“I wonder if I left any beans on cooking,” remarked Helen. “I was so excited when I heard you girls come in that plane, that I don’t remember whether I left the oil stove burning or not.”
“Could the kitchen be on fire?” demanded Dot, holding the will tightly in her hands. “Girls, we’ve got to get out of here!”
Taking the flashlight Linda led the way down the staircase and opened the door of the small room that led to the hall. An overpowering cloud of smoke rushed against her, stifling her so that she closed the door immediately again.
“Stay here!” she commanded to the others, who had just come down the spiral staircase. “Keep the door closed, while I see whether I can force my way through. The house is on fire!”
Closing the door again, she crept out on her hands and knees through the smoke-filled passageway. The atmosphere was dense with the smoke, so overpowering that Linda gasped helplessly for breath. But she pushed onward to the main staircase, only to see that great wooden structure already in flames.
With a cry of terror she crept back to the door of the room that led to the tower, and fell with a dull thud against it. Dot rushed forward and opened the door, and knew from one look at her chum’s face that escape through the house was impossible.
“Come back to the tower!” she cried, “where we can get some air through the windows!”
But Linda only leaned weakly against the steps. She could not answer.
“We’ll have to carry her, Helen!” Dot said. “Take hold of her feet. I’d rather jump from the tower if I have to die than be burned alive!”
Together the two girls managed to get Linda up the steps and once there they shattered the glass of the tower windows, for they could not raise them. The fresh air was reviving; Linda was able to stand up and lean out of the window while the others cried for help.