The boys had been at work nearly ten minutes and had done much to
stay the progress of the flames if not to subdue them when a fire
company from Riverton arrived, and with a lot of noise and bustle,
but with very little system, got to work to put out the fire.
Then their engine would not work, orders were misunderstood or not
obeyed, and there was a great deal of confusion, during which the
Hilltop boys worked steadily on and soon began to show the effects
of their efforts, the flames being under control in many places
and entirely out in a few.
Jack was hard at work taking bucket after bucket, and throwing
water on the flames that poured from a corner of the piazza roof
when Margaret ran up to him, almost fainted in his arms, and gasped:
"My baby brother! He is in the room up there in the extension. No
one has thought of him. Save him, Jack!"
"Yes, just as soon as---here, Billy, Arthur, take my place. I must
go up to the extension."
One of the boys quickly took his place at the head of the bucket
line, and he ran inside and up the stairs to the room indicated
by Margaret, covering his mouth with his hand to keep from breathing
smoke.
He found the door, burst it open, and saw a bed in a corner with a
small child asleep.
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