in the temporary shelter of
the doorway. He drew a long breath and plunged forward.

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.

A rush of smoke and flame followed the violent opening of the door,
and Code felt himself growing giddy. A swift glance behind showed a
wall of fire where the hall had once been, and for the first time he
realized the seriousness of the task he had taken upon himself. But
there was no fear. Rather there came a sense of gladness that a
fighter feels when the battle has at last come to close grips.

He swept the small form of Bige up into his arms and leaped to the
window that was built low in the wall and without weights. To raise it
and manipulate the catch was out of the question. With all his
strength he swung his foot against the pane squarely in the middle.
Panes and frame splintered outward, leaving the casement intact
except for a few jagged edges of glass.

Then, suddenly, as he dropped the boy to the ground outside, there
came a blast of fire on the back draft created by the opening. Singed
and strangling, with a last desperate effort he threw himself outward
and fell on his shoulders beside little Bige.

Men who had heard the crash of glass when the window went out rushed
forward and dragged man and boy to safety.

A quarter of an hour later, his head and neck bandaged with sweet-oil,
Code made his way weakly to where Nellie sat among her belongings
cradling in her arms the boy whom the doctor had just brought back to
consciousness.