greeable. Within twenty minutes both young engineers were
sound asleep.

It was after midnight when cries of "fire!" from the street aroused
them.

Tom Reade threw open the door to be greeted by a cloud of stifling
smoke.

"Hustle, Harry!" he gasped, making a rush to get into his clothing. "We
can get out, I think, but we haven't any time to spare. This old trap is
ablaze. It won't last many minutes!"

Trained in the alarms and the hurries of camp life, the young engineers
all but sprang into their clothes.

"Come on, Harry!" urged Tom, throwing open the door. "We can make it."

They started, when, from the floor above, a woman's frantic appeals for
help reached them. Children's cries were added to hers.

"Get to the street, Harry!" shouted Tom. "I'm going upstairs. There'd be
no satisfaction for me in reaching the street if I abandoned that woman
and her babies to their fate. One of us can do the job as well as two!"

CHAPTER XVI. DANES SHIVERS ON A HOT NIGHT

Almost immediately after the cries of "fire" the bell at the fire
station pealed out.

Paloma's volunteer fire department turned out quickly, running to the
scene with a hand engine, two hose reels and a ladder truck.

By this time, however, the whole of Paloma appeared to be lighted up
with the brisk blaze. Tongues of flame shot skyward from the burning
hotel, while small blazing embers dropped freely into the street.

"Is everyone out? Everyone safe? Anyone missing?" panted Carter, the
young proprietor of the Cactus House.

The disturbed guests ranged themselves about Carter, who looked them
over swiftly.

"Where are Mrs. Gerry and her two babies?" demanded the hotel man, his
cheeks blanching.

None answered, for no one had seen the woman and her children.

"They must be in the house," cried Carter.

At that instant a woman's face appeared, briefly, at a window on the
third floor. Her piercing cry rang out, then her face vanished, a cloud
of smoke driving her from the open window.

"Hustle the ladders along!" begged the hotel man hoarsely. "We must
rescue that woman and her children. Her husband will be here in morning.
What can we say to him if we allow his wife and children to perish in
the flames?"

In a few moments a long ladder had been hauled off the track and brave
men rushed it to the wall, two men starting to ascend the moment it was
in place.

In another moment they came sliding down, balked. Flames had enveloped
the