and--and--I thought I was smarter'n
Lucien. Dang it, all the men are going crazy together."

CHAPTER XX

The real awakening of William to the sterling qualities of Lucien
Torrance came with the Binks' knitting factory fire. The story was
told in full detail by the newspapers at the time, but the public
memory is not long, and, because this is a record of facts, it is here
re-told, from the view-point of William and Lucien. The factory, in
which some sixty girls were employed, was a three-story building,
facing the rear of the building in which were located the offices of
Whimple and Simmons. On one side it ran so close to the latter
building that even the boys could, by a little stretching, touch the
sill of a window to the right of the window in the room that served as
office for William and waiting-room for his employer's clients.

The fire broke out one hot afternoon in August in the lower floor of
the factory, and, as the building was "modern and fire-proof," the
flames naturally spread at a terrific rate. Some thirty of the girls
managed to escape from the lower floor at once. The escape of the
others was cut off completely, the one iron ladder, designated as a
fire escape, and running down to the ground, being, on its lower rungs,
"wrapped in flame," as the reporters have it.

William and Lucien, who had been making faces at some of the girls at
the time the fire broke out, were shocked into helplessness for a
moment. Lucien recovered first. "Quick," he said, grasping William by
the arm, "we can help." He half pulled William into Simmons' room,
"Grab the other end," he commanded, curtly, himself seizing one end of
what appeared to be a long table top. In reality it consisted of three
stout planks braced together underneath, and resting on scantling
supports. Several plans were pinned to the top, and these Lucien
yanked off without ceremony. Between them the boys carried the table
top to the window, and, though for a few seconds it seemed that their
combined strength was not equal to the demand on it, they succeeded in
placing one end of it on the sill of the open factory window, around
which the imprisoned girls were gathered, some screaming wildly, others
pale-faced, but quiet. A rough bridge was thus formed between the
factory and Whimple's office. Lucien crossed it first, with William a
close second. The boys urged the girls to "get a move on, one at a
time," but it was not until Willi