sible. Plunging into the garret again he seized the
door and jammed it into its place, thus stopping the gush of black
smoke, and giving them a few minutes breathing space.

"Is there a rope in the garret?" asked Sam eagerly.

"No--nothink o' the kind," gasped Tommy.

"No sheets,--blankets?" asked the Scot.

"Only two or three," replied Susan, who supported Liz in the rustic
chair. "They're much worn, and not enough to reach _near_ the ground."

It was no time for useless talk. The two men said no more, but sprang
on the parapet outside the garden, to find, if possible, a way of escape
by the roofs of the neighbouring houses. The sight they beheld was
sufficiently appalling. The fire which raged below them cast a noonday
glare over the wilderness of chimney-stacks around, revealing the awful
nature of their position, and, in one direction, thousands of upturned
faces. The men were observed as they ran along the parapet, and a deep
hoarse cry from the sympathetic multitude rose for a few moments above
the roaring of the flames.

On two sides the walls of the building went sheer down, sixty feet or
more, without a break, into a yard which bristled with broken wood and
old lumber. Evidently death faced them in that direction. The third
side was the gable-end of the garret. On the fourth side there was a
descent of twelve feet or so on to the roof of the next block, which
happened to be lower--but that block was already in flames.

"There is our chief hope," said the sailor, pointing to it.

"Nay," responded Laidlaw in a low voice, pointing upwards--"oor main
hope is _there_! I thocht they had fire-escapes here," he added,
turning to Tommy, who had joined them.

"So they 'ave, but no escape can be got down the yards 'ere. The
halleys is too narrer."

"Come, I'll git a blankit to lower Susan and auld Liz," said Laidlaw,
hastening back to the garden, where the trembling women awaited the
result of their inspection.

While the Scotsman removed the door and dashed once again into the
smoke-filled garret, the sailor hurriedly explained to the women what
they were going to attempt, and impressed upon them the necessity of
submitting entirely to whatever was required of them, "which will be,"
he said, "chiefly to shut your eyes an' keep quiet."

Laidlaw quickly returned with a couple of sheets and a blanket. Sam
knotted the sheets together in sailor-like fashion, while his friend
made a secure bundle of o