Within twenty minutes both young engineers were sound asleep.
It was after midnight when cries of "fire!" from the street aroused them.
Tom Reade threw open the door to be greeted by a cloud of stifling smoke.
"Hustle, Harry!" he gasped, making a rush to get into his clothing.

"We can get out, I think, but we haven't any time to spare.

This old trap is ablaze.

It won't last many minutes!" Trained in the alarms and the hurries of camp life, the young engineers all but sprang into their clothes.
"Come on, Harry!" urged Tom, throwing open the door.

"We can make it." They started, when, from the floor above, a woman's frantic appeals for help reached them.