The disturbed guests ranged themselves about Carter, who looked them
over swiftly.
"Where are Mrs. Gerry and her two babies?" demanded the hotel man, his
cheeks blanching.
None answered, for no one had seen the woman and her children.
"They must be in the house," cried Carter.
At that instant a woman's face appeared, briefly, at a window on the
third floor. Her piercing cry rang out, then her face vanished, a cloud
of smoke driving her from the open window.
"Hustle the ladders along!" begged the hotel man hoarsely. "We must
rescue that woman and her children. Her husband will be here in
morning. What can we say to him if we allow his wife and children to
perish in the flames?"
In a few moments a long ladder had been hauled off the track and brave
men rushed it to the wall, two men starting to ascend the moment it was
in place.
In another moment they came sliding down, balked. Flames had enveloped
the upper end of the ladder. It had to be hauled down, buckets of water
being dashed over the blazing sides.
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