Suddenly, as he reached the second floor, a little cry from the crowd warned him of what had happened.

Tongues of flame curling out from the blazing building, had caught the rope, which was being burned through not a dozen feet away from him.

He descended a little further and paused in mid-air.
A shout from the crowd reached him.
"The cables! Try the cables!" He glanced round.

Seven or eight feet away, and almost level with him was a double row of telegraph wires.

Almost as he saw them the rope below him burned through and fell to the ground.