Pagina 33 de 416

He knew the plan of the Tanner house as he knew his own, and he

remembered that in the rear was a room where the children played.

The hall ran straight back to the door of this room; but there

was no egress from the rear except through the kitchen, which

adjoined the play-room.

The heat that beat down upon his head made him dizzy, and he

could not see for the smoke that filled the hall. Instinctively

he went down on his hands and knees, discarding the blanket, and

crawled toward the rear.

He had scarcely reached the closed door of the play-room when,

with a thunderous roar, the ceilings at the front of the house

fell in, cutting off any escape in that quarter. He knew that at

any moment the rest of the ceilings would collapse.

Half-strangled with the increasing smoke, he staggered to his

feet and lunged against the door, forcing it open. The dim light

from the one square-paned window showed a small form huddled on

the floor, the mouth open, and a tiny locomotive gripped in one

hand.