“I’ll have a close shave of it,” thought Jack, as he glanced behind him and prepared to lower the little girl.
As before, the feat was successfully accomplished, and then came Jack’s turn. As he slid nimbly down the rope that had done them such good service, the flames actually singed his garments. He was none too soon in reaching the lower floor, for he had hardly landed when the fire reached the pillar to which the line was secured and burned through its fabric.
“Well, ‘a miss is as good as a mile,’” said Jack, “but that’s about as close as I want to come to being roasted alive.”
CHAPTER XXVI.
TWO YOUNG HEROES.
The corridor was deserted, but a few lights burned dimly. No damage appeared to have been done there, and it was clear that the bomb had wrought havoc only on the top floor, which was the one occupied by the boys and those they had rescued.
“I wonder if the elevator is running?” asked Bill.
The lift was at the upper end of the passage and they carried the woman to it, but there was no response to their rings. Outside they could hear fire apparatus clanging wildly up and the confused roaring murmur of an immense crowd.
In the distance, the guns of the forts boomed, filling the air with their sonorous thunder as they fired at the daring night raider of the enemy. With this sound was mingled the sharper crackle of light artillery and specially built “sky guns.” But as they learned afterward, the perpetrator of destruction on the sleeping city escaped scot-free, to make subsequent attacks.
The elevator apparently not running, they had to face the task of carrying the unconscious woman down to the lobby and securing medical aid. Luckily for their tired muscles, Antwerp hotels are not like our skyscrapers, and it was not long before they reached the ground.