"What is that about the Radefeld aqueduct?" asked he, eagerly.
"The aqueduct is immediately adjacent to the rolling-mills," answered the officer. "If it had been possible promptly to open the large main pipe, then the fire might have been quenched. But there it originated and burned most fiercely, so that we could gain no access to its focus. The pipe lies----"
"I know," interposed Wildenrod. "I was present when the conduit was joined on and tested, and saw, too, how they opened the afflux. Access is impossible to it, do you say?"
The upper-engineer shrugged his shoulders and pointed to the state of the conflagration. "Earlier it might have been possible to have cleared a way with our engines, at least for a short while, but Herr Dernburg is right, the attempt would cost human life. Who would venture into those glowing walls that may cave in at any moment? And even if one did succeed in opening the pipe, and conducting the mass of water in the reservoir to the seat of the fire, how would our men get back? The smoke would smother them. If the water escapes no one would come forth alive."
"The only question is, how one may get in alive," murmured Oscar, with his eye fixed upon the leaping flames. The upper-engineer looked at him in surprise, but before he could answer the chief came back. "You assume the command over there," was his order. "Winning can hold out no longer."
The officer hurried away, and Dernburg scanned the Baron with a forbidding look. "What do you want here?" asked he in a subdued tone. "There are hands enough for putting out the fire, we do not need your help."
"More than you think, perhaps!" said Wildenrod, with a strange smile.
Dernburg stepped close up to him. "I did not want to expose you before my officers and workmen, but now I tell you, you are no longer in place here, Baron von Wildenrod. Go!"
Wildenrod met firmly the eyes that were fastened upon him so menacingly, then said slowly and earnestly: "I am going! Bid Maia farewell for me; perhaps you will still allow her--to weep for me!"
He turned off and was lost in the crowd of toilers.