o flames.
She shut the door again hurriedly, and, returning to the window, shouted
with all her might. Would anybody hear, and if so, could they help? The
Fire Brigade had not yet arrived from Chetbourne, and it was unlikely
that there would be any ladder about the place long enough to reach to
the top story of the house.

"Help! Help! Hallo!" Her voice sounded so thin and weak, compared with
the crackling of the flames, she feared it would not carry far enough.
Mabel, still in a half-dazed state, clung to her wildly, trembling and
shivering with terror.

Would no one ever come? They were all watching the front of the house,
and had completely forgotten the back.

At last! There was a shout from below, and a sudden rushing and noise,
as the ever-increasing crowd poured round the corner.

"Fetch a ladder!"

"It's too short!"

"Tie two together!"

"There aren't two!"

"Tell them to jump!"

"No! No! They'd break their necks!"

"Someone go in and fetch 'em!"

"Impossible! The stairs are ablaze!"

"Does anyone hear the engine coming?"

"Not a sign of it yet."

"Then God help them, for we can't!"

The room was getting hotter and hotter. Aldred could hear the roar of
the flames in the passage now. How long would the door keep them out? It
was plain that, unless both girls were to perish, something must be
done, and that instantly. Disengaging Mabel's clinging arms, Aldred
propped her against the window-sill, then groped her way through the
dense smoke across the room. The six beds in the hospital were always
kept made up, perfectly ready for use. Aldred pulled off the twelve
sheets one after the other, and carried them in a bundle back to the
window, where, with trembling hands, she knotted them firmly together,
just as Miss Drummond had shown in the fire-drill practice. She dragged
forward the nearest bedstead till its foot almost touched the sill, and,
fastening her improvised rope round a post, pulled it hard, to make sure
that the knot was safe.

"Mabel," she said loudly, "we must try the sheet dodge. I'm going to
lower you down. Let me tie this end round your waist, quick!"

"No! No!" cried Mabel, who had somewhat recovered her scattered senses.
"I'll lower you! I'm the bigger, and stronger than you. Here, give me
the end!"

"I shan't. You must go! Mabel, I insist! This is no time for arguing. My
mind's made up, and I shall make you!"

Aldred was fastening the knot as she spoke, with quick finge