oking up in the face of Number 666,
with a piteous expression, and almost weeping with vexation, "_nobody_
will listen to me. I would go up myself, but the firemen won't let me,
and my dear wife has such an idea of sticking to truth that when they
ask her, `Is your baby up there?' she yells `No, not _our_ baby,' and
before she can explain she gasps, and then I try to explain, and that so
bamboozles--"

"_Is_ your baby there?" demanded Number 666 vehemently.

"Yes, it is!" cried Twitter, without the slightest twinge of conscience.

"What room?"

"That one," pointing to the left side of the house on the first floor.

Just then part of the roof gave way and fell into the furnace of flame
below, leaving visible the door of the very room to which Twitter had
pointed.

A despairing groan escaped him as he saw it, for now all communication
seemed cut off, and the men were about to pull the Escape away to
prevent its being burned, while, more engines having arrived, something
like a mountain torrent of water was descending on the devoted house.

"Stop, lads, a moment," said Giles, springing upon the Escape. He might
have explained to the firemen what he had learned, but that would have
taken time, and every second just then was of the utmost value. He was
up on the window-sill before they well understood what he meant to do.

The heat was intolerable. A very lake of fire rolled beneath him. The
door of the room pointed out by Twitter was opposite--fortunately on the
side furthest from the centre of fire, but the floor was gone. Only two
great beams remained, and the one Giles had to cross was more than half
burned through. It was a fragile bridge on which to pass over an abyss
so terrible. But heroes do not pause to calculate. Giles walked
straight across it with the steadiness of a rope-dancer, and burst in
the scarred and splitting door.

The smoke here was not too dense to prevent his seeing. One glance
revealed baby Frog lying calmly in her crib as if asleep. To seize her,
wrap her in the blankets, and carry her to the door of the room, was the
work of a moment, but the awful abyss now lay before him, and it seemed
to have been heated seven times. The beam, too, was by that time
re-kindling with the increased heat, and the burden he carried prevented
Giles from seeing, and balancing himself so well. He did not hesitate,
but he advanced slowly and with caution.

A dead silence fell on the awe-stricken