“Yes, but how?” cried Jack desperately. “There’s no way of bridging that gap.”
“I’ve got a plan that might work,” said Bill.
“Are you going to save us?” asked the tot in a trembling voice.
“Yes, dear. Don’t be frightened. Stay here while we bring mamma to you.”
“Oh, I’m scared,” wailed the child, but she obediently sat down on a chair to await the boys’ return.
Inside the room they found a handsome, middle-aged woman lying half dressed on the floor, in a faint. Apparently, she had risen and begun dressing hastily when the first shock of the bomb came, but the effort had been too much for her, and she had collapsed. The boys picked her up as gently as possible and tried to revive her, but their efforts met with no success.
Outside, the glare and roar of the flames were increasing. There was no time to be lost.
“There’s only one thing to do,” said Bill seriously.
“And that is what? I’m stupid,” confessed Jack.
“We must make a rope of bed clothes and lower her and the child down.”