Flames drove them back.

The on-lookers were quick to grasp the fact that had no one acted before the arrival of the firemen, Grace Dodge would have been lost indeed.

As it was, the fire fighters were obliged to fight the fire from the roof of the next building.
The office building in which the flames had started was almost gutted before the blaze was subdued.
An hour later Grace Dodge was placed in an automobile and carried to her home, a physician accompanying her.
She had revived for a brief period, but had again sunk into unconsciousness.

Whether her life could be saved was a matter of the gravest doubt.
And Dick?
Young Prescott was revived soon enough, after expert assistance had been secured.
Yet he had swallowed more of the overheated air than had the girl.
In the minds of the medical men there was a grave doubt as to whether his lungs could be fully restored---or whether he would be doomed to a spell of severe lung trouble, ending, most likely, in death at a later day! Scores of people turned back from that fire with tears in their eyes.
They had seen this day something that they would remember all their lives.
"Dick and Dave were wondering whether they had courage enough for the military service," sobbed Laura Bentley, in the privacy of Belles room.

"They have courage enough for anything!" Dick was up and about the next day, though he did not go to school.
Moreover, later reports placed him out of serious danger.