firemen felt that if they brought the ladder back to an upright
position, the last extension would break and they would not be able to
reach the window. On the other hand, the ladder, as it stood, could not
sustain a man's weight. A minute seemed an hour.

One of the firemen started to take the chance and run up. His foreman
pulled him back. "It's sure death, Jim," he shouted. "That ladder won't
hold you. You'd drop before you could reach them."

The foreman was right. The men were willing enough but there was no
chance of reaching the top, or halfway to it.

Now Father Boone came running up. On learning that lives were in danger
he had hastened to the Church, gotten the holy oils, and hurried over to
be of service, if occasion required.

The cries of the woman and child were piercing and heart-rending. The
life nets were spread and the men shouted to them to jump. But they were
paralyzed with fear. One of the firemen was heard to exclaim, "I wish I
weighed a hundred pounds less, I'd risk that ladder."

Bill Daly, in the forefront of the crowd, heard him. Two lives at stake!
He weighed a hundred pounds less than that man. And, as he hesitated, a
great fear clutching at his heart, his mind was filled with a medley of
thoughts, in which mingled the idea of sacrifice for his father's
reform, the Eye of God, his own worthlessness, his confession not yet
made, and the glory of heroic deeds. Again a terrible, piercing cry from
above. Without a second's waiting, without warning, before the firemen
knew it, he had rushed under the rope, over to the truck, and like a
cat, was on his way up the ladder.

Bill had often seen the firemen couple the ladders in the station near
his home. He knew if he got there in time he could put the detached
parts together. Up he went, hands and feet, as fast as he could move.
The ladder swayed. The men yelled to him to come back. He evidently
heard nothing and saw nothing but that dangling extension, which was all
that separated him from death. Without slowing up a bit, he reached the
uncoupled extension, fastened it, and made the ladder secure. Hardly had
it fallen into place, when several, firemen were on their way up. The
thing was done.

The excitement of it over, Bill suddenly realized that he was high up in
the air. The climbing of the firemen made the ladder sway. Before anyone
realized what was happening, Bill lost his balance, tottered, fell over
completely, and went headlong down.