Billy lifted the insensible woman, turned swiftly back, and called encouragingly to May Nell. “Hold fast to me, girlie!” And when he felt her grasp relax from his arm, “Brace up! Be game, Nell! We’re getting there!”
Then he lost sense of time, of rational movement. Even the dead weight of his burden did not signify. He felt no emotion. He seemed only to be plodding on stolidly, while behind him flames roared and floors crashed. He felt the timbers sag suddenly, knew the fire was close upon them, yet he could not hurry.
But while smoke and heavy burden and heat dulled his mind, he was actually making incredible haste. He felt the clearer air before he saw the open window, and arrived there to find the tramp waiting, the only one who had dared to enter the furnace. He had broken out the window for them, sash and glass.
“Give her to me; I am fresh,” he said, attempting to take Mrs. Smith from Billy’s arms.
He was a small, slender man, and Billy dared not trust him. “Not her; here!” He pushed May Nell forward.
But the little girl shrank back. “No, no! Mama first.”
“Go!” Billy commanded, and thrust her into the awaiting arms. His brain was clear enough now. The lighter pair must go first; the ladder would certainly bear them, if not the heavier two. Well, he must see that his own charge was somehow safely landed.
They obeyed. People did obey Billy when he used that tone. Those who had gathered from the nearest houses steadied the ladder while the first two came down, and held out glad hands to receive them.
But to Billy the rescuer below him seemed to creep. Would he never reach the ground? The floor trembled with a new shock. Billy heard the crash of another wall, saw the fire leap through the gap behind him, and daring the lesser danger he climbed out on the ladder. Even as he passed to the first rung a sheet of flame burst upon them shrouding them, reaching for them like some red, cosmic tongue that would lap them into the mouth of destruction.
But they emerged. Billy felt the spring of the wood that announced its release from the weight of the other two, and hurried on with his precious freight, knowing the danger, yet hoping the ladder would hold. Midway between fire and earth he heard a crack, a splintering, and felt the sag.