At the same moment he heard Hal's voice:
"All right! Pull up the rope!"
Rapidly now Chester set about saving himself. The room was a seething
mass of flames, which burned him terribly. Tying one end of his
improvised rope to a bedpost, Chester leaped to the window sill, and
began his descent.
So fierce were the flames that the sheets lasted but a second; but, in
that time Chester had slid halfway to the ground. Then the rope broke and
he fell with a crash. He picked himself up immediately, however, and,
turning to Hal, said swiftly:
"Quick! We must get away from here at once. The building is likely to
fall at any moment and we shall be buried beneath it."
He stooped down.
"Put your arms around my neck again!" he commanded.
Hal obeyed, this time without question.
Raising up with Hal in his arms, Chester staggered forward at a run, and
it was well that he did so.
For at the moment he had reached a place of safety, the great building
caved in with a deafening crash. There was a roar like the roar of a
thousand guns, and, a moment later, on the spot where the hospital had
stood there was only a mass of smoking and blazing debris.
More slowly, now, Chester continued on his way. Before him he could still
hear the thundering of many cannons as the battle progressed, but he kept
his face turned in that direction.
In spite of the heavy burden in his arms, he made good progress; nor did
the bursting of an occasional shell nearby deter him, nor turn him from
his course.
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