Just hold there!"
Tom started back for the center of the car, found the side door and put his head out for a breath of clean air. Then he drew the door shut and made his way to the rear end again. That would keep the smoke from Shadrack as he climbed to the top of the car. Tom clung there, holding to the brake bar and the ladder, looking up. He saw Shadrack's legs disappear over the edge. Dizziness overcame him for a moment. He held on with all his strength, closed his eyes, letting the cool rain splatter in his face. Then he climbed the ladder, Shadrack was sitting on the top of the car, swaying weakly.
"Are you all right, Shadrack?" asked Tom.
"Yes—in a second. Thanks for coming. The smoke almost finished me. I was scattering the flames around. Is the fire going all right?"
"Yes. We'd better get back to the tender."
"I would have fallen off, if you hadn't closed that door. I'm still dizzy."
Tom looked ahead and saw the bridge. "Come on, Shadrack," he said. "We have to get forward. On your hands and knees." He, too, was so dizzy that he could not trust himself to walk upright. Together they crawled forward over the hot roof. Beneath them the flames crackled.
As they came to the end of the car and looked down into the tender, they found the men yelling, "Shadrack! Burns!" One of the men was gesticulating wildly to Andrews.
"Here we are!" yelled Tom. He waved to Andrews.
"We thought you were caught in there," said Wilson, helping them into the tender. "Dorsey started after you, but the fire forced him back."