The other window he kicked out as he reached it, and the jangling glass must have made a queer sound as it rattled to the ground below. One look told Dick that so far the fire had not reached this particular section of the house. The earth lay about fifteen feet below, and had he only himself to think about a handy water pipe would have afforded him a ready means of getting down.
Placing Billy on the floor, Dick darted over to the bed he had seen in a corner of the room. From this he snatched all the covers, sheets, blankets and spread, and was back at the window in a “jiffy,” as he would himself have said.
Again looking out he saw that there were moving figures down below. Some of the fire-fighters had arrived, and were hurrying around the house to find where they could best attack the flames, once the water came into the hose they carried.
Dick instantly started to shout at them, and great was the surprise of the men at discovering a head in the open window; for like most of Cliffwood’s citizens, up to then they had firmly believed the Brandon place untenanted.
“Come below here!” was what Dick called at the top of his voice. “There is a child up with us, and a lady too. The stairs are all ablaze, and we can’t get down that way. You must help us!”
“All right, sonny!” shouted the foreman, whom Dick recognized as big Hen Hess, the brawny blacksmith of the town. “We’ll have you out of that safe and sound, never fear. Don’t jump, whatever you do!”
With that he sent several of the men hurrying away. No doubt they were intending to fetch a ladder; but impatient Dick could not wait for that. He hurried once more back to the bed, and carried the mattress with him across the room, thrusting it through the window, and allowing it to fall to the ground.
Next, he snatched up a blanket and hurled this down to the hands uplifted to catch it.
“Hold that out, for I’m going to drop the boy down!” he shouted between his two hands, held up in lieu of a speaking trumpet.
The firemen knew their business, and four of them instantly stretched the stout blanket as wide as it would go. Then Dick, without the least hesitation, held little Billy, still swathed in his covering, through the window, and let him drop.