“Yes—surely!” cried Hiram. “Don’t delay, Dave. We’re safe to try it, before the flames reach her, or the building collapses.”
A great cry went up from the excited crowds in the streets below, at the sight of what resembled some mighty winged bird coming on a mission of rescue and mercy, where other help seemed vain.
The girl on the roof saw the machine, and comprehended what it meant for her. She ran towards it with a glad cry as Dave dexterously directed it. The Ariel struck the smooth flat roof, and came to a stop, Hiram leaped out.
“This way!” he called, and, taking her outstretched hand he guided her to the seat he had just vacated, and belted her in. “Don’t get scared, nor faint. You’ll be safe on solid land in a jiffy. Go ahead, Dave,” added Hiram. “The machine won’t stand my weight on the narrow margin start we can give it.”
Onward went the Ariel. To the spellbound crowd below it seemed to slide off the roof. Dave made a spiral drop. A block away from the fire there was a lumber yard, only half stocked, affording a good landing place.
The girl was out of the machine and safe in charge of two ladies who supported her. She turned to Dave, her lips moving as if in gratitude, and then swooned. Dave got started before the onrushing mob got in his way. It seemed to him as if the voices of thousands joined in a thunderous cheer. There on the roof, as if in response to this mighty tribute to daring heroism, stood Hiram, smiling and unconcerned as though it were all an every day occurrence.
“Good for you, and quite in time,” he commented briskly, as Dave landed on the roof in safety. “The fire is eating up through the staircases. See, yonder!” and the speaker pointed to wreaths of smoke and cinders shooting out through a roof trap as if forced by an air compressor.
“Something wrong with the control,” said Dave, as they skidded into space again. “The jar of that roof, I guess. It needs fixing,” and the young aviator was compelled to land again in the spot where he had delivered the imperiled girl into friendly hands.