lock. To west, to south, and to
east the flames were leaning, and the narrow streets made the task of
holding them additionally hazardous.

Meanwhile the heat, even in Province Street, had become intense.
Together with the other onlookers, Smith and Helen found it necessary
to take refuge in the doorways and behind an angle of a building which
projected slightly beyond the rest of the row, from which point they
looked forth in turn, shading their faces and eyes with their hands.
All at once, looking upward, they saw a cloud of smoke suddenly replace
the glare directly north. The next moment a dull sound from the Miles
Block was heard, and Smith saw its western cornice sway.

"We'd better get out of this, quick," he said. "A wall fell then--the
west wall of that building there. That ought to save the City Hall, if
they handle it right; but it'll make this alley too hot to hold us.
Come on!"

Side by side the two hurried back with the crowd along the narrow way.
Their departure was taken none too soon. Behind them they could feel a
wave of heat radiated from the ruins of the burning structure; it
forced its way even through the little street down which they were
retreating, and they could feel the hot blast upon their backs.

"Something more must have fallen then," said Smith; but he did not turn
his head. Instead he took the girl's arm with a firmer grip, and they
continued swiftly on their way until they came safely into Bromfield
Street and out of the pursuing wave of heat.

"Let's cross over to Washington," Smith said.

On Washington Street, at first, little could be distinguished, and the
police were none too gently forcing the crowds even farther back. But
a block to the north, at School Street, which only a moment before
these two had just quitted, there was to be seen a wild confusion.
Fire engines were here, too, chugging at every hydrant, and the passage
was fairly clogged with hose and apparatus of all sorts, with nervous
horses, and shouting, swearing, excited men. As Smith looked closer he
saw that the firemen were no longer entering School Street to the west
from Washington; they were being driven back instead. And a moment
later he saw also a lieutenant raise his arm in a signal.

"There comes an ambulance," he said gravely,

"What is it? What do you suppose has happened?" Helen anxiously asked.

"Fireman hurt, undoubtedly. Unless I miss my guess, somebody was
caught when that wall fell