he had come out of the hospital, a whole man again, and was back at
work,--"I just couldn't, standing there so quiet and brave." To the
man he said sharply:--

"I want you to do exactly as I tell you, now. Don't grab me, but let
me get the first grab." He had noticed that the man wore a heavy
overcoat, and had already laid his plan.

"Don't try," urged the man. "You cannot save me. I will stay here till
it gets too hot; then I will jump."

"No, you won't," from the sergeant, as he lay at full length on the
roof, looking over. "It is a pretty hard yard down there. I will get
you, or go dead myself."

The four sat on the sergeant's legs as he swung free down to the
waist; so he was almost able to reach the man on the window with
outstretched hands.

"Now jump--quick!" he commanded; and the man jumped. He caught him by
both wrists as directed, and the sergeant got a grip on the collar of
his coat.

"Hoist!" he shouted to the four on the roof; and they tugged with
their might. The sergeant's body did not move. Bending over till the
back creaked, it hung over the edge, a weight of two hundred and three
pounds suspended from and holding it down. The cold sweat started upon
his men's foreheads as they tried and tried again, without gaining an
inch. Blood dripped from Sergeant Vaughan's nostrils and ears. Sixty
feet below was the paved courtyard; over against him the window,
behind which he saw the back-draught coming, gathering headway with
lurid, swirling smoke. Now it burst through, burning the hair and the
coats of the two. For an instant he thought all hope was gone.

But in a flash it came back to him. To relieve the terrible
dead-weight that wrenched and tore at his muscles, he was swinging the
man to and fro like a pendulum, head touching head. He could _swing
him up_! A smothered shout warned his men. They crept nearer the edge
without letting go their grip on him, and watched with staring eyes
the human pendulum swing wider and wider, farther and farther, until
now, with a mighty effort, it swung within their reach. They caught
the skirt of the coat, held on, pulled in, and in a moment lifted him
over the edge.

They lay upon the roof, all six, breathless, sightless, their faces
turned to the winter sky. The tumult on the street came up as a faint
echo; the spray of a score of engines pumping below fell upon them,
froze, and covered them with ice. The very roar of the fire seemed far
off. The sergeant was