"Can't cross the bridge without being arrested, you know. They have guards there," said one.
"Can't go across to Liberty Island at this time of night. Can't go anywhere except to the Woolworth Tower!" said the other.
"Just the place! If any one follows we will drop him off!" threatened the first man.
So the cab pulled up by the side entrance to the Woolworth building, and the two men hustled George on an elevator inside, and made the man send the elevator to the top where the room was that visitors had to pass through to reach the tower. Here they found the man asleep, as no visitors were expected that night.
They bundled George on the tiny elevator that ran to the very tip-top of the tower, and one of the rascals ran it up. Then they went out on the narrow balcony that circled the tower. As they walked around here, dragging George by the belt of his pajamas, they watched the mob tearing across City Hall Park in pursuit.
George could look over the parapet, and he was sure he saw his mother in front, calling to him, 'way up in that tower. He wanted to assure her that he was brave and would be all right, but one of the men thought he was signalling to his friends.
"What shall we do if some of them follow us up here and try to catch us?" wondered one of the men.
"We'll warn them—we'll throw him over if they try to come up!" said the other, shaking a fist at the crowds in the park.
Meantime, as many as could get on the elevators, did come up to the room, but the small elevator that ran to the tower would only hold five or six at a time, and there was no one to run it. The man who slept in the chair could not be roused, so Mr. Parke said he would run the lift to the top.
The two villains threatened in vain—George's father started for the balcony to save his son. Then the men lifted George upon the stone guard, and he could look down into the dizzy depths, where the people ran about like ants on the earth.