That "if" covered a wide field of possibilities. Not one of them could foresee all that the ingenuity of the enemy would provide in the way of danger.
To quiet his own agitation Jacob Farnum had recourse to a cigar. He lighted it, smoking with a very solemn look on his face.
"What's all the excitement, I wonder?" muttered Hal, presently.
The distant sound of running feet, then cries came to their ears, though none in the little party could distinguish the words.
"There's some big excitement on. Come along," urged Jack, reaching for his cap.
"Humph! We've had excitement enough to last reasonable people for a long time," grumbled the shipbuilder, but he, too, sprang for his hat.
Ere they had run far through the corridor they encountered other guests fleeing.
"What's the matter?" called Jack.
"Fire in the south wing," called back one man. "We don't know, yet, whether the hotel is doomed."
Just then the fire alarm bell of the hotel began to sound loudly in all the corridors.