g so," and she poured more oil on the face that had not yet
been bandaged in cotton.

"Cora could run the machine, and I could hold Jim--they say his name is
Jim."

"Poor Jim!" sighed the young lady doctor. "He has a very slight
chance. See, he is unconscious!"

Ed rushed out, and in a short time had the _Whirlwind_ at the door.
Jack and Walter were still busy with the fire, but they stopped when he
called them, and together all three carried Jim tenderly out, and when
Ed got in first they put the man in his arms. Cora also had been
summoned, and without as much as waiting for her cap, but, getting into
the cloak that Bess threw from the hall rack, she cranked up, and was
at the wheel, following the directions for the nearest way to a
hospital in Waterbury.

"It is his only chance," remarked Miss Robbins, when she heard some one
say the jolting of the auto would kill him outright, "and both the car
and its chauffeur can be depended upon."

CHAPTER XI

THE RESULT OF A BLAZE

"That was plucky, Cora."

"What, Ed?"

"You running into Waterbury with a man who might have died in your car."

"Then he would have died in your arms."

"But I thought girls were so queer about things of that sort. When one
dies in a house, for instance, a girl never likes the room----"

"But you would have had to keep your arms. Ed, I think the pluck was
all on your side. But I do hope Jim has a chance. He seems an awfully
frail little fellow."

"Weighs about as much as you do, I should judge. But they say that
kind of build is the best for fighting disease--there is not so much
blood to take up the poison."

They were riding back to Restover. Ed insisted upon driving the car,
although Cora declared that she was not the least tired. The trip to
the hospital had been made at a very high rate of speed, as the
unconscious man seemed in imminent danger, and Cora's hands now
trembled visibly from their work at the wheel of the _Whirlwind_.

"I suppose we will have to live on love tonight," remarked Ed, "for
that kitchen is certainly a thing of the past."

"What saved the second floor?"

"The heavy beams and metal ceiling. I guess they have had fires before
in that hotel, for the ceiling was practically of iron. I just wonder
what the boys are doing about now. I fancy Walter has turned nurse to
assist Miss Robbins."

"And Jack has taken up the role of engineer--to be made chief of the
fire department. I shouldn't wo