He proved to be an exceedingly strong man, and the girls were lost in admiration at the masterly manner in which he carried Miss Emma down the ladder and placed her in the arms of the penitent Annie.
Annie stood five feet eleven and a half in her stocking feet and was as strong as a man. She held the frail invalid as easily as though she had been a child, and, to do her justice, as tenderly.
Having seen Miss Emma safe, the hired man rejoined the three excited girls on the roof of the shed.
"What's going on here?" he demanded roughly. "Where's the fire?"
"There doesn't seem to be any," said Jo, remembering her bewildered thankfulness over the absence of flames in Aunt Emma's room. "It seems to be all smoke."
"Humph!" grunted the hired man.
He went to the end of the shed and called to some small boys who were beginning to gather. The house was set in a big garden and nobody else was in sight.
"One of you kids run to the next house and send in an alarm to the fire department," he commanded, then returned to where the girls were watching him eagerly.
He took a handkerchief from his pocket and began to tie it over his nose.
"What are you going to do?" demanded Sadie Appleby.