The Mystery of the Magic Circle - M. V. Carey [4]
He went down on his knees, and again he edged the door open. Again the smoke gushed in through the opening. Bob coughed, and Pete’s eyes began streaming. The two boys knelt behind Jupe and peered out into the hall. They saw smoke that looked almost solid. It seethed and glowed red with the light of flames that danced up the walls and licked away at the old staircase.
Jupe turned his face from the fire for an instant. He took a breath that was almost a sob. Then he started forward, holding his breath. But before he could get through the doorway, a gust of hot air pushed at him like a giant hand. He flinched, drew back, and slammed the door.
“We can’t,” he whispered. “Nobody can go through that fire! There’s no way out!
We’re trapped!”
Chapter 2
The Bleeding Man
FOR A MOMENT no one spoke. Then Pete made a choking sound. “Someone’s got to see the smoke and call the fire department,” he gasped. “Someone’s just got to!”
Jupe looked around wildly. For the first time he saw something that might give them a chance. There was a trap-door under the long table that the boys used for wrapping and sorting.
Jupe pointed. “Look! There must be a cellar. The air is bound to be better down there.”
The boys ran to pull the table away from the wall. Pete prised open the trap-door, and they looked down into a brick-walled cellar. Its dirt floor was more than eight feet beneath them, and they smelled air that was heavy with damp and decay. The boys didn’t hesitate. Pete swung down through the trap-door opening, holding on to the edge of the floor, then let himself drop the few remaining feet. The others followed.
When they were safely in the cellar, Bob stood on Pete’s shoulders and pulled the trap-door shut.
The boys stood in the darkness and strained to listen. They could still hear the fire.
They were safe, but for how long? In his mind’s eye Jupe pictured flames mushrooming through the first floor and eating away at the roof. What if the roof caved in? Would the floor above them hold if flaming timbers came crashing down on it? Even if it did hold, would anyone fight through the fire to find them hiding in the cellar?
“Hey!” Pete grasped Jupe’s arm. “Hear that?”
There were sirens in the distance.
“It’s about time!” said Bob.
“Hurry up, firemen!” pleaded Pete. “We haven’t got all night!”
The sirens came closer and closer. Then there were more sirens and still more.
Then, one by one, the piercing mechanical wails stopped.
“Help!” cried Pete. “Help! Hey, you guys!”
The three waited. After what seemed an age, they heard a wrenching sound and a crash above them.
“I’ll bet that’s the window!” said Bob. “They’re yanking the grille out of the window!”
Water thundered and gushed on the planks above them. Jupe felt wetness on his face, and on his shoulders and arms. Rivulets of dirty water spattered down all around him.
“We’ll drown!” Pete yelled. “Stop! We’re down here!”
The sound of rushing water ceased.
“Open the trap-door!” Bob cried.
There was the protest of wood scraping on wood. The panel above them opened and a fireman looked down.
“They’re here!” he shouted. “I found the kids!”
The fireman leaped into the cellar. An instant later Bob was being boosted up through the trapdoor to a second fireman, who seized him and sent him staggering towards the window. The iron grating was gone and two hose lines ran into the mail room. Bob scrambled over the sill and out on to the narrow walkway.
Bob had gone only a few steps when he heard Jupiter behind him. Pete followed, and the firemen who had pulled the boys from the cellar came after them. “Keep going!” ordered one of the men. “Move! Fast! The roof’s going to cave in any second!”
The boys ran until they reached the open street. It was blocked with fire engines.
Hose lines lay in tangles from kerb to kerb.
“Thank heaven! You’re safe!” Mr. Grear ran forward, clutching a paper sack of fried chicken.
“Hey you, get back!” shouted a fireman.
Mr. Grear retreated towards the crowd that had gathered across the street. The