“Could it be a forest fire?” Judy questioned when they were in the car.
“It could be. I hope it isn’t. We’ve had too much dry weather lately. Whatever it is,” Peter declared, “the firemen will have to work fast to keep it from becoming a forest fire.”
“What’s that funny cloud?” Danny asked, peering out of the car window.
Peter slowed down to let more fire engines pass and then followed them. Now Judy could see the cloud Danny had mentioned. But was it a cloud? White wisps of smoke curled into the sky like scrawny ghosts.
“That must be where the fire is,” she began. “Right there in the valley beyond the trees—”
“But that’s where the orphanage is!” Danny objected.
Judy gasped. She didn’t want to believe the orphanage was burning. The thought of all those children losing the one home they had was too much. Other thoughts, still more terrifying, quickly followed. Peter, not having any word of reassurance, drove on in silence. Suddenly Danny screamed.
“I can see it now. It is the orphanage! We have to get Ma out of there. She’ll go in after the babies and never come out!”
“Oh, Danny! Don’t say that,” cried Judy. “The firemen will make sure that Ma and all the children are safe, won’t they, Peter?”
“They’ll do their best,” he replied, heading straight for the burning building, “but they can use all the help we can give them.”